Restaurant owner, longtime educator and coach Joseph Jioio dies

Growing up in Latrobe in the 1930s and 1940s, Joseph F. Jioio was immersed in the restaurant business because his parents operated an old-style Italian cafe, according to his daughter, Cheryl Ann Jioio Hollin.

So, when he became an adult and worked as a teacher, it was not much of a stretch that he was the owner and operator of Jioio’s Italian Take Out, as well as the owner of Jioio’s Italian Corner in Latrobe. He enjoyed the restaurant business and his son, Anthony, owns Jioio’s Family Restaurant in Hempfield’s Carbon neighborhood.

Jioio, 88, of Greensburg, died Sunday at his home.

He was born Aug. 13, 1933, in Latrobe, a son of the late Fred and Elvira DeSimone Jioio.

He graduated from Latrobe High School and attended Clarion State College, then graduated from California State College with a degree in education. While at Cal State, he played football during the 1951 season.

Jioio served with the U.S. Army Military Police in Washington, D.C. — a fortuitous posting because he met a young secretary from Brownsville, Shirley Ann Yarup, who was working for the FBI, Hollin said. The couple fell in love and married in June 1956.

He started teaching at Jeannette High School, where he also served as an assistant high school football coach, and was a volunteer youth baseball coach in West Jeannette.

“Sports was real important to him,” Hollin said.

Hollin said he took a job with the Hempfield Area School District, where he was a wood shop teacher at what was Stanwood Junior High School. He remained at Hempfield Area for 30 years, retiring in 1989, Hollin said.

He was such a talented woodworker that he was a carpenter for Sister Anita Schulte, Sisters of Charity, at the Seton Hill Montessori School in Greensburg.

He was a member of St. Paul Parish in Carbon and St. Vincent Divine Mercy Novenas.

“They were very religious parents,” Hollin said.

He loved to grow vegetables in his large garden. He had such big tomatoes and zucchini, Hollin said.

Holin said the nine children grew up in a very loving family that always had “lots of food.”

He was preceded in death by his wife in 2016, and a sister and a grandson.

Surviving are his nine children, Cheryl Ann Hollin (Arthur) of Okeechobee, Fla., Renee Schricker of Monroeville, Lisa Jioio (Darlene) of Jeannette, Joseph A. Jioio (Sandy) of Palm Beach, Fla., Michele George (David) of Penn Township, Cassandra Kwaczala-Good (Shan) of Greensburg, Anthony “Tony” Jioio (Annette) of Hempfield and Annette Moore (Shawn) and Danielle Jioio, both of Greensburg; 22 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; and a sister.

Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Leo M. Bacha Funeral Home Inc., 516 Stanton St., Greensburg. Prayers will begin at 9:30 a.m. Thursday in the funeral home, followed by a funeral Mass to be celebrated at 10 a.m. in St. Paul Parish, Carbon.

Entombment will follow in St. Vincent Cemetery Mary Mother of Mercy Mausoleum, Unity Township, with full military honors accorded by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 33 Honor Guard of Greensburg.