Thomas Leone's Obituary
Thomas Leone, age 84, passed away in his sleep on Thursday, March 21, 2019 after a long battle with cancer.Tom was born on March 12, 1935 in San Francisco, California to Steve and Gaetana “Tina” Leone and entered the Marine Corp in 1953 after graduating from Balboa High School. He met Carol Lorraine Pearson at the swimming pool at the Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton in San Diego. Knowing he had met the love of his life, Tom convinced Carol to marry him on December 8, 1956, after a whirlwind courtship of only three months. No one thought it would last. Together they had two daughters and were married just shy of 43 years when Carol passed away.Tom was a salesman by trade and loved Bowling and Golfing. He also loved talking to people, telling jokes and telling stories. He was in his element when in front of an audience and stumbled into community theatre, having been ‘drafted’ to try out for a production since there were so few men auditioning.He said he had been bitten by the ‘acting bug’ and often joked that his wife Carol “thought she was married to an ‘Italian Sausage’, but it turned out she was married to an ‘Italian Ham’” instead. He loved acting and had been in over 48 productions when he met his second wife, Janice Fuller. Tom married Janice on February 26, 2005 in Sunol, California and they had just celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary.Tom was extremely proud to have served in the Marine Corp, having been the recipient of four medals during his tour of duty in Korea.He was a loving husband and father and is survived by his wife Janice, his two daughters, Crystal Archer and Melanie Stroud, his sons-in-laws Ron Archer, Jr. and Sonny Stroud, his sister as well as a legacy of cousins.A service Celebrating Tom’s Life will be held at 4pm on Saturday April 13th at the Chapel of the Chimes in Hayward, California.In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Tom’s name to any of the following charities that were special to him, The Wounded Warrior Project, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or to The American Cancer Society.
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