Friends, family say goodbye to Partigianoni
By EVAN GEIBEL
Staff Reporter
egeibelcortlandstandard.net
"Take Me Out to the Ballgame" became a powerful and moving hymn Wednesday for the crowd gathered in St. Anthony’s Church for the funeral of Jim Partigianoni.
The community had come to bid farewell to a popular man, whose voice and laugh and presence had been felt from the baseball diamond to City Hall and points far beyond.
Affectionately known as "Parge," Partigianoni died Friday morning in Michigan while visiting one of his five daughters. The alderman, baseball umpire and family man was 78 years old.
Daughter Jamie Brown of Cortland lived closest to her father and during the funeral service acknowledged that she would have to face the reality of his absence every day.
"But I have the built-in support system of the entire community," Brown said.
Parge was laid to rest Wednesday, and each of his daughters took a moment at the services at St. Anthony’s to tell a story about the man who gave each of them a piece of himself.
Kelly McGraw of Oneonta was the youngest and stepped up to the podium first.
We know my dad always enjoyed a little mic time. Not that he needed a microphone," McGraw said, reminding audience members of Parge s Common Council ward reports that never suffered from lack of detail. Or volume.
Parge was an organ donor, and McGraw wondered what her father s most desirable feature could be.
She decided his own most likely response would be, "Sorry folks, but I already handed down all my good looks to my grandchildren."
Parge had a thing for numbers and made tough decisions on issues that came before him as an alderman — McGraw supposed his brain would be a good choice.
The most obvious choice, his heart, was damaged in the heart attack that felled him, his daughter said.
"If you knew my dad, you know he had a very big, strong and tender heart," McGraw said.
Parge, himself the product of humble roots, looked after the underdog throughout his life.
"We can’t donate his ears, because we all know he couldn’t hear a lick," McGraw said, quick to distinguish between hearing, which Parge struggled with, and listening, which he excelled at.
In the end, it was his eyes that a fortunate recipient would be able to use best — McGraw said it was perfect because her father had a "wonderful view of life" that he passed on to his daughters and 12 grandchildren.
“You should never give up the opportunity to seize the moment, to be silly and to have fun," McGraw said.
Brown briefly acknowledged the irony of an umpire donating his eyes — ballplayers typically think little of officials’ eyesight — and then moved on to her own silly stories of her father. Whether getting used to cell phones, devouring newspapers and magazines cover-to-cover, cobbling together reading glasses with the remains of an old pair, or pulling over on the side of a country road after a baseball game and digging up dandelion greens for a salad, Parge was Parge. And he had fun being him.
"Here s to my Dad, the richest man on earth," Brown finished.
Daughter Pamela Quinn of Binghamton, like Brown, would miss Sunday dinners with her father. In an affected Italian accent, Parge would remind one and all that "Sunday is not Sunday without the spaghetti, eh?" as he pinched a cheek or two. Quinn said her father was most in his element when his family was gathered around the table.
Daughter Colleen Partigianoni of Big Rapids, Mich., said that although her father did not make it to each and every Mass, he was one of the most Christian men she had ever met.
"My Dad would give the shirt off his back for everyone," Partigianoni said.
His positive impact on the lives of others was apparent in the nearly 1,000 people that Colleen Partigianoni said moved through the church during calling hours Tuesday.
The line stretched around corner after corner, winding through St. Anthony s Catholic Church and never diminishing for the entire three and a half hours of Parge’s calling hours.
"The biggest difference now is that heaven is a little louder," she finished.
Kathy Oliver of Maryville, Tenn., was the last of the daughters to speak at the services.
"They took all of my ideas and they took all my Kleenexes," Oliver jokingly lamented.
She said that her father offered a vision of hope for the future of his community based on the premise that people were good.
"He tried to see Christ in everyone, and that was a real talent," Oliver said.
A friend who had umpired with Parge for the past 35 years, Harley Bieber of Dryden wondered at the changed place heaven would become now that Parge was going to be around to keep things loud, fun and interesting. Bieber imagined St. Peter going to great lengths to explain the rules of heaven to Parge — surely, it must be a quiet, restful place — only to have Parge loudly say "Wait, wait, wait a minute. What’d you say your name is?"
Your Loved One lives In Your Heart
Many tender memories soften your grief,
May fond recollection bring you relief,
And may you find comfort and peace in the thought
Of the joy that knowing your loved one brought...
For time and space can never divide
Or keep your loved one from your side
When memory paints in colors true
The happy hours that belonged to you.
~ Helen Steiner Rice
By polishing your bowling technique, you will have a chance to shine.
