Aldo Joseph Vettori passed away on September 9th at Stevens Hospital in Edmonds Washington from complications of a stroke. Aldo, the son of Silvio N. and Gina M. Vettori, was born in Buggiano Italy on January 13th, 1925. In 1929 at the age of 5 he and his mother immigrated to America via Ellis Island in New York. After short stays in New York and Chicago the family settled in Tacoma Washington. Al attended St. Leo's Grade school and Bellarmine High School in Tacoma. Upon graduating from Bellarmine in 1943 Al was immediately inducted into the Army. He was 18 years old. He received basic training in anti-aircraft artillery and radio and wire communications in California, Oklahoma and North Carolina. He then served in the First US Infantry Division A - The Red One - in France, Belgium, Italy and finally in Nuremberg Germany as a Tech 3 in the Adjutant Generals office under General George Patton. The story was that while in Italy he actually went back to the area of his birth - his family's original home - and visited with family members who were still there. Of course he spoke fluent Italian and continued to do so all his life. This must have been a strange experience for him, but, if true, he never spoke of it, nor would he speak of any other of his experiences in The War. He became a naturalized US citizen through his service to his country. Upon discharge from the Army in 1946 he attended Gonzaga University and graduated Cum Laude from Seattle University in 1950 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and Philosophy. Over his working years he was employed by Washington Mutual Bank, Allied Stores (the Bon Marche/Macys), Westin International Hotels as Corporate Director of Risk and Insurance and Reed Stenhouse, Inc. as a Vice President and Senior Account Executive. He also worked for a time as a Federal Civil Service Investigator. He traveled extensively with most of those jobs. Al married his wife Dorothy Keil, a widow with two children, in 1957 in Tacoma and in 1958 moved the family to their new home in Bellevue Washington. Their marriage endured until Dorothy's death on May 22, 2004. He lived in Bellevue until March of 2005 when he moved to Sunrise Assisted Living of Edmonds where he made his home for the last 6 months of his life. Al was a member of the Knights of Columbus, Bellevue Lodge and he was an active charter member of the Bellevue Post 239 of The American Legion. He was a proud member of the Legion Honor Guard serving at Tahoma National Cemetery, the same Honor Guard group who served in his honor at his burial ceremony at Tahoma National Cemetery. Aldo loved his wife and family, Italy, the land of his birth, his church, his yard and garden, classical music, especially on good old KING FM, beautiful clothes and his little dachshund dogs Schnappy, Yo-Yo and Sparky. A highlight of his life was traveling to Vancouver Canada to attend the Papal visit of Pope John Paul II. In addition to his wife Dorothy in 2004, Aldo was preceded in death by his Mother Gina in January of 2000 when she was 98 years old and by his step-son Walter E. Keil Jr. who died very suddenly in 2001. He is survived by his brother and sister-in-law of Tumwater, his sister of Tacoma, his step-daughter, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He is also survived by many wonderful friends and neighbors who showed him so much kindness and caring and the tremendous staff of the Sunrise Reminiscence floor who became his family in the last six months of his life. Services were on Thursday, September 15th in the Mountain View Garden Chapel in Lakewood with a small reception following. Burial was on that same day at Tahoma National Cemetery. A memorial mass was at a later date. Remembrances may be made to your local American Legion Post or to the Bellevue Humane Society. Love and be kind to one another. It all goes so fast. But you see, it all did turn out just fine in the end after all.