Franco Pera, age 94, entered into rest on Nov. 30, 2012 in Manteca. He was born on June 2, 1918 in Marlia, Lucca, Italy, to the late Arturo and Margherita Pera.
He is survived by his beloved wife of 60 years, Teresa Pera, of Manteca and his devoted daughter Tina Risso and her husband, Frank, of Manteca. Franco was blessed with three caring grandchildren Brian Risso of Sunnyvale, Eric Risso and Cristina Risso of Manteca.
One of six siblings, he is survived by a sister Guilietta Donati of Lucca, Italy. Other family in Italy, include his dear nephew Romano Guasticci and wife Caterina, and their daughter, Sabrina, with husband Riccardo and children, Viola and Davide.
Franco is also survived by a dear nephew Enrico Dovichi, and wife Gloria, and their children Julie Day, with husband Mike, and son, Lucca, and Michael Dovichi, with wife Jenifer, and son Tayden, of Manteca.
Franco served in the Italian Air Force. He met the love of his life, Teresa Dovichi. After World War II, they immigrated to the United States. Franco and Teresa were married on Dec. 1, 1952 and settled in Manteca. He attended night school determined to learn the English language. He did so, but never lost his Italian accent. Franco began working in local grocery stores, Leo’s Grocery Store and Food Bank. He loved interacting with customers. In 1983, Franco retired as Produce Manager for New Deal Market.
Franco cherished his family, here and in Italy, financially supporting his mother. He loved babysitting his grandchildren. He would drive them to school and to sports and piano lessons. He was an avid soccer fan particularly when it came to his grandchildren’s games. Franco valued education and was proud that his daughter and each of his grandchildren graduated from college.
Being an American citizen was very important to him and he took his voting duty seriously. Franco was extremely proud of his Italian heritage and took pride in taking his family to Italy many times. He was a member of the Italian Catholic Federation (ICF) and of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church.
PL Fry & Son Funeral Home, 290 N. Union Road, Manteca is honored to be serving the Pera Family. A visitation will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 4pm- 6pm, at P.L. Fry & Son, 290 N. Union Rd. Manteca. A Rosary/Mass will be held on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012 at 10:30a.m. at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, 525 E. North Street, Manteca. Final resting place will be St. John’s Mausoleum, 17871 S. Carrolton Road, Escalon. An online guestbook is available at www.plfryandson.com, search obituaries.
Manteca (Calif.) Bulletin
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
