Steve Petragallo
Steve Petragallo
Steve Petragallo was born July 7, 1952 in Coeurd’Alene, Idaho
to Fred and Marge Petragallo. Fred Jr was ten years old when he welcomed his
little brother! Steve attended school in Coeurd’Alene, and graduated in 1971. He attended North Idaho College, where he
swears he mostly played cards! He began working at Potlatch Forest Mill, where
his grandfather, father and brother had worked before him. During his life he
worked as a plumber with his brother, Fred and a fence builder/ house framer with
his buddy, Carl, but he hadn’t found his real calling yet.
In 1981, he moved to Boise to be live and work with his
sister, Angel in her janitorial and carpet cleaning company. It was there that he met the future mother of
his daughter, Cindy Loya and her son, Timothe. They spent the next years living
in Boise and Meridian. In 1989, their daughter Stephanie was born. Almost
simultaneously, he began a career as a locksmith and ultimately achieved the
title of Master Locksmith. This job suited Steve to a tee! Steve took a job in
California to learn the trade and finally moved back to Idaho. The family then
moved to Coeurd’Alene and spent a couple years there. At that time, Cindy and
children moved back to Meridian to care for her ailing mother. Steve remained
in North Idaho and was a 15 plus year employee of Shull’s Lock and Key in Cd’A;
ending his career in 2005 when his health and eyesight were failing.
He was diagnosed with
renal failure and began dialysis. He toughed it out there alone, not letting
anyone really know how hard things were. He moved back to Meridian in September of 2009,
living there until May of 2012. At that
time, he suffered an incident which further disabled him. He then moved to
Angel’s house, so she could care for him. They enjoyed the last three months
learning about sibling role reversal, struggling over differences of
communication methods and learning to work with those differences. They enjoyed
a quiet late day Thanksgiving meal together. In spite of everything, one thing
was evident; the love they held for each other superseded all the negatives!
Steve was a tender, tough and funny man, with a love of
animals and children and they all seemed to flock to him. He loved to tease and be teased back. He was a
man of great charm and up until the day he died, those he met found him hard to
resist.
Even though he had been ill for such a long time, his death
came as a shock to even his kidney doctor. He was still responding well to
dialysis and his sudden leaving has left many questions. Thankfully, Steve was able to visit with his
brother, Fred and nephew, Tracy the day before his passing. He was also able to
enjoy Stephanie’s graduation from Toni and Guy Academy in November. He was so
proud of her accomplishment and she cut his hair Thanksgiving Day!
Steve was preceded in death by his parents, grandparents,
step mother, and a sister who died before he was born.
He is survived by his sister Angel, brother Fred, Cindy
Loya, daughter Stephanie, her brother Timothe, two grandsons, Troy and Braxton,
nephew Tracy, nieces Franki and Angie, great nieces and nephews Lauren, Taylor,
Adam, Dustin and Nick. Services will be
held at Alden Waggoner Funeral Chapel on Friday December 14, at 2 pm. The family welcomes people to stay after the
service to enjoy light refreshments. Burial will be held in Coeurd’Alene at a
later date.
Special thanks to: Dianne Hough, Group One Real Estate, for
providing Thanksgiving Dinner,
Valerie Gray, Atova Real Estate,
Lori Apodaca Home Warranties of America, and
Diana Stork, Title One who all provided lovely dinners
prepared from Kidney Kitchen recipes.
Liberty Dialysis – Dr Mary Dittrich, Crystal and Judy who helped keep him going.
Life’s Doors Home Health – Lois, Naomi, Alita and Lisa.
Nurses, Physical Therapists and Bathers Extraordinaire!
To Dr. Mary Langenfeld, founder of Life’s Doors, for her loan of a hospital bed and
wheelchair.
To Mac and Linda Emery, Deb Butte, Andre Moncheur, Fred and
Tracy Petragallo for building a room and bathroom for Steve
Cindy Loya for the cooking Steve loved and, last but not
least,
Lisa Rossetti for her help in picking Steve up when he fell,
watching football with him and just generally helping out when Angel needed a
rest.
It really does take a village!
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Steve Petragallo, please visit our flower store.
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