Virgil James Massaro

Virgil James Massaro died January 26, 2015 in Houston, Texas. He was born April 19, 1924 in McAlester, Oklahoma to Steve and Jennie Massaro. He was a veteran of World War II serving in the administrative offices of Camp Maxey, Paris, Texas. He attended the University of Oklahoma graduating with a degree in accounting and enjoyed a thirty-four year career with Conoco in both the Personnel Department and later in the Treasury Department, retiring as Assistant Treasurer. He then embarked on a second career of eight years with Jardine Insurance Brokers. He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother Ed Massaro and a sister, Doris Keller. He is survived by his wife Lois and four children, James Massaro and wife Susie of Hawaii, Cecile Bott and husband Julian of Texas, Peter Massaro and wife Jan of Oregon and Larry Massaro and wife Kamie of Texas. He is also survived by his brother Joe Massaro and his wife Nancy, plus nine grandchildren, Steve Massaro, KC Massaro, Danny Massaro, Michelle Massaro, Emily Massaro, Ian Bott, James Bott, Erica Massaro, and Lily Massaro; and five great-grandchildren, Julia, Tony, Sofia, Adalynn, and Hadley. The family would like to thank all of Virgil’s friends, doctors and caregivers who supported him with special care the last several months. The family will receive friends Tuesday, January 27 from 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm with a vigil and rosary at 7:00 pm at Dettling Funeral Home, 14094 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX 77079. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated Wednesday morning, January 28 at 10:30 am at St. John Vianney Catholic Church, 625 Nottingham Oaks Trail, Houston, TX 77079. Interment will follow on Thursday, January 29 at 1:00 pm at Our Lady of the Rosary Cemetery, 330 Berry Lane, Georgetown, TX 78626. Visit www.DettlingFuneral.com to leave online tributes. Eulogy by Ian Bott, recited the day of his grandfather Virgil Massaro's funeral Mass- Dearest Grandfather, I don’t have the words today to adequately encapsulate the impact you have had on me and on those around you. You are uniquely resourceful, unconditionally loving, exceptionally generous, as well as qualities that go far beyond words. You have always had an amazing proclivity for stories. As long as I’ve known you, you’ve always shared stories with me. True stories, made-up stories, bedtime stories, scary stories, funny stories… just a total abundance of stories. Sometimes the same story more than once. Today I am fondly reminded of one of these stories that demonstrates your creativity and shrewdness. The setting is one day at your office (at Conoco), when the company brought in a group of consultants to lead in a teambuilding exercise. The facilitators placed you in a small group and gave you a bunch of paper, scissors, glue and other materials. Each team was instructed to take the better part of an hour to come up with the most effective way of flying an object across the room. When time expired teams got up one by one, with complex paper airplane contraptions traveling various distances but never reaching the length of the large room. Your team was up very last. You stepped up as a representative, holding only a single sheet of paper in hand. To widespread shock, you crumbled the seemingly paltry sheet of paper into a ball. Hurling the paper, it hit the wall at the opposite end of the room at full force. Your solution was daring and unconventional, and also by far the best solution to the game. “You’ve seen this before, haven’t you?” asked the facilitator, dumbfounded. But of course you hadn’t seen it before, you merely had found the extraordinary within the ordinary. You once gave me the advice to always follow what seems authentic to yourself, to follow your inner judgment regardless of what others were doing, even when it means “flying” in the face of others’ expectations (yes, pun intended). And that is exactly the character you modeled for us every day, acting boldly and sincerely without compromising on your own wisdom and values. And you did so with a sense of grace, compassion and playfulness that so many of us in this room have had the fortune to experience Today it is with utmost sadness that we say goodbye to your physical presence; I will miss your unwavering support for me, for our family and for those closest to you. And yet today I also have gratitude in knowing that your influence and inspiration has not left us. There is an interminable part of you that lives on in your children, your grand-children and great-grandchildren as well as the lives of all those you touched. For there is perhaps nothing as perennial as the love and joy that you shared with us and that lives on in each of our hearts. Love you always Grandpa.

Virgil James Massaro

April 19, 1924 - January 26, 2015