Paul
Saponaro
August 8, 1940 May 5, 2011
The MetroWest Daily
News Obituary May 8, 2011
Paul "Joe" Saponaro, 70, of Natick, passed away
unexpectedly Thursday, May 5, 2011, at his residence. Joe was born Aug. 8, 1940,
to the late Philip and Geraldine (Baumis) Saponaro.
He resided in
Natick for most of his life. Joe was employed by Raytheon for many years and
then the Framingham School Dept. until his retirement in 2007.
He graduated from
Natick High School in 1959. He enjoyed fishing, reading, watching football and
baseball, cribbage and playing with his grandchildren.
Joe was a loving
husband, father and grandfather who will be deeply missed. He is survived by
his beloved wife of 50 years, Donna (Duboyce) Saponaro; sons, Paul Saponaro of
Milford, Michael Saponaro of Natick, Daniel and his wife, Michelle, Saponaro of
Natick; daughters, Cynthia Saponaro of Framingham, Dawn and her husband, Joseph
Ferro, of Millbury, Carolynn and her husband, Marcus Lidbeck, of Sweden; his
daughter-in-law, Jodi Saponaro of Bellingham; grandchildren, Courtney, Kyle and
Carson Saponaro, Natalie and Mikaela Lidbeck, Nicholas and Sofia Saponaro.
He was predeceased
by his son, John Saponaro, and his brothers, Robert and William Saponaro.
Relatives and
friends are invited to attend Joe's viewing at Wednesday, May 11, at 9 a.m., at
the John Everett and Sons Funeral Home, 4 Park St. at Natick Common, followed
by Mass of Christian burial at 10 a.m., at St. Patrick's Church, 44 East Central
St., Natick. Interment will follow in Glenwood Cemetery in South Natick. For
directions and online guestbook, please visit www.everettfuneral.com
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Irwin Fischer
My family and I
moved into WestField at Natick ,one of the Campanelli developments
in 1954 ( West Natick, off Hartford street ) The streets were not paved yet and
I was hanging around the bottom of the driveway watching a group of
kids racing bikes around the circle of streets that made up Westfield.
They were racing as fast as they could and I just sat there in amazement
wondering what the ..... Having just moved into Natick
from inner city Boston and never owning a bike and never seeing kids race bikes
in the street , I was sorta puzzled as the why they were doing
this.
Jimmy Bradford was
in the lead and he rode a black English racer that had something called gears , totally unknown to me at that time. Well, they must
have taken notice of me , playing in the dirt and
looking at them enviously as they raced past because late in the day,
Jimmy and his friend stopped and kinda inspected me, the new kid. Jimmy
explained that in Europe, there were things that were called Bike Races and he
knew all about them because his Father was Colonel Bradford of the Natick
Quartermaster Corp and he learned all about this sport in Europe. Now, as
I remember...... he introduced me to a red haired boy named Paul Saponaro
and we talked for a while and then they left when they found out that I did not
own a bike....yet. This does stick in my mind because not having a friend
in the world , at a that time, I was so happy to meet
some guys before I attended my first day at Coolidge Jr. High.
I have another
memory of my good friend Jimmy and the things we used to do in the hills behind
the development...but unless you are collecting memories, I'll leave that for another
time. Irwin Fischer, Natick High class of 1959
Al Ross
I have to take
some time here and pass along my fond memories of General Joe.
First up is the
name General Joe. Sometime during high school, Paul started to wear an Army fatigue
cap. This cap had a Star right in the front. Someone put GI Joe and the star together
and came up with General Joe. He loved the name. That name stuck with him for
the rest of his life.
Paul and I went to
the same schools from Kindergarten through High School. First was the Oak Grove
school on South Main that became the Harold H. Johnson
school. Then Coolidge and on to Natick High.
When I was 12 and
Paul was 13, I was playing at his house on South Main near Rockland. They had a
big old barn behind the house and Paul and I played there often. One day he
handed me a Pall Mall cigarette. I took a few puffs and right then and there
began a 31 year long addiction to nicotine. Ah, the good old days. I dont
blame Paul, I could have said no.
While Paul was an
outgoing and very friendly person, he did have one major flaw. He wanted to be
part of the group, any group, so bad that he would laugh at any joke told, some
of which needed to be explained, but not to Paul. I remember that Allen Loane and
I noticed that Paul would do this all the time so we tried to make up jokes that
were total nonsense just to see if he would say he got the joke. We were 15 or
16 years old and didnt comprehend that we might hurt his feelings. Actually, Im
not sure he ever became aware that the jokes were just goofs on him because we
would tell them, laugh and wait for him to laugh which he always did. Our
stupid little brains thought this was funny. Now I have never forgotten my gem
of a joke and it continues with me to this day. I will occasionally tell the
joke and have people confused even after I tell them it is a nonsense non-joke.
You can see their minds trying to sort out the words. Here is the joke/riddle:
Why is a mouse
the same with one ear and swims?
Because
both of his ears are one alike.
General Joe, RIP