Saturday, May 27, 2006
Daniel DiPiero was remembered as a funny, shy and affectionate young man.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- "But I always thought that I'd see you again."
"Fire and Rain," the mournful James Taylor ballad, opened the tribute to Daniel DiPiero, 21, who never returned from what was supposed to be a 10-day vacation cruise.
Family and friends gathered Saturday afternoon in Austintown Township Park to remember DiPiero, who died when he fell off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship en route to the Bahamas on May 15. At the park band shell in a 4 p.m. service, they celebrated his life through songs, prayers and memories.
"This is an exceptional tribute to his life," said DiPiero's great-aunt, Shirley Naples of Detroit. "It's clear he was loved."
"We will see Daniel again. We will be with him again," said DiPiero's uncle, Ted Wallover, who gave readings that included the 23rd Psalm.
The picture of a shy, friendly, funny young man emerged through stories about his life from friend Laura Rigby, who read a poem written by DiPiero's friend Eli Alexander; and from Naples, who gave his eulogy.
Those in the audience listened, some sobbing softly.
Remembers his happiness
Rigby, who said she and many others were often treated to the sight of DiPiero in his "Relax, I'm a professional" T-shirt, said there was "never a moment" when he was mad or sad.
"I know he's looking at us and telling us all to stop it," she said, coaxing a laugh from the crowd.
She read the poem by Alexander, who was on the ship with DiPiero and other friends. Called "Sad Laughter," it chronicled memories of their friendship.
"We have so many memories, I could go on forever. I guess that's what you get when you grow up together," Alexander wrote.
Naples, who said she saw DiPiero at all family events and during summers when he stayed with her and her husband at their cabin in northern Michigan, talked about his "enormous curiosity" and his "great spirit."
She talked about his strong work ethic, washing bikes and mowing lawns when he was barely 14.
"He inherited his skills as a craftsman from his dad and his grandfather, Augie," she said.
She said that Daniel had talked of wanting to be a pilot.
The family, she added, has "picture after picture" of him at gatherings "dancing with the youngest children and all the old ladies."
Josie, his 13-year-old sister, remembered he could always make her happy with a hug or a joke, she said.
Family's descriptions
Naples said she asked family members for words to describe him, and listed their answers: kind, caring, sensitive, introspective, funny, loyal, courageous, quiet, considerate, generous, tender and affectionate.
"We all need to consider what Daniel would have wanted for our lives," she said. "In his kind, gentle way, he would have wished us peace."
DiPiero's cousin Bryan Poirier, who opened the tribute by singing "Fire and Rain" and also performed "Amazing Grace," closed the service with a song he composed called "The Star in My Shine."
Poirier said the song was inspired by DiPiero and in memory of him, but is also for parents to their children: "I give you to God as he gave you to me. The star in my shine you always will be."
DiPiero lived with his parents, Susan and Ronald, and two sisters, Josie and Katie, 17, on South Turner Road in Canfield Township. Another sister, Annamarie Heasley, lives in Nevada. Grandparents Audrey and Augie DiPiero live in Austintown.
starmack@vindy.com