Jon Rosario Venuto "Awesome"

I am the proud mother of awesome Jon Rosario Venuto “00” The Wall, my youngest of two sons.  Jon who was so kind and loving always.  He is the rock of our family.  We lived far apart, Jon is in Elk Grove and his brother, family, and I are in Santa Clarita.  If I had a bad day, I would call Jon and he would listen. He would allow me to spill my heart out with my problems.  Then he would tell me what he thought always in a loving way and always with a twist of humor making fun of me in a deeply loving way. He always makes me feel whatever my problems were, that all would be okay now.  His brother would say the same thing.  He would lean on Jon like I would.

Jon adored his niece (Fiona 8 years old) and Devin (5 years old). They adored him and called him “Awesome Uncle Jon” like it was his given name. He wrestled and played with the kids lifting them up in the air, playing hide and seek being loud and entertaining.  He taught them how to lick their plates. I would get after Jon for these lessons and he would delight in that.  He is fun loving.  How he made people feel when meeting him always made an amazing impression. He is beloved even more than I imagined.  The outpouring of love from everyone has shown our family how beloved he is. People I have never met that knew Jon have  cried with us and all have told us how much they loved Jon and that they would do anything we needed to help.  Each of these people had a story to tell us about how Jon impacted their lives.  Example: I talked to his neighbor (that is a court room police officer), he was crying on the phone when we talked.  He told me how Jon helped him get his job through being an advocate with the background check. The outpouring of love for Jon is overwhelming.  Each person wants to tell their story of my previous son’s interaction with them and they say how awesome Jon is and what he meant to them.

My awesome son was always up beat, inquiring, and constantly on the move.  He always had a project or two in the works.  He played soccer and hockey. Jon and his brother are very close and have been all of their lives. Jon earned the awesome name”The Wall” on an adult hockey team playing goalie. His friend emailed me his goalie statistics that were indicative of his awesomeness.  Jon never had to pay for the hockey fees to be on teams because the team members wanted him to be on their team (so they could win) so they divided up his fees among themselves and paid for him.  He played that well.  He played on various teams so he had several games a night. One night he played two games back to back and lost 10 lbs.

His life and hockey were interrupted when we were told his father was dying of multiple cancers and was being placed on hospice.  Jon voluntarily and immediately went to Oregon to care for his father during the last few months of his life.

Jon came home to us of course just devastated.  He never played hockey again.  It had been four months that he was gone.  He stepped up for our family and did right by his father.  Then he started working at 24 hour fitness in Mountain View after he conquered this very large facility.  Then he transferred to 24 Hour Fitness in Elk Grove. Then he got his current job at Life Times Fitness center in Roseville.

Jon bought a 2000 Toyota MR2 Spider.  His passion.  He turned it into an awesome car.  Jon is totally self taught.  He learned by doing.  He absorbed info from whatever project he was doing.  Then he could diagnose problems and fix whatever the problem was.  Jon was very generous of his time and skills.  His humor was disarming. Jon’s closest and best confidant was his brother, A.J. Their relationship is mutual.  We know God is in control of all things.  Our entire family is devastated by this sudden and tragic loss.  

Jon’s awesomeness transcends us all with his positive joy, drive, kindness, and humor.  We are all about Jon’s awesomeness as we struggle to close out his life in this world in the manner in which he lived it. He lives on in all of us.  Jon matters.  

All my love, Cheyl Venuto, very proud mother of two