I was born to Vincent and Josephine Parigi On July, 18th, 1933, in the town of Beaumont, Texas.  The Great Depression was in full swing, but Beaumont was an oil town and the economy was not too bad.  Franklin Roosevelt was president and considered the savior of our country. Until his death at the end of World War II, I knew of no other president. We lived with my aunt, Santa on Magnolia Avenue.  Her husband had already died so I did not know him.  She had 2 sons, both older than I.  When I was about 5 years old, my parents bought a house on Victoria.  We lived there until I was about 9 or 10 years old.  My dad and his brother had an auto service station.  When I was small, I worked some for them wiping windshields and sweeping out cars.  We were not poor, but also we were not rich. We had everything we needed. We moved to the south end of town, and I entered the South Park school system.

I graduated from South Park high school in 1950, and went to Lamar College also located in Beaumont. I graduated with a degree in accounting. I later passed the CPA exam. I spent my working life as a CPA until I retired.  Basically that is the story of my life, except for the most important and best part, my marriage to Annette.

I come from a large family.  My mother's family had 14 children. My father's family had seven children. They are all gone now I only have one uncle and one aunt left from all of those children. My mother's family emigrated from Corleone, Sicily. My father's family emigrated from Cefalu, Sicily where he was born.  He emigrated from Sicily in 1921 when he was 10 years old.  My mother was born in Beaumont, Texas. I did not know my father's mother or father.  They died before I was born.  He died in the United States and she died in Sicily.  My grandmother did not come to America.  She did not want to leave her mother there alone.  The way things worked out, she died before her mother.

My dad's father died as a hero in my mind.  My aunt had two children, boys.  One was playing in the street in front of my aunt's grocery store.  A car was coming down the street and would hit him. My grandfather ran into the street and pushed him out of the way. The car hit my grandfather and broke both his legs in addition to other injuries.  In the hospital he developed pneumonia and died.  A hero in my mind.  My grandfather was a fisherman in Sicily.  It must have been really hard to make a living.  In about 1909 he made a trip to the US.  He brought his oldest children with him, two of my uncles and my aunt.  After they got established, All had grocery stores, He brought the other children, which included my father, to the US.  This was about 1921.  My dad was a football, baseball, and basketball star at Beaumont High School.  He received a scholarship to play football at St. Edwards University.  He was hurt in his freshman year and could not play.  He lost his scholarship and had to leave school.

 I am the oldest of seven children. My wife whose family emigrated from Sicily also was the oldest of four children. My wife, Annette and I married at a young age. She was 18 and I was 19. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.  She had big blue eyes that looked right through me, beautiful curly blond hair and everything else that went with beauty.  It was a marriage blessed by Heaven. We were married for 46 years until Annette died at the age of 65. We had two beautiful daughters. Jo Ann was born in 1954, Cathy was born in 1958.  It's funny how things work out.  Without giving it any thought or effort we were perfectly matched.  Both of us were of Sicilian decent, both catholic, and both from similar families.  We were a perfect match.  It sure made life easier.

When I was 4 or 5 years old, I had pneumonia.  I remember lying in bed out of my head with high fever.  I scared my mother to death when I told her I saw an angel at the foot of my bed.    I don't know why I remember this.

I don't remember much about my years in St Anthony’s grade school.  I guess I was too young.  I went to St Anthony’s through the 4th grade.  We then moved to the south end of town near Lamar College where I entered the South Park public schools. I had passed to the 5th grade, but the school system which had 11 years, changed by adding one more grade.  I was passed to the 6th grade on a trial basis.  I remained in the 6th grade and passed to the 7th grade at the end of the school year.

In jr. high and high school I started to play football and baseball.  In high school I lettered in both football and baseball.  I was a half-back and I kicked off and kicked extra points on the football team.  In baseball I played in the outfield and pitched a little. I was chosen captain of the football team my senior year.   I was class president in my sophomore year and class treasurer my senior year. Upon graduating from high school I received a scholarship from Lamar College in both football and baseball.  In football I played half-back and in baseball I played third base and in the outfield. In addition to my schooling and books, I also received $25 a month spending money.  My second year in college, I again received my scholarship, but the monthly spending money was reduced to $15.  I had my feelings hurt and refused the athletic scholarship.  I did, however receive an academic scholarship.  I did not letter in football in college.  I received a reserve letter, but I did letter in baseball.  I was on the first baseball team that Lamar had.

After my second year in college, Annette and I were married.  I started going to school part time so I could work.  Annette went to college 2 years and got a job as a secretary.  She worked so I could still go to school.  By only going to school part time, I lost my exemption from the draft into the army.  I was drafted and spent the next two years in the army.  I had basic training at Ft Bliss, near El Paso, Texas.  By this time Annette was expecting our first child.  After basic training, I was to be sent to Korea, where we were at war with North Korea.  Annette was having a hard time with her pregnancy.  Her doctor thought it would be better if I were there with her, so he wrote a letter requesting an extension of my leave after basic training.  Jo Ann was born one day before I had to leave to report for duty.  Because of the extension of my leave, I did not go to Korea with the rest of my group.  I was instead sent to a small unit, Ft Berry, stationed in Sausalito, California, which was just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, California.  It was a communications unit for defense of the US west coast.  After basic training the army sent me to what was called gunnery control school.  It involved map making, topography and astronomical computation.  At Ft. Berry I had to maintain a large plexiglas map.  It was really a cushy job.  I became really familiar with most of San Francisco.  It is a beautiful place, but I would rather have been home in Texas with Annette.

While I was in California, I bought my first car, a 47 Ford coupe.  After I was discharged, I drove this car home to Beaumont.  My dad rode the bus to California so he could ride home to Beaumont with me.  It was a long drive across the mountains in the cold of January.

Annette came to California for about a month.  While she was there we lived off post in a small rental apartment in Mill Valley, California. Then she returned to Beaumont and lived with her mother and father while I finished my tour of duty.  After I was discharged from service in the army, I reentered college.  I worked part time for Sears, Roebuck.  Between this, my allowance for schooling from the government and Annette working, we were able to earn enough to live on.  We still lived with Annette's parents.

My first major at Lamar was law, but I switched majors to accounting.  When I graduated from Lamar I received a bachelor of business administration with a major in accounting.

During the summer after my first year at Lamar, I went on a double date with my cousin, Sam.  His date was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.  She was a grade below him and I at St. Anthony’s.  I had a date with a girl I had gone out with a few times who was a grade below me in school.  His date's name was Annette Gigliotta.  I later asked him if he was going steady with her and he said no.  I then asked if he would mind if I asked her out.  He said he would not mind.  That is how I met and went out with the love of my life.

I asked Annette to marry me and she accepted me.  We had an engagement party at Hotel Beaumont in April of 1952.  We were married in St Joseph's Church by Father Viola in April of 1953 , the same priest who had married my mother and father.  Our reception was at the Red Carpet Inn.  It has long since burned down. Not long before we were married, her dad had a heart attack.  When we were married he was in the hospital.  He did not want us to put off the wedding.  Her brother, George, stood in for her father in the wedding.  We went to Galveston, and stayed at Hotel Galvez for our honeymoon. We were both very young.  She was 18 and I was 19.  I thank God for her every day.

When we got married we had nothing.  I did not own a car.  We were so much in love it did not matter.  We knew we would get along somehow.

After I graduated from college in 1957, I got a job working at the Texaco refinery in Port Arthur.

It was not the kind of work I wanted to do.  I went to work for a CPA firm in Port Arthur.  I worked there for about 5 years.  A bookkeeping practice was for sale because of the death of the owner.  Annette and I decided to buy the business.  This was April of 1962.  In September of 1958, our second daughter, Cathy was born.  We bought our house about this time.  It was an older house, but very nice.  It had 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths.  It was just right for us.  The business we bought turned out to be our life long business.  Annette worked right along side of me.  While our girls were small, Annette's mother took care of them while Annette was at work.

The business provided us with a good living.

In all the years we were in business, we only took one real vacation.  When my daughter Cathy was 2 or 3 years old and Jo Ann, my oldest daughter was 6 or 7, we went to Disneyland in California.  Annette's mother and father and her brother, Danny went with us.  That was it for vacations.  This was about 1960.

I enjoyed fishing and went often with my father- in - law.  He went twice a week.  We went in together and bought a boat.  We also went in together and bought a beach house at Crystal Beach on the Bolivar peninsula.  Annette and I could not afford it.  Her parents took over ownership of the beach house.  After my father-in-law died, I started hunting, mostly deer.  Most of my deer hunting was in south Texas near Freer, Texas.  I had a friend who owned property there.  I have several mounted deer heads and other animals from those hunts in south Texas.

In 1968, Annette and I decided to build a new house.  It was our home from then on.  Our girls grew up there.  Jo Ann went on to college and graduated with a degree in computer science.  Cathy went to college and became a nurse.  They both got married.  Cathy had 3 children, 2 girls and a boy.  Jo Ann had a boy.  Cathy's children are all married and live here in Beaumont, Texas.  JoAnn's son is now a freshman going to the University of Texas in Austin.

We had always been healthy, both Annette and I, but in about 1995, things changed.  Annette was diagnosed as having diabetes.  Her health began faltering.  The diabetes had been doing its devilment.

Annette became ill and in 1997 and began kidney dialysis.  About this time I retired from my accounting practice.  I could not work and take proper care of Annette.  She died in November, 1999.

After Annette died, in the year 2000, I decided to take a trip to Italy, because I had to get away.  I was so lonely without Annette.  I took Cathy and her three children, Candace, Jennifer, and Joey with me. We all had a wonderful time. We went to southern Italy and Sicily starting with Rome, Naples, Sorrento, Capri and South to Sicily. While in Sicily, we visited Cefalu, the town where my dad was born. It was a wonderful trip for all of us.  I wanted to lessen the pain of losing Annette.  It did not work.  I miss her more each day.  Everything reminds me of her.  I cry for her almost every day.  I guess I am just a foolish old man.

In 2006 my granddaughter, Jennifer and her husband, Danny, went on a tour of Italy.  I went with them.  It was a glorious trip.  We visited Venice, Florence, Pizza, Rome, Naples, Positano, and the Amalfi coast.  Then to Sicily and many places there.  We also went to Cefalu in Sicily, which was my Dad's birthplace.

Another trip to Italy took place in 2008.  It was similar to the 2006 trip.  This time my brother, Joe and his wife Fay, my sister, Lily, her husband, Michael, and her daughters, Sara and Lauren, my niece, Kristi, my grandson, Sean, and several friends joined us on the trip.  We went to Venice, Pizza, Florence, Rome, Naples, Capri, Sorrento, Positano, the Amalfi Coast, and on to Sicily.  It was great and we all had a wonderful time.  I have fallen in love with Italy.  If it were not for my age, my health, and my family I would move there.

I still live in the house Annette and I built.  Everything in it reminds me of her and the wonderful years we lived there.

I now take my great granddaughter, Gillian, to school and pick her up each day.  I love that girl, she reminds me of Annette.  I have a terrific family.  For this I feel blessed.  My family keeps growing.  I now have 4 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.  I am Paw Paw to all of them.  I love it.

So far it has been a wonderful life.  Oh, there have been times things did not go as I liked, but as I look back my family and I have had a wonderful life.  My health has now declined, but I am still self sufficient.  In 2010, I had a blockage in my heart and also an irregular heartbeat.  I had a stent inserted in an artery and a pacemaker, defibrillator inserted.  I also developed diabetes; however it is a mild case.  For the biggest part of my adult life, I have continued to get more and more overweight.  I guess because of little exercise and working sitting at a desk.  I now have been trying to lose the excess weight.  It was easier putting it on.  I now see 3 doctors on a regular basis and take pills every morning and evening.

In about 2010, Cathy and her husband, Jay, bought a beach house.  I go with them to the beach quite often.  We fish a lot and generally just enjoy the beach.

My chosen profession of accounting was hard work with many long hours especially during the January to April, 15th tax filing deadline.  I developed many friends while in my accounting practice.  They respected me and my judgment and I respected them.  I counted among my client’s doctors, lawyers, wholesalers, retail merchants, pharmacists and many others.  I was a member of the Texas Society of CPA's and the American Institute of CPA's.

Since Annette died, I have learned many things about my family.  I love them and they love me.  I wish she could have seen them grow.  Some of them she never knew.  She would love them. 

Survivors include his daughters, Jo Ann Parigi and Catherine Ann Bailleaux and her husband, Jay, both of Beaumont; grandchildren, Candace Hebert and her husband, Jeff Weyler; Jennifer Sieve and her husband, Danny; Joey Bailleaux and his wife, Lacy; and Sean Parigi Anderson, all of Beaumont; great-grandchildren:  Gillian, Owen, Wade, Abram, and Hannah Beth; brothers and sisters, Concetta St. Claire and her husband, Jerry, of Lumberton; Joe Parigi and his wife, Faye, of Wallisville; Lily Feagin; and Kathy Jo Locus and her husband, Paul, both of Sugarland; and numerous relatives and friends.

He is preceded in death by parents; wife, Annette Parigi; and brothers, Paul Parigi and Vincent Parigi, Jr.

A Rosary for Mr. Parigi will be recited at 5:00 p.m., Sunday, February 22, 2015, at Broussard’s, 1605 North Major Drive, Beaumont. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m., Monday, February 23, 2015, at St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church, 6825 Gladys Avenue, Beaumont, with his entombment to follow at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Beaumont.