Saying Goodbye to My Hero

by Jack Guarnieri, Jersey Jack Pinball & PinballSales.com

It happened. I lost my oldest friend, my hero, my compass, my mentor, my buddy, my defender and cheerleader … I lost my Dad, Rosario Salvatore “Sal” Guarnieri, who passed away at the age of 96 on June 6. His passing happened to come on D-Day, which was a fitting day for a true hero to pass.

Dad was the best you could ever hope for. We are so blessed to have had him in our lives all of these years.

He served his nation in WWII in the U.S. Navy and was part of an occupying force in Japan after the atomic bombs were dropped. It’s no wonder he suffered through and survived four different serious cancers. In his final four years, he was on kidney dialysis and went for treatment three days a week, never complaining.

He was a nice and gentle man and while I’ve met tough people in my life, I’ve never known anyone stronger than my Dad.

I’m thankful to have had him as a father and to have known him in so many ways over the years. He accomplished some great things, and was always a hero to me, as well as a great teacher and example. I can only hope to be as good as he was.

Dad, I love you. I’ll love you forever. I know that you were so proud of us all and I promise to try to be a good dad to our children and grandchildren.

We were lucky to exchange goodbyes and spend a last couple of days together. I’m very grateful for that and thank you for everything you did for us. Rest in God’s Eternal Peace.

Jack Guarnieri started servicing electro-mechanical pinball machines in 1975 and has been involved in every phase of the amusement game business since then. He was an operator in NYC, then began a distributorship in 1999, PinballSales.com, selling coin-op to the consumer market. In January of 2011, he founded Jersey Jack Pinball (named after his RePlay Magazine pen name), which builds award-winning, full-featured, coin-op pinball machines. Email Jack at jack@ jerseyjackpinball.com.