John Cavallo
John Cavallo, Jr., age 77 of Goodyear, AZ died March 25, 2019, in Goodyear, AZ. He was born September 10, 1941, in New York City, NY to John and Clementina Cavallo. John graduated from St. Francis College in Brooklyn, NY in 1965 where he was a charter member of Alpha Kappa Psi Fraternity. He was very active in the PebbleCreek community and belonged to the following clubs: Republican Club, Italian American Club, Irish American Club, Men’s Christian Fellowship and Coffee Club.
John is survived by his wife, Bari Cavallo; daughters, Lisa Britt and her husband, William, and Karen Carey and her husband, Christopher; brothers, Gino Cavallo and Ronald Cavallo and four grandchildren, Danielle Britt, Nicole Britt, Jack Carey and Luke Carey. He was preceded in death by his parents, John and Clementina Cavallo and his mother-in-law, Reva Kladney.
A memorial service was held on Friday, March 29, 2019, at Thompson Funeral Chapel, 926 S. Litchfield Road, Goodyear, AZ 85338. The family suggests that donations be made to the American Heart Association. Condolences for the family may be left at www.ThompsonFuneralChapel.com.
Osborn Durke Johnson
Osbourn Durke Johnson, known to all his family and friends as Durke, passed away Sunday, March 3, 2019, at the age of 86. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Ann, their two children, Steve Johnson and Denise Ashton and his five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Born in Downey, Idaho in 1933, Durke moved to Altadena, California in 1946, where he attended Elliot Junior High and Pasadena City College. He attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in engineering and ultimately met Ann in 1951. Married in 1954, he started working for Honeywell, living in California, Minnesota and Colorado, and did an exciting ‘tour of duty’ in Brussels, Belgium for four and a half years in the mid-1980s, resulting in travels and experiences around the world. He retired from Honeywell in 1996 and moved to PebbleCreek in Goodyear, Arizona in 1999, where they enjoyed golf, friends and fun activities. Durke spent years as a Ranger at Tuscany Falls golf course where he shared his outgoing personality with all those he met. We celebrate his wonderful life as a loving husband, father and best friend; we will miss him dearly! There will not be a memorial service; however donations can be made to Hospice of the Valley as their care and compassion is unsurpassed.
Mary Ann Szakacs
Never in a million years did I ever think that I’d be sitting here writing this obituary for my beautiful bride of 61 years. Mary Ann was the wind beneath my wings and I was the luckiest man in the world to be her life-long partner.
It was love at first sight back in 1956 when I asked Mary Ann (Gora) to “Jitterbug” with me at a political function. We danced the night away and our true love grew ever since. We were united in marriage and raised our family of five children with the grace of God. Turns out, Mary Ann was equally as terrific as a mother as she was a wife. Daily family meals, music lessons for the kids, church every Sunday, traveling to every state in the U.S. and ballroom dancing together on the weekends made the years seem like merely days. We had a saying in our household, “A family that prays together; stays together.” We did. We do. We are. Family strong.
Mary Ann Szakacs (aka “MAS”) was born in Hammond, IN in 1937. We bought our first home in Hessville, IN (1959) and then moved to Munster, IN (1967). Later, we transplanted ourselves to AZ soil in 1995. Before retiring, MAS was a legal secretary by day and an avid dog lover, wife and mother at night. Always juggling time and budgets, MAS enjoyed other hobbies such as pinochle, macramé and golf. Both my wife and I have “holes-in-one” on record while we were active golfers. Age and medical issues slowed down our golf games, but MAS then expended her energy on her love of travel, nature, animals and piano/organ.
My wife was a fierce fighter and could go toe to toe with the best of any heavy weight boxer. Not in the literal sense, but when dealing with the numerous (and there were many) serious health issues that tried to beat her down only to find my wife rallying to knock them out. Not this time, though. God decided that she’s been through enough suffering and doesn’t need to suffer any longer.
As I held Mary Ann’s hand and looked into her eyes for the last time, I realized what I had to do. I had to let her go. I did not want to do so, but the love I had for her enabled me to tell her, “It’s ok to go. You can leave me.” God will now take care of her until we can once again “Jitterbug” together on the great dance floor in the sky.
Mary Ann Szakacs is proudly survived by “little ol’ me” (John), four children (note: our oldest son, Johnny, passed away in 1971), eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Arizona Humane Society at 9226 N. 13th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85021.