My Husband, Father of our Children, My Love and My Friend. After 40 years together My Heart is Broken. My life will never be the same without you. I miss you! ❤️

My Big Brother “Joey” Joseph Santo Livio,
and I grew up in an “All Italian” neighborhood in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn. We were very Italian and very Catholic. As Italians, who are very particular about food, we had a bakery for bread, a pastry shop for pastries, a butcher shop for our meat, and a whole pork store for our pork products, which, by the way, was separate from all the other meats. John the vegetable man came to our front door for us to buy fresh vegetables, and there was a whole other cart that came with the fruit.
Speaking of food- which is usually the conversation of all Italians, Sunday was truly the big day of the week. This was the day you would wake up to the smell of garlic and onions frying in olive oil. As you lay in bed you could hear the hiss, as the fresh tomatoes were added into the pot. On Sunday, the big meal of the day was served in the afternoon. Not just pasta in fresh Sauce- which by the way we called “gravy”, but all the meatballs, sausage, and pork, which was only the first course. It was usually followed by a roast of some kind, served with two fresh vegetables, a salad, and of course Italian Bread.

Sunday would not be Sunday without going to Mass. All the kids on the block went to the 9:00am mass. We walked to St. Bernadette together. We all fasted before we went to church so we could receive communion. We all got really dressed up too. The boys wore suits and ties, and the girls wore dresses or suits. In those days women had to cover their heads in church, so hats were big. Right after mass, we would walk across the street to the Italian Bakery and buy Italian Cookies and Italian Ices which we would eat on our walk home. This was the routine every Sunday.
Every Sunday and Every Holiday, everybody came to our house, all the children, uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, and …everybody. The table would be full of food and the house always had music and dancing. Italians love to sing and dance as much as they love food. Uncle Jimmy would take out a guitar and my dad would sing and everybody else would dance. My Brother Joey was a really good dancer. It seemed to come naturally to him.

Joey was the “Fonzie” (Happy Days) of our neighborhood. He put on a ruff exterior, but inside he was all heart and love.
Growing up I remember that he took apart and put together car engines, tried to collect all the stray animals in the neighborhood, and was a loving and kind big brother.
I will miss and love him always and forever.
Your Sister, Paulette

Uncle Joey, you were a strong man with an unmatchable amount of love. I never thought you wouldn’t be here. I know you were met with open arms of the family that passed before you. I will always carry on the passion for animals you instilled in me.
Love you,
Always & Forever!

I’ll always miss my dad. He was a pretty cool old man. The fire department was cool the farm was cool the bikes were cool and other things we did. I’ll always cherish them days.
Love ya lots Rambo

I love you so much dad. I don’t think I could ever find the right words to express how much you mean to me and how grateful I am to have had you as a father. I could say it a million different times or ways and it still would never amount to your love.

You were the kind of dad who would do anything for his daughter. If I needed help, I know I could always call you and you would drop everything for me. I wouldn’t even have to ask and you’d be there. Not always happy about it… (let’s not even start on the millions of car problems omg) but you were very quick to forgive.

I’ll miss (and this isn’t even an exaggeration lol) your hundreds of phone calls/voicemails, your cheesy jokes and strong opinions on everything. The way I’d walk into the house and you’d say “ah my favorite daughter” …knowing I’m the only daughter lol.

You set the standard of what a good man is. I have always felt loved, accepted and beautiful because of you.

You gave me my appreciation for animals, stinky foods, music and so much more. I am so thankful for the memories of us stopping traffic to save turtles in the road, getting fast food after school, and listening to your CDs in the Jeep. I wish I could have had more time with you. I feel like we were cheated out of a few years… like the best part of my life hasn’t even started yet, but yours has ended. At least you’re no longer in any pain and you can rest now with Eric, Grandma, Grandpa and the animals.

I love you so much dad and I will miss you every day for the rest of my life. A piece of us died with you.

Your favorite daughter, your lisigirl

When I moved back to New Port Richey in 1995 it was across the street from Joe and his family. Laura was pregnant with Lisa and Anthony became a second son always willing to help. I loved the birds and other weird critters Joe kept. A few neighbors didn’t like the birds because they talked and made crazy sounds but to me they were awesome and never bothered me. I would bring kids over and Joe would show and talk about the different snakes, frog’s, birds and turtles he had. He was always happy to talk about them. I wasn’t at all close to Joe or his family besides Anthony but I will say he loved his family and loved life. Glad I was able to know him and deeply sorry for the families loss.