Paul Joseph Guarino, 85, passed away on January 10, 2020. Memorial Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. Friday, January 17, at Passantino Bros. Funeral Home, 2117 Independence Blvd., Kansas City, MO 64124. In lieu of Flowers, the family requests a donation to the American Heart Association.

Born July 6, 1934 to Jasper and Jennie (Montaleone) Guarino, Paul attended Garfield Elementary and Northeast High School. Married Pearl Katheryn (Triano) Guarino on October 14, 1953 for 66 years. Many called their marriage a fairy tale marriage. She passed November 24, 2019. When they first got married, he worked for a candy company until he joined Palermo & Cascio around 1956. He was known as "Peckerwood" because Pete Palermo said he did not look like an Italian (with that nose come on) Sometime during his employment, he partnered with Joe Palermo in Kansas City Salad which was a subsidiary of Palermo & Cascio, a company Pearl worked at when she was pregnant with John. He left Palermo & Casio in 1972 and purchased Joe's portion of Kansas City Salad and was told he wouldn't last a year. But Paul and Pearl worked hard to build the business and were joined by their son John in 1978. They grew the business from $250,000 a year to a multimillion dollar a year business when he sold and retired in 1994.

Paul was a man with a big heart; he always took care of his family and employees. He employed family members to make sure they were taken care of and whenever in need he was the first one there to help. He also took care of his employees as if they were family, that is how he treated everyone. One of his employees' child was hit by a car and died. All 150 employees chipped in to help pay for the funeral but fell short over $4000, dad and mom covered the difference. They always cared about others more than themselves.

Even though they had little money and would save his pocket change during the week so he can have coffee and a donut on Saturday, he would buy several dozen eggs with his own money and fix a box of vegetables to bring to St. Johns convent for the sisters. He would also give the Sisters of the Poor whatever they wanted. They would say "Paul no one will give us lettuce" or whatever was expensive at that time, and he would say "sister, take whatever and as much as you want". He was Gods angel on earth.

Paul loved his children so much he would sell Christmas trees after working 70 plus hours a week to raise money for his daughter and sons Christmas presents. He wanted to make sure there were a lot of presents under the tree. When his children were young, Paul and Pearl would buy clothes for a needy boy and girl every Easter. At that time, they really had nothing but still gave.

He loved to cook and was well known among family and friends for his famous meatballs. He always cooked twice as much as he needed for the sugo because John's friends would show up every Sunday morning for fried meatballs.

He left such a good impression on all he knew and was called a good man. People always said that he would give the shirt off his back (which was most of the time a white t-shirt) to help anyone and the devotion he gave was always returned. He reaped what he sewed and God took care of him.

He will be remembered with lots of love by all who knew him.

Preceded in death by his wife Pearl. He is survived by his daughter Paula JoAnn (Don) Hamblin, son John Paul (Bette) Guarino. Grandchildren Mark Paul (Tiffany) Hamblin, Rachel Ann (Mark) McInnis and Laura Ann Guarino along with his great grandchild Maeve Pearl McInnis.

Condolences may be offered at www.passantinobros.com