Thursday, July 19, 2018
I was truly sad upon hearing of the passing away of Jerome "Jerry" Lucchese. Jerry and Maureen's house was a constant place I and others hung out at. Eddie Wheby, Matteo Mule, I and others would be over there constantly after school (and especially on Weekends) to hang out with Chris. Even after moving down to Florida over the Summers of 1987 and' 88 I always had a place to stay when I came to visit . For that, all the meals and the trips to the Poconos I will always remain grateful to Maureen and Jerry.
One funny story comes to mind about Jerry. It was the Summer of 1988 and Jerry, Maureen and Nora had gone to the Poconos. Chris, Eddie, Derek (Poose) Sessions, Jerome and I were all at the house in the Venice. We were all bored so Chris and Eddie decided to shave their heads. I myself already had a shaved head so I decided to shave my eyebrows. I was strongly encouraged by everyone to do it, so I did. Nevertheless it was a very regretful act and I looked like a complete idiot. In the days that followed I wore a bandana over my former eyebrows to hide this mistake. One night I joined Maureen and Jerry for dinner. While eating I knew right away he was staring at me. After a minute or so he said "What the hell did you do to your eyebrows!?!" Jerry was one to always speak his mind. My deepest condolences to Maureen, Jerome, Chris and the rest of the family on the loss of Jerry. He will definitely be missed.
