Fred O. Luciano

The son of Anthonio & Louisa (DellaDonne) Luciano, he was born on July 2, 1926 in Torrington, CT. Fred graduated from Torrington High School in 1945 and was the first in his family to go to college, attending the University of California at Berkeley. At the Naval base in San Francisco he served in the mechanical repair and maintenance of submarines.  After volunteering to perform the difficult task of cleaning the inside of torpedo silos he suffered a ringing in his ears that remained a reminder of his service for the rest of his life. After graduating from college in California his mother called him back to his family duty in Connecticut.

He brought back with him a new perspective of the world and began administrative work at a local factory, Union Hardware. There he met and married Inge Hofmann, a new immigrant from post-war Germany and began an adventure that lasted 66 years. With his larger perspective and ambition he accepted a job in the neighboring city of Hartford and became one of the then rare long distance commuters.  At United Technologies he trained himself to reach the leading edge of 1960’s computing. Ultimately he developed the “State of the Art Program” (SOAP) that allowed their company to surpass General Electric in the development of new jet engines. In the meantime his co-adventure evolved to include entrepreneurship. Led by Inge, they co-opened and managed a sewing machine store in Torrington, later expanding to include stores in Avon, Hartford and Bloomfield, CT. A computer specialist by day, he was a sewing machine repairman by night. Their business became very successful and resulted in winning annual trips around the world with fellow business owners. After his retirement in 1993, he and Inge moved to Kalamazoo, MI to be closer to their grandchildren while continuing to travel the world, entertain friends and migrate to Florida every winter. Fred was widely known for his thoughtfulness, open mindedness and his warm, generous heart.

Fred was preceded in death by his siblings, Mario (Rae), John (Lucy), Raymond, Antoinette (Stanley), Eugene (Mary) and Enes (George). Surviving are his wife, Inge; children, Louise (Jerry) and Mark (Gina); eight grandchildren, Austin (Sara), Cameron (Carolyn), Kendall, Emily (Tyler), Mark, Nick, Cadence and Dana; three great grandchildren, Elton, Marshall, and Amelia; sister-in-law, Loretta; along with many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service for family and friends is planned in Kalamazoo, MI at a later date to be announced. He was admired by all who knew him and he will be deeply missed.