ISADORE FRANCIS SPAGNOLETTI

1927-2017

Isadore Francis Spagnoletti passed away on Thursday, the 21st of September 2017, after living life to its fullest for ninety years. Born on the 11th of January 1927, to Francesco and Concetta Spagnoletti in Hoboken, New Jersey, Isadore was the younger brother of Dominick Spagnoletti (21 July 1921 – 11 July 2004). Isadore lived through the Depression—he learned the value of hard work as a longshoreman and learned to take nothing for granted. These life lessons personified him until the day that he died.

While steadfast and loyal to his Italian heritage, Isadore was a patriot who served in World War II as a technical sergeant. Like his fellow comrades, he benefitted from the 1944 Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, commonly known as the “G.I. Bill,” receiving his BS from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and then his M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology. He was also a graduate of the Harvard School of Business, receiving a post graduate degree from their Advanced Management program.

Isadore began his career at the American Can Company as a plant trainee where he rose through the ranks to eventually retire as a Senior Vice President in 1986. Notably, in 1976, Isadore was in charge of designing a time capsule that was donated by the American Can Company to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. to be opened in 2076 to celebrate the tri-centennial of the United States.

Living through the Depression, a world war, and the golden age (and subsequent demise) of American manufacturing constituted an amazing life for Isadore, but he would tell you that his life was nothing if not for his family and that began with his beloved wife Dallice Spagnoletti (3 June 1926 – 28 January 1998). Still in school and knowing he felt nothing more true than the love he felt for her, he romantically proposed to her in the back of a taxi cab on the way to a show in New York City. Dallice and Isadore married on the 19th of June 1949. Dallice and Isadore had one son—Francis “Frank” Isadore Spagnoletti, born on the 11th of January 1954. Frank defined their lives from the time he was born to the time that they both passed away, respectively.

Upon retiring in 1986, Dallice and Isadore moved to Sugar Land, Texas, to be closer to Frank and their two grandsons Francis and Marcus Spagnoletti. Not knowing anything other than how to work, Isadore failed to pick up golf or any hobby other than occasional gardening. He volunteered at the Texas Small Business Association to aid entrepreneurs and struggling businesses. But in 1992, he returned to work full time alongside his son at Spagnoletti & Associates as the firm’s administrator/accountant. Colloquially known as “Sr.” to those at the Firm, he came to work every day until the day that he died, even over instructions from his son and his good doctors at St. Luke’s hospital.

Isadore was tough and a fighter. He endured severe physical limitations and extreme discomfort in the years leading up until his death, but he never complained. He looked forward to spending meals and holidays with Frank, Marcus, Francis, and Ryla Bouchier, hearing about his great granddaughters, Aster, Vita, Indy, and Ivy, and discussing politics. He was a humble man, with a wealth of knowledge, the incredible ability to tell a story, and an affinity for a stiff drink. While he will be dearly missed, the family takes solace in the fact that he can now dance to Frank Sinatra with his beautiful bride Dallice for eternity.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from five o’clock in the afternoon until seven o’clock in the evening on Wednesday, the 27th of September, in the library and grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

The Mass of Christian Burial is to be offered at ten o’clock in the morning on Thursday, the 28th of September, at St. Anne Catholic Church, 2140 Westheimer Road in Houston.

At a later date the family will gather for a private entombment at Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington, New Jersey.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions in his name be directed to the Texas Heart Institute, attn. Development Office, MC 3-117, PO Box 20345, Houston, TX 77225-0345; or to St. Anne Catholic Church; 2140 Westheimer Rd., Houston, TX, 77098.