![Vale Franco Palmieri - you will be missed. Picture supplied Vale Franco Palmieri - you will be missed. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/z8hBhxAZcc6GAanbqacDHK/9b2efb20-757e-470a-9c48-aa754ba5b16b.jpg/r0_0_2048_1536_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Franco Palmieri will be remembered as a person who always cared for others.
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The highly respected Shoalhaven resident recently passed away suddenly and unexpectedly - leaving a devastated immediate and extended family, which included his beloved Ulladulla SES, behind.
Mr Palmieri was the husband of Susan, the father and father-in-law [papa] of Sara, Darryl, and Christian.
He and Mrs Palmieri had just returned from Fiji with friends from Italy and they had a wonderful time on holidays.
Sadly, he contracted COVID-19 on the way home, spent time in the Milton Hospital and never recovered.
His funeral was held late last week at the Mollymook Surf Club.
The funeral gave those he loved the chance to say goodbye and the tributes, led by daughter Sara Palmieri, flowed.
She used words like larger than life, strong, clever and amusing to describe her dad.
Sara said her father was devoted to his family.
"I need to share with everyone here [at the funeral] how deeply and absolutely dad loved mum," she said.
"Your utter adoration of her was so evident in everything you did, you would often brag about the day you met mum that you won Lotto.
"You set the benchmark high on how a husband should cherish a wife, and you instilled those values into Christian and I so that we would seek those values out in the people we chose to surround ourselves with. For that we thank you."
Brother-in-law Peter Crabbe was another who spoke at Mr Palmieri's funeral.
Mr Crabbe spoke about how, as a young Italian man Mr Palmieri, urged by his mother, had decided in 1973 to migrate to Australia from his home in Rome.
The late Mr Palmieri's Australian life and journey was marked by food, adventures, laughs - and of course family.
"As we all know, Franco had a passion for food as a way to be with people and make them happy. Franco liked nothing better than to prepare a lot of food, open a bottle of wine and sit down with his friends to eat," Mr Crabbe said.
Mr Palmieri had a long and successful career in the hospitality industry which saw him and Mrs Palmieri moving to Milton.
The late Mr Palmieri worked at the Mollymook Golf Club for a time.
He also became a member of the Ulladulla SES and Milton Ulladulla Men's Shed.
"Franco was always on-site day or night preparing meals making sure that the SES team was well fed, whether it was for monthly meetings, training sessions, call outs, fires or floods," Mr Crabbe said.
Mr Franco was proud of the SES and was proud to wear their uniform.
![Franco Palmieri was proud to be a member of the Ulladulla SES. Picture supplied Franco Palmieri was proud to be a member of the Ulladulla SES. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/z8hBhxAZcc6GAanbqacDHK/c9fe9be5-8f92-4147-9cce-bb8c2153c822.jpg/r0_0_720_960_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"We will all miss Franco so much, but those who love him will always remember him and hold him in their hearts forever," Mr Crabbe said.
Niece Michelle Lace said she learnt a lot of lessons from her uncle Franco.
"Probably the best life lesson I received from living and working with Franco, was that people and relationships are more important than possessions," she said.
"He treated everyone equally and with respect - yes he would love to say that he sat down at lunch with the Monsignor when he popped in, and he always had time for the Magistrate from the Children's Court.
"However, he also noticed regular people, like the older lady who often came in for the free Sunday brunch that the club where he worked sponsored. She would try to secretly put some food into a plastic bag in her handbag so that she had something to eat later and to share with her dog.
"Franco would quietly pack a couple of plastic food containers with food for her to take home to get her through the week.
"Franco was most definitely a people person, at his happiest connecting with others - family, friends, community, particularly over food."
Fittingly, Unit Commander Ulladulla SES, Inspector Tracy Provest spoke about Mr Palmieri and what he gave to the volunteer rescue organisation.
"It is not just the food - everything Franco did for us was done with love," Inspector Provest said.
"His passion for feeding us is legendary but his capacity to draw us all into his embrace is unprecedented.
"He has been our friend as well as our colleague. He stopped to listen. He took time to welcome new members. He asked about our families and was genuinely interested in the answer.
"Look around, the sea of orange [at the funeral] is evidence of the people Franco's heart has touched in his eight years with us."
Inspector Provest said Franco was a good friend.
"Goodbye my friend. Rest in Peace Franco. Thank you for being part of our lives and for bringing us so much joy," she said.
On behalf of SES NSW and SES Ulladulla Inspector Provest presented the family Franco's helmet and a NSW SES flag.