"What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes
a part of us." ~ Helen Keller
Nothing great was ever
achieved without enthusiasm.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Perhaps they are not stars in the sky, but rather openings where our loved ones shine down to let us know they are happy."
~ Eskimo Legend
Please send us your stories,
pictures,etc. about Jim Partigianoni
so we can all enjoy them!
Parge
Stunned.
No, we thought when we first got word that Parge was gone.
Jim Partigianoni dead? Can't be. No way.
How can it be that the friend you have argued with, hollered back and forth with, debated with and loved like a big brother for almost 50 years is gone?
First on softball diamonds, then for decades during his regular visits to the newsroom that started out as softball business but invariably drifted into lengthy discussions of local and national sports happenings, state or national politics, and local political issues.
Over the years, no one was more energetic and involved in creating recreational opportunities and facilities for Cortlandarea residents, especially youngsters, and promoting the city as a center for amateur athletic events and tournaments, especially for softball and baseball.
More recently, he had the time to turn his boundless enthusiasm to representing his 7th Ward neighbors as their voice on the Common Council. Being the 7th Ward's alderman may have been his finest hour.
Over 44 years of covering and observing the Common Council members at work, Parge was the best. He spent a great deal of time studying issues large and small, seeking out his constituents' concerns and opinions, polling fellow aldermen for their opinions and determining how projects would likely affect both his ward and the city as a whole.
He did his homework. Whether it be his special interest, the very successful East End Community Center, commercial development around Interstate 81's Exit 11, or most recently, the Conifer housing project on Pendleton Street, he collected all the information he could find on each issue, weighed the pros and cons and then voted the way he thought was in the best interest of the people he represented.
While he left no doubt that he was a Democrat, he didn't let partisanship rule his thinking or his actions. If an idea or project that was supported by Republicans looked to be a good deal for his neighbors, he gave it his support whether party leaders liked it or not.
Opinionated? He certainly was. But his opinions were not of the
it's-this-way-because-I-say-so sort. They were based on studying the situation and figuring out what seemed to be the best solution. But while he was never shy about stating his own opinion, he always had the time and
interest to listen to the opinions of others and, in fact, often sought them out.
Parge is gone. We can't replace him, but we can do the next best thing:
Follow his example.
By Skip Chapman
Softball is like love, first you learn the rules of the game, and then you forget the rules and play from your heart.
Unknown
There's a very special garden
Where the trees of memory grow
Nurtured by the kindness
And concern that good friends show.
The roots are cherished memories
Of good times in the past
The branches tender promises
That souls endure and last.
It's a place of peace and beauty
Where bright new hopes can start
It's memory's lovely garden
That soothes the hurting heart.
By AIMEE MILKS
Staff Reporter
amilks@cortlandstandard.net
CORTLAND — An avid politician, a family man and baseball nut are some of the terms many people in the Cortland community would use to describe Jim Partigianoni.
Partigianoni, commonly known to everyone as “Parg,” died Friday morning at the age of 78 from a heart attack while he was visiting one of his five daughters in Michigan.
“He was chopping snow off the sidewalk as he was on his way to the library … and had a heart attack,” said Kathy Oliver, one of Parg’s daughters who lives in Tennessee. “He loved to read, he always had to know all the news.”
Born and raised in Cortland, Parg was very active in the community, umpiring baseball and softball games and serving on the city Common Council for six years.
“I often asked him to resign so it wouldn’t wear his heart out, but that’s where his passion was,” Oliver, 50, said of her father’s position on the Common Council. “He wanted to revive Cortland.”
Mayor Tom Gallagher said Parg just loved what he was doing.
“Probably out of all the aldermen, he was the most available and in contact with his constituents,” Gallagher said. “It was his second love after umpiring … he truly was a dedicated public servant.”
Gallagher said the Common Council meeting Tuesday night is canceled out of respect for Partigianoni.
In recent years one of Parg’s pet projects was the East End Community Center, which opened in early 2005.
“He loved the idea of the East End Community Center,” Gallagher said. “He was a big part in getting that started.”
“He really loved his community center there,” Oliver said. “He felt like it gave people a place to go.”
Parg’s wife, Carol, his five daughters — Pam, Kathy, Jamie, Colleen and Kelly — and his 12 grandchildren survive Parg, who had recently been in and out of the hospital for his health.
“I am so proud of him,” Dominick Partigianoni, Parg’s older brother said Friday evening. “He did it all, with his whole heart, and everything he did was conscientious.”
