Louis Edward Repaci

Louis "Louie" Edward Repaci of San Diego, CA passed away on January 6th 2023 of natural causes. He was 86 years old. He was born in Port Chester New York, July 20, 1936 to Mary and Paul Repaci. His parents moved to San Diego, California when he was 8 years old along with his brother, Edward and sister, Eleanor.  Soon after they arrived in San Diego, his parents bought him his first saxophone. He poured his passions into music. By the age of 13, he was a professional musician playing in various dance bands in San Diego. He joined a musical group called "The Starlighters."   It soon became rated number one in San Diego while he was attending Kearny High School (class of 1954) and beyond his college days. While in high school, he met his beautiful wife, Linda Lou (Henry). They were married the year after he graduated from high school July 17, 1955. Louis went to San Diego State University to study speech arts and music. While at San Diego State College, he was selected out of a group of 20,000 to tour Europe and the Far East playing for our troops deployed overseas. He was awarded the same honor as Bob Hope, the Far East Medallion. The very next year, his group was invited to the Belgian World's Fair to perform.   He graduated from San Diego State College and he and Linda started a family. For several years, Louis drove to Hollywood to study saxophone and clarinet with Russ Cheever, first chair with 20th Century Fox movie studios. He was offered an opportunity to become a full-time professional musician, but he chose to turn down the offer with Russ Cheever, to continue music as a secondary interest in order to care for his growing family. He built a successful career in sales and marketing.  His greatest efforts in sales and marketing were given to the WD-40 Company. He would eventually retire from a position there as vice-president of marketing. Although he poured many years of creativity into the business world, Louis did not give up his music. He continued to play professionally, sometimes with his daughters, and wrote 28 copyrighted songs. Kearny High School inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 2017. He was fiercely proud of his family and his Italian heritage. But, it was the love of his life, sweetheart and soulmate, Linda Lou, who meant everything to him. In their 60 years of marriage, they enjoyed travelling together and dancing was one of their favorite past times.  She passed away in 2016. He spoke of her daily and missed her beyond words.  Now, they are reunited, dancing once again, in the presence of Jesus.  He is survived by his brother, Edward; his sister, Eleanor: daughter, Rene (Tom); daughter, Michelle (Casey) