Celebrant Pam Meily Vetter


	Celebrating Life Everyone Has A Story...

Michael Angelo Zullo, Jr. was born to Lucy and Michael Sr. in Chicago, Illinois, in 1923. He grew up in a close Italian family as he was raised with his sister, Carolyn, and his brother, Roland. His father was an immigrant from Italy, and owned a shoe store in Chicago. His mother was a homemaker when the kids were little. Later, she worked as a secretary to the president of a company. His mother was really his inspiration in life. She taught him everything, including how to cook. Mike grew up very quickly. At the age of 10, he was driving the car, as he was responsible for going to the bank and making deposits. He learned a strong work ethic at a young age. He was a very bright student in school. In high school, he joined ROTC. He graduated from high school in Chicago and went on to college, earning a degree in engineering. In 1943, Mike was drafted into the United States Army during World War II. He was stationed in the Philippines as a sergeant in charge of heavy artillery. He lived in the mountains of the Philippines. He finished his service to the United States of America in 1946. Mike was always proud of his service in the Army.

When he returned after the war, he earned his law degree at the John Marshall Law School of Chicago. He worked for the Ford Motor Company in Chicago when he married Marian in 1948. She was a beautiful ballerina and very talented dancer. The couple had three children: Karen, Glenn, and Candy. The children were all born 18 months apart. Mike loved being a father as he enjoyed sharing knowledge with the next generation. He taught the kids many things, including how to cook. As a member of the NRA, he also taught them how to shoot guns. If the kids ever had a question, he provided a wealth of information in detail. He was very well educated and intelligent. As a father, he was involved. Taking an active role, he was the head of the school's PTA. While life at home was filled with structure, he also supported all of their interests, as he was really involved in their lives.

The family moved to San Antonio, Texas, when Mike worked with the Ford Motor Company for a few years. In the late 1950s, the family moved to Palos Verdes as Mike worked for Hughes Aircraft for the next 12 years. He and Marian grew apart and divorced. While traveling, he met Joy, an airline hostess with Eastern Airlines. She told the other flight attendants, "Leave him alone girls, he's mine." The couple hit it off. She spent the weekend with the flight crew in Acapulco and they invited Mike to join them to go dancing. The first song they danced to was "Stranger in the Night" by Frank Sinatra. The couple started long-distance dating and Mike followed her around the country, even to New York one time. They dated for a year and in April 1968, the couple married at the courthouse in Los Angeles. Joy and Mike spent their honeymoon traveling around the world for six weeks. He was a photographer and the couple took 500 slides of their travels. The couple was so thrilled to welcome two more children into their lives with Denise in 1970 and Mikey in 1976. With five children, life was an adventure. The births of grandchildren made it that much better as he loved his children and grandchildren so very much.

Mike was a wonderful husband. He and Joy had a balanced relationship as they complimented one another. Over the years, he never retired. He worked for Boise Cascade. He worked as a lawyer for Shackley. He worked for Emery Real Estate after earning his broker's license. For a year, the couple lived in Cairo, Egypt, when Mike worked on a $160 million water project for Parsons. He was also a professor, teaching global issues at Cal Poly Pomona and teaching graduate students on International Law and International Marketing. He loved to lecture to the students. It was his gift.

At home, family was the priority. Mike was always there for the kids and their friends as he gave them wisdom, knowledge, and fatherly advice. He went out of his way to help people. Joy and Mike included Marian in every event as they celebrated birthdays, Christmas, and Thanksgiving together. Mike's parents moved from Chicago to Southern California in 1971, and the gatherings were wonderful with extended family. The hardest parts of Mike's life were losing his mother in 1978, losing his son, Glenn, in 1979, and losing his father in 1980. The death of his son was by far the biggest tragedy in his life and he was never the same after that, because his family was everything.

Over the course of his life, he had many favorites. He enjoyed listening to classical music, Italian songs by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, and singer Keely Smith. His favorite hobby was cooking. He made delicious Italian sausage sandwiches. His advice, "Never cook an egg in a cold pan." He loved eating cheese, and enjoyed cheese and tomatoes on bread for breakfast. His favorite food was Italian, but he also enjoyed eating at totally authentic ethnic restaurants including Chinese and middle eastern. Mike liked to drink coffee in the morning and wine with his dinner. He loved his fruit trees in the yard and his view of the mountains. He had a talent for fixing things, as he was hands-on and very mechanical. He helped Denise repair her dryer by standing over her and talking her through it, as he could no longer get down on the ground. He enjoyed watching the Discovery Channel and he loved reading, as he owned an entire collection of "The Stories of Civilization" history books by Will and Ariel Durante. He was saving his set of encyclopedias for his granddaughter, Emily, whom he was so very proud of in life. They had a special relationship because she lived with them when she was born. He kept a beautiful letter that the teacher wrote about Emily. He even attended her awards ceremony a few months ago. Mike was also proud that his granddaughter Allison was the greatest storyteller even at the age of eight. He loved all of his grandchildren.

When Joy told Mike "I love you," he returned with "La-La Lou" which was how his daughter Karen would say I love you when she was small. Mike's purpose in life was sharing knowledge with others as he had an answer for everything. He was so intelligent and informed. He believed in God and Heaven, but he also believed in religious freedom and he was very spiritual. He believed you can pray anywhere, anytime and it helps people.

Mike worked until a year ago at the age of 85. In the past few years, he met Kumar and Barbie who became dear friends. Mike eventually assisted Kumar in creating an online university. He was so happy when the University was accredited last month. Mike was alert until the end. He watched President Barack Obama's appearance on Jay Leno on Thursday night. He even went to a few grocery stores to buy several corned beefs for 97 cents a pound. As he grew up during the Depression, he knew the value of a dollar. In the end, Mikey kept him alive by taking care of his medications, taking him to the Veteran's hospital, and helping him over the last year. Mike and Mikey were really best friends. Mike was alert until the end, even giving orders to his wife about his final Vicodin pill saying, "I told you to break it in half." It was a piece of advice that makes the family smile because he was still in charge. The family is grateful that they were around him as he passed away. Mike really had nine lives, bouncing back from several challenges. He had a great interest in watching John Edward on TV and if there's any way he could contact his family again, he will. His wife had bought him a pink talking teddy bear for Valentine's Day and when Mike died, the teddy bear stopped talking as well. The bear will be laid to rest in the casket with Mike along with some hand-drawn pictures of rainbows from his grandchildren.

His family will miss everything about him. Denise has found herself wanting to call him for advice. As father and daughter, he and Karen were good friends and she'll miss the daily phone calls. Candy is grateful she made many trips from Kansas to visit regularly over the last few years. Mikey will miss their special relationship. Michael Zullo will best be remembered as a man who wanted to spread intelligence in the world. He lectured, taught and disseminated information to everyone he met. He was generous, smart and loved his family and friends. His advice to everyone would be to make him proud.

Michael Zullo Jr. was preceded in death by his parents Lucy and Michael Sr.; brother Roland; and son Glenn. He is loved and remembered by his wife Joy; daughter Karen; daughter Candy; daughter Denise; son Mikey; grandchildren Bobby, Ashton, Austin, Heather, Emily, Allison, and Olivia; sister Carolyn; extended relatives and friends.