Obituary of Joseph D. Giglierano

Joseph D. Giglierano, 87 of Iowa City died Wednesday, October 3, 2012, at the Solon Care Center from complications of a stroke. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, October 6, 2012, at Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service, where visitation will be at 1pm prior to the services with a continued time of fellowship following the services at the funeral home. Memorial donations can be made in Joe's memory to the Iowa City Senior Center. Online condolences may be sent for his family through the web @ www.gayandciha.com. He was born May 22, 1925 in Buffalo, NY. He was the son of Italian immigrant Vincenzo Giuseppe Giglierano of Satriano, Italy and Cecilia Heska Giglierano, whose family had emigrated from Poland to Buffalo in 1892. He grew up in the Italian neighborhood in Buffalo and enjoyed recounting colorful stories from his youth. To his grandson who is studying performance violin at Oberlin Conservatory, his eyes sparkled as he talked about his own short-lived career playing the violin in grade school. "I hated it because I always got teased for carrying my violin to school." One day a group of bullies started a fight with him and he used his violin in self- defense, breaking the case in the process. Afterwards his father made him carefully wrap his violin in newspaper and he carried it to school like a dead fish. Another favorite tale was about working in his Uncle Frank DiChristina's bakery. He was expected to work with little or no pay, so he decided to pay himself and his friends with jelly donuts that were filled with triple the usual amount of jelly. Sometimes the donuts would explode from too much jelly. He also worked at a movie theater during high school, letting his friends in for the late show through the back door. During a trip back to Buffalo in 2005, he recounted a story about playing football during gym class on the roof of Lafayette HS. Sometimes they would kick the ball off the roof by "mistake", and have to leave the building to retrieve the ball. Needless to say, they usually didn't return to school that day. He served in the American Theater with the army during World War 2 as a corporal in the military police, and after the war studied at the Art Institute of Buffalo. During this time he participated in juried competitions at the Albright Art Gallery which displayed a number of his paintings. On August 18, 1951, he married ceramic designer Beatrice Carol Jackson of Batavia, NY, and together they had 3 children: Joseph, Geoffrey, and James. He put his artistic talents to use in the field of advertising and display. He worked most of his career for the JC Penney Company, starting new stores across the northeastern US. Later he worked in sales and newspaper advertising. In 1976 he started his own business called ADS (Advertising Display Service) in Goshen, OH. His careers gave him the opportunity to live in several different places including Buffalo, NY, Detroit and Adrian, MI, Pittsburgh, PA and Goshen and Batavia, OH. In 1977 he had a detached retina which left him legally blind and unable to drive a car, but with determination and an indomitable spirit (and Bea as his driver) he was able to continue working for another 15 years before retiring. He last worked for the Clermont Sun newspaper in Batavia, OH. After retirement, Joe and Bea moved to Iowa City, IA to be close to family. There, Joseph started another career as an artist, specializing in using oil crayons in a painterly method to document the changing Midwest landscapes. He was a prolific artist, selling his work in local shows and galleries. His own home contained over 100 of his paintings hanging on the walls. His work is in collections across the country from New York to California. At the Solon Care Center where he spent the last two years of his life, he was known for his wide smile and his sense of humor teasing the staff. He is survived by his sons, Joseph and wife Allison of San Jose, CA, Geoffrey and wife Jennifer of St. Louis, MO, and James and wife Earlene of Iowa City, IA. He is also survived by 5 grandchildren: Emily, Nathan, Vincent, William, and Simon. His older sister Marion Wydra still lives and dances in Buffalo, NY. His wife Beatrice, older brother Alfred, and parents preceded him in death.