John Michael Delligatta

John, 74, passed away on April 20, 2019 at his home in Orange surrounded by his loved ones.

John was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1944. His parents were John and Emma Delligatta and he was the youngest of five siblings including Frank, Rosemarie, Pat, and Silvio. He attended Collinwood High School in Cleveland and was a lifelong Browns fan even after moving to California in the mid-60’s.

John worked at Hughes Aircraft/CSC in Fullerton and Long Beach  in Computer Operations and as a Network Specialist for over 35 years. He met his wife, Ann, at Hughes and John and Ann celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary this past December.    

His children and grandchildren (along with his nieces and nephews) were the joys of his life.  He loved surprising the grandkids with something simple that they might like. He kept a ready supply of Hershey bars and Kit Kats on hand for visits and was forever blowing up some new toy for the pool. He was always up for a hike or a bike ride with his grandsons and loved going to the park with all four. He knew how to make them laugh until they cried and loved to do that.

His other love was coaching youth teams. He started out by coaching his nephew in football. John soon moved to coaching girls’ softball teams to championship seasons in Southeast Orange Bobby Sox and   then on to successful travel ball teams. He had the pleasure of coaching two of his daughters and his nieces in softball and enjoyed spending hours working on pitching with his grandnephew.   (Daughter number 3 exchanged her mitt for horse boots early on and John was relegated to spectator status in that sport. )

Two years ago, his son surprised him with a trip to a Cleveland Browns game in Cleveland. They were able to share a special trip down memory lane together and John thoroughly enjoyed spending time with his only sister.  

John is survived by his wife, Ann Marie, and his children, Dawn, Michael (Tracy), Lise (Brian) and Teresa Delligatta and grandchildren, Nolan, Mason, Sydney and Rylee.  He is also survived by his brothers and sister: Frank, Rosemarie, Pat (Betty), and Silvio and many much-loved nieces and nephews and, of course, if we don’t include his beloved dog Jordan, he would never let us live it down.   

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