Residents and staff in Franklin Park are mourning the loss of a longtime, well-liked village employee.
Joe ‘Tiny’ Lauro passed away on Feb. 17, at age 56, of an undisclosed illness.
Working for the past 42 years for the Village of Franklin Park, Lauro had risen to the office of Utilities and Public Works Commissioner.
Tributes and remembrances of Lauro’s helpful nature were evident at the Village Board meeting Feb. 22.
“Franklin Park was made a better place because of him,” Mayor Barrett Pedersen said. “At our staff meetings, he’d go out of his way to compliment other department heads. It was always genuine, and he did this constantly.”
Lauro began working for the Village of Franklin Park as a teenager while a student at East Leyden High School.
“He got his job here by just showing up at the water department and telling the director, ‘I’m here for a job,'” Pedersen explained Tuesday. “Tiny was told we didn’t have any job for him. He came back the next day, the same thing happened and he did this for the next 60 days in a row.”
Pedersen said Lauro’s aunt, who was the village comptroller, spoke with the mayor, who decided to give him a chance.
As the Commissioner of the village’s Utilities and Public Works Department, Lauro ran the Water and Sewer, Streets and Fleet Management Divisions.
Trustee Andy Ybarra, Chair of the Streets, Alleys and Fleet Maintenance Committee, said Lauro was often late for staff meetings because he “loved serving his community. They knew it was because he had stopped to help a resident install a rain barrel, remove debris or check a leaky toilet on the way to the meeting. He will be greatly missed by all.”
Pedersen said: “Tiny always had something good to say, a great smile and an infectious laugh. He’ll be remembered as someone who always did little things to make people feel great.”
Lauro leaves behind his wife, Kathy, and two children. A GoFundMe site
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to help defray funeral expenses has been set up.Services were scheduled at Sax-Tiedemann Funeral Home.