Gregory Puorro
Gregory Richard Puorro was born on May 27, 1955, in Somerville, Massachusetts, the fourth of seven children of Thomas and Jeanette Puorro.
As with all of the Puorro’s, Gregory‘s childhood was marked by moving around quite a bit. The family moved to Silver Spring, MD, Menlo Park, CA, Houston, TX, Franklin Lakes, NJ, and finally settling in Los Altos Hills, CA. Growing up, Gregory was always interested in football, cars, and getting into trouble with his three brothers, particularly needling his three sisters.
Gregory attended Sacramento State University, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business in 1978. He proudly got his first real job, and began pursuing his passion for running and bodybuilding.
On May 13, 1979, Gregory‘s life took a tragic turn. He broke his neck in a diving accident in Santa Cruz that severed his spinal cord and left him a quadriplegic, paralyzed from the chest down. He spent several months in the hospital and rehabilitation, learning to adjust to the many limitations of his injury.
A couple years later, Gregory decided to return to Sacramento State and pursue his masters degree in public administration. It was an amazing inspiration for a quadriplegic to leave home and return to school on his own. While there, Gregory met Lona Derr who was a fellow student at Sacramento State. They fell in love and married in 1984. The newlyweds then moved to San Diego to start their life. After a few years, Greg and Lona divorced, and Gregory returned to the Bay Area to be closer to family and to work at Disabled Programmers Inc (DPI), a non-profit training center for disabled people in Silicon Valley, founded by Greg’s dad.
Gregory then met Thelma O’Keefe, a lovely young widower. The two began spending much time together and formed a close partnership. After a few years, they decided to move to Waipahu, Hawaii on the island of Oahu. There was a newly built independent living facility for people with severe disabilities, and Gregory was able to get an apartment there. Gregory loved his Hawaiian home and started a business buying and selling cars, and wheeling and dealing with the locals. Gregory and Thelma were inseparable. Thelma was Gregory’s full-time caregiver, companion and best friend. Together they adopted a sweet dog named Skylar, who quickly became a part of their family.
In September 2016, tragedy struck again for Gregory. Thelma died suddenly and unexpectedly of a heart attack. Gregory was still in bed and unable to get help for several days. When help finally arrived, Gregory was severely dehydrated and taken to the hospital where he remained for several months. Gregory was heartbroken to lose not only Thelma, but Skylar as well. Because of his prolonged hospital stay again and with no one to look after Skylar, he had to surrender Skylar to the humane society.
Greg rallied again to overcome these tremendous losses, and once again rebuilt his life. With the help of his caregiver Pia, he remained as active and engaged as he could in the last several years of his life. His health declined in recent years as he battled diabetes, a recurring fistula and respiratory infections. Through it all, he remained upbeat, always quick with a joke, chatted frequently with family and friends, and was always asking about his many nieces and nephews.
Greg will be missed by so many family and friends. He was a source of inspiration for all who knew him.
Gregory is survived by his longtime caregiver, Pia Luab; siblings Thomas Puorro Jr., Rosemary (Puorro) Ryan, Mark Puorro, Jane (Puorro) Bailey, Richard Puorro and Suzanne (Puorro) Golden-Riley. Greg was preceded in death by his parents, Thomas and Jeanette Puorro.
Funeral services for Gregory will be held on Friday, October 24 at 10am at Lima & Campagna Mortuary in Sunnyvale, followed by burial at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Los Altos at 12:30pm.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in Greg’s memory to The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, a non-profit organization for spinal cord injury research.