John Barone

With heavy hearts we convey the sad news that John Barone of Fairview, Texas passed away on January 4, 2022 from complications due to a head injury. John was 89 years old.

John was a proud first generation Italian-American. His parents Alessandro and Elisa Barone emigrated to the US in the late 1920’s and settled in western Pennsylvania. John had one sister Anna and they grew up in Aliquippa, PA. John was athletic and a lifeguard at the local lake. He played many sports including high school football, cross country and track.

John graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and then served in the US Army, stationed at White Sands, NM. After serving in the Army, he married Pauline LaRock and they settled in Michigan where he started his career as an Industrial Sales Engineer for the Roots division of Dresser Industries.  John and Paula had two daughters Valerie and Carol Anne. In 1976 John was transferred with Roots/Dresser and the family moved to Florida. In the early 1980’s he started his own company, Barone Equipment Sales, continuing his career as an industrial sales rep until he retired at the age of 70.

In 2007 John and Paula moved to Heritage Ranch in Fairview, TX. With his easy conversational manner and sense of humor John was enjoyable to hang out with and quickly formed lasting friendships with their new neighbors. John was active in the 9-holers golf club, monthly card games, and spent a lot of time socializing with friends and family.  Being the true engineer that he was, John was quite handy and always willing to help his friends and neighbors fix things around their houses.  He was very crafty and prided himself on his unique, hand-crafted solutions from everyday materials that nevertheless accomplished the task at hand.

Throughout his entire life John enjoyed working outdoors.  He did all of his own yard work, including mowing the lawn, and could always be found digging, planting, trimming, or mulching, nearly every day, rain or shine.  John was a generous man with a passion for plants, and had an incredible green thumb. He would take root cuttings from plants, nurture them into healthy new plants and freely give them away.

John is survived by his loving and devoted wife Paula of 63 years, daughters Valerie and Carol Anne, sons-in-law Richard and Chris, grandchildren Gregory and Tessa, and fur-grandchildren Willis, Lucy and Aldo.  A memorial to honor John will be held at a future date and the family asks that any donations go towards environmental preservation and/or the local food bank. John’s recent favorites were The Arbor Day Foundation and The North Texas Food Bank.

John Barone touched many lives and will be dearly missed by all who knew him.