Mr. Mario J Falbo's Obituary
Mario J. Falbo, 87, of Houston, Texas passed away peacefully in the presence of his family on April 5, 2013. Visitation will be held at 5:00 PM on April 9, 2013 at South Park Funeral Home with a Rosary following at 7:00 PM. The funeral service will be held at 10:00 AM on April 10th at St. Christopher's Catholic Church with burial immediately after at South Park Cemetery. Mario was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on February 6, 1926. A veteran of WWII, he saw action in the South Pacific with the United States Coast Guard. Mario earned a BS-degree in Chemistry from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania in 1952 and a MS-degree in Special Education from the University of Houston in 1978. Mario was married to Mary Lettra (Pellegrini) Falbo (whom he called "the love of my life") on May 15, 1948. They were married 65 years. Mario worked for the Naval Ordnance Testing Station in China Lake, California, the Naval Ordnance Laboratory in Silver Springs, Maryland, and as Division Head, Auxiliary Propulsion at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. He worked on NASA's Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. Mario retired from NASA in 1976 and dedicated years to teaching mentally challenged and underprivileged youth in the Houston area. Mario is survived by his wife Mary, three children, daughters Ersilia Patton and husband Max of Houston, Marie Wallace of San Antonio, and son John Falbo and wife Ann Marie of Denver; five grandchildren Stephanie Fosnight and Marc Collier of Houston, and William, Christiana and Jacob Falbo of Denver; three great grandchildren Chelsea Cahill, Brick and Brock Fosnight of Houston; and sister Angelina Damico of Nevada. Mario is preceded in death by his parents, Giovanni and Marie Falbo from Calabria, Italy and siblings Frank, Dorothy, Joesphine, Jimmy, Nick and Tony Falbo.
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