Leo Peter Lorenzet

Leo Peter Lorenzet, a retired brick mason and a U.S. Navy Veteran of World War II, died of respiratory failure April 27, 2023, at Good Samaritan Hospital with his two children by his side. He was 89. His parents, Peter Lorenzet and Lucy DiNardo Lorenzet, were part of the wave of immigrants who came to the United States in the 1900s. They landed on Ellis Island around 1904 from Conegliano, Italy, a town near Venice. They settled in Bath, PA, and later moved to Pen Argyl, PA, where his father worked in the slate mines and farmed and his mother raised 11 children. He spoke Italian at home to his mother, a skill that later served him well on a trip to Italy or aboard cruise ships with Italian crews. Leo moved to Baltimore in the late 1930s. He lived with an older married sister, Gallie, and went to work as a bricklayer at the construction firm of her husband. Two months after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Navy. “He had plans to become a marine,” recalls his son, Richard Lorenzet of Forest Hill, MD, "but he said the Marine recruiting station was closed for lunch and the Naval recruiter across the street not only waved him inside but looked the other way when he lied about his age. We always said if he’d been a Marine, neither he nor my sister or me would be here because he would have been sent to Guadalcanal and probably not made it back.” Leo became a gunner’s mate aboard the battleship USS Alabama, which was part of the fleet that protected lend-lease convoys to Britain and Russia in the "Murmansk Run." The Alabama also attempted to lure the German sub Tirpitz, a sister ship of the Bismarck, out of hiding in the Norwegian fjords. His tour of duty also took him through the Panama Canal in 1943 enroute to the Pacific and battles in the Gilbert Islands and the Marianas Islands. Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller was a shipmate aboard the Alabama. “My dad said sailors would line up to catch for Feller,” says his daughter, Ginny Cook. “When it was his turn, he said the pitch was soft and my dad, being my dad, told Feller to fire it in ‘cause he could handle it. Feller, of course, declined.” Later he was transferred to a sea-going tugboat, an assignment he dubbed “a vacation,” his daughter adds. “He told tales of making moonshine on board and bartering his skill as a bread baker for meat and other supplies.” His service to his country earned him three campaign ribbons and a victory medal. After an honorable discharge, he returned to Baltimore to work in the construction industry, helping to build a number of landmarks including the Poly/Western schools. In 1969, he received a Craftsmanship Award from the Building Congress and Exchange of Baltimore for brickwork on the Peabody Institute. “For a quiet guy, my father told a lot of stories,” his daughter recalls. “My cousins and I would sit around the dinner table on holidays and make him repeat his tales of blowing up the bakery or making moonshine or diving in a quarry. And if he forgot a detail, we’d correct him and make him start over. It was always entertaining.” When the Baltimore Colts were in town, he had season tickets and never missed a game. He was also one of the actual fans who were in Yankee Stadium in 1958 to see the greatest game ever played when the Colts beat the Giants 23–17. An avid golfer, he played the city courses and with various men’s groups. “He was a very good golfer,” says Walter Biddle, who was among those who took annual trips to Shenvalee Golf Resort in VA or to Myrtle Beach, SC. “One member of the group was a cheater,” he adds, “but he could never cheat Leo. Leo would always catch him and make him pay what was due.” During his time on the links, Leo hit two holes-in-one--the first at Clifton Park in 1952 and the second on the sixth hole at Mount Pleasant. In 1988, he played a round of golf with the legendary Sam Snead in Florida. “I still remember seeing him ride down the fairway in a golf cart with Snead. It was like seeing two buddies out for their weekly round of golf. I have no idea what they were taking about, but I was sure Leo was having the time of his life,” says his son-in-law, Lynnie Cook. A photo of Leo and Sam Snead still remains on the wall of his television room. Leo was always a crafty golfer who could scratch out a good round when things were going bad. In recent years, he boasted that he shot his age at 83. He also enjoyed watching or hearing about the successes of his grandchildren on the golf course, the soccer field, or in school. Leo was a member of the Parkville American Legion Post 183 and the Masons and Plasterers’ International Union of America. "My dad was a simple man; he enjoyed his family, sports, a good joke, a good meal, and a good drink," says his son. "He did not suffer fools well, but was slow to anger, feared nothing, and lived life on his own terms. He was matter-of-fact about the things he saw and did during his lifetime. He, and others of his generation, did what was expected of them. When war came, he went to war. When the war was over, he came home, got a job, married, raised a family, and got on with his life. He neither needed, nor expected to be thanked for doing what he considered to be the right thing. But while he never said it, I do believe he considered his time in the Navy to be the great adventure of his life, and was intensely proud of it." In addition to his daughter, son, and son-in-law, his survivors include his wife of 64 years, Philomena Fittipaldi Lorenzet; a daughter-in-law, Susan Lorenzet; three grandchildren, Rachel Cook, Christopher Lorenzet and Daniel Lorenzet; one sister, Lena Celot; and many nieces and nephews. Nine other brothers and sisters—Alda Masut, Gallie Arconti, Mary Zanchettin, Gene Lorenzet, Angelo Lorenzet, Tavio Lorenzet, Leila Curcio, Sophie Barry and Norma Lier predeceased him. Visitation will be held at the Evans Funeral and Cremation Chapel, 8800 Hartford Rd., Parkville, MD, on Thursday, May 5, 2023, from 3 - 5 and 7 - 9 p.m. Inurnment will be in Arlington National Cemetery at a later date.

Leo Peter Lorenzet

May 18, 2023