When their father died and his mother worked hard to hold the family together, Dominick remembers the entire clan piling into the back of a panel truck to go pick beans for the Halstead Canning Co. And no one picked beans like Jim Partigianoni.
“For some reason or another, bean picking was a talent for me,” Parg said with a laugh in a 2004 Cortland Standard interview.
He held the record for most beans picked in one day, 617 pounds, and regularly picked 450 pounds a day.
“He was one of the best pickers, bean pickers. He really was,” Dominick said. “That bought our coal for the winter, bought our school clothes and paid our taxes.”
Parg served in the U.S. Army as a tank gunner and tank commander from 1948 to 1954, stationed along the border with the Soviet Union.
“He told me many times about how the Russians harassed him,” Dominick Partigianoni said.
The deafening blasts of the artillery took a toll on Parg’s hearing and his booming voice developed as a result. Whether calling a player out, making a point during a Common Council meeting or talking on the telephone, Parg could always be heard — he was loud.
After the army, Parg worked at Smith Corona as a fabrication supervisor until his retirement in 1994.
Oliver said she talked with her father earlier in the week.
“He sounded great,” she said. “He was excited to go visit my sister. We were talking about his health and the hospital, my sister, and politics … that’s probably why he was going to the library, to get on the Internet and read about the primaries.”
Oliver added that her father was a passionate family man who loved when the entire family was together.
“He was very sacrificial, he gave up a lot to send five kids to college,” she said.
“I just think he’s one of those generous people I know,” added Jamie Brown, Parg’s daughters who lives in Cortland. “He’s always looking out for the underdog.”
Brown recalled a fond memory of one of their family trips when they were going to see her sister Kathy in Wooster, Ohio.
“It was late at night and we were a little disoriented so we stopped for directions,” she said with a little chuckle in her trembling voice. “My dad rolled down the window and meant to say, ‘Which route to Wooster,’ but said, ‘Which woute to Rooster.’ He just had a way with his words.”
Harley Bieber, 72, of Dryden, had been an umpire with Parg for 35 years.
“Jim loved officiating. Of all the things he loved in his life, I think umpiring was close to the top if not at the top. He’s going to be dearly missed in the sports world,” said Bieber, who was recruited to umpire by Parg. “ He got a tremendous amount of respect from everyone. He really stressed professionalism; being fair and just. I think that was his whole life — being fair and just, not just in umpiring.”
Gallagher said the Common Council will appoint another Democrat from the 7th Ward who will serve until someone is elected in the November general election.
“He was a real pillar on the council, he always had the best interest of the city on his mind,” Gallagher added. “Besides that, he was very entertaining.”
Funeral arraignments have not been finalized. Parg would have turned 79 on April 21.
———
Staff Reporter Evan Geibel contributed to this article
I Believe In Softball
I believe in competition and camaraderie. I believe in brackets, bubble gum, and bang-bang plays. I believe that attendance and preparation win games. I believe there is more to being a good batter than just being a good hitter. I believe in being relaxed on defense until the batter lifts her front foot. I believe it's ok to use defensive shifts to play the odds, and head games. I believe in taking my turn to coach the base across the field from our dugout. I believe in checking on the condition of injured opponents. I believe players should applaud opponents after they make great defensive plays. I believe players can get better with age. I believe taking winter BP with a cheap bat helps to hit summer homers with an expensive bat. I believe in running out routine grounders and lazy fly balls, no matter how frustrated I am. I believe it is better to be a smart base runner than a fast one. I believe in the nervous anticipation of a play at the plate. I believe in the magical moment of recognition after contact on a "no-doubter" home run. I believe in catchers who talk junk and pitchers who throw it. I believe in infielders who think getting dirty is part of the job description. I believe in fast outfielders who do not hug the lines or play to deep. I believe rattling bats can wake them up, and uncrossing them can avoid bad luck. I believe in wiping the morning dew off a ball, and squinting into the sunset. I believe in saving an equipment catalog until the next issue replaces it. I believe photos; autographed balls and scorebook pages can be better than trophies and t-shirts. I BELIEVE THERE IS NO OFF-SEASON. JUST A LONGER WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT GAME. I believe in the butterflies of opening day and the long drive home after the final game. I believe in showing appreciation to your family and friends who came to watch you play. I believe in thanking the umps when the game is over, regardless of the score. I believe the final score is part of the overall experience. I BELIEVE IN SOFTBALL.
With permission from Softball Magazine / Jim Ramsey
"If you don't knock all
the pins down on
the first ball,
please spare me
the details."
"Boys, I'm one of those umpires that misses 'em
every once in a while so if it's close, you'd better hit it."
Cal Hubbard