Alfred S. De Petro

De PETRO, Alfred S.

Resided in the Littleton-Columbine area of Jefferson County Colorado and attended Saint Frances Cabrini Catholic Church there, and was a booster for Columbine High School from 1974 – 1982.

Born June 7, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska to Salvatore Di Pietro and Maria Virgillito, he was the brother of Giuseppe “Joe”, Sebastiano “Yano”, Gaetana “Tena” (Janevick), Louisa Maria “Louise Marie” (Jones), and Angelo James, all of whom predeceased him.

He was the husband of LaVaughn Jewell De Petro , the father of Alfred Stephen (Brenda Bullington), Gerald Edward, Julie Marie Callaway (Frank Comiskey), Thomas Gerard, John Matthew (Virginia), Mary Elizabeth (John Grant), and Michael Joseph (Linda) De Petro .

He was the grandfather of Nicholas Andrew De Petro (Laura), and Samuel Matthew De Petro, John Caspar Grant, and Jennifer Marie Hink (Brian Hink), and great-grandfather of Grace Helen and Hannah Rose Hink. He was also an Uncle, a cousin, and a friend to many.

Alfred, known as “Al”, attended elementary grades 1 through 8 at Train School in Omaha. While attending in his last year there, he was selected to be a Rotary Boy, a leadership honor. He was also an active youth member of the Omaha Christ Child Center.  He was then drafted into military service in September 1943 before starting his senior year in high school at Omaha Central. 

He trained at Fort Leavenworth Kansas and was stationed in England with the U.S. Army in World War Two as a Private First Class in the 237th Engineering Combat Battalion.  They landed on the Normandy beaches the day after D-Day, June 7th, 1944, which was also Al’s 19th birthday.  He received an Honorable Discharge from the Army on January 1st 1946.  He then finished high school in a special program for GI’s and in 1947 married LaVaughn J. McCallum, a U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps graduate of Creighton University in Omaha.  Together they had seven children, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Al had a long career as an executive in the photo industry, first in Omaha and then in Denver, until his retirement 1990.  He and LaVaughn then visited his parents’ hometown of Carlentini, Sicily during their tour of Italy.  They also traveled together to Germany where he had been a soldier, and to London England and Paris France via the Chunnel Eurostar train.  While in France they visited the beaches of Normandy and the U.S. Military Cemetery there commemorating the D-Day invasion.  Al was on the first Honor Flight from Denver to Washington D.C. to visit the World War Two Memorial.  He said he was there to honor and remember those who didn’t come home.  He also received a medal of recognition from the Honorary Consul of France in Denver for his military service.

Al died on December 29, 2018 in Lakewood, Colorado, at age 93.

Visitation is on Thursday January 3rd, 2019 from 3:00 until 5:00 p.m. at the Drinkwine Family Mortuary in Littleton and a Mass of Christian Burial at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Denver at 10:00 a.m. on Friday January 4th, 2019.  Burial later at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Veterans of Foreign Wars. Click here:  https://heroes.vfw.org/page/21776/donate/1?ea.tracking.id=homepage 

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