Tuesday, January 26, 2010

You Don't Have a Credit Card to Get into Heaven


I have seen John Giragos for nearly four decades. If you can dare describe a man as "lovely," he was. The Church of St. Luke's was filled to capacity today as we remembered his life. He did a lot for our city and in many ways put Lake Worth on the map.

Those I happened to see and recognize this morning at the service were Michelle Seifert, Betty Resch, Barbara Aubel, Laurence and Dee McNamara, Katie McGiveron, Helen Marino, Greg Rice, Tom Ramiccio, Ann Harvey, John Harvey, Mark Foley, Jack McDonald, Mayor of Palm Beach, Barry Freedman, Lorraine Bowe, Commissioners Jennings, Golden and Mulvehill, Mayor Rene Varela and City Manager, Susan Stanton.

John was such an integral and important part of Lake Worth's family for 37 years at our beach. As an immigrant, he came to America, worked hard, became a citizen, gave back to his country and to his family. He didn't come here looking for hand-outs. He did it all the old fashioned way--by giving an honest product for a hard day's work.

His legacy will be memorialized each time we visit or walk by John G's, an all cash restaurant now owned and operated by three of his children. We all had a chuckle when the Priest talked about John being in heaven when he said, "You don't have a credit card to get into heaven; it's all cash."

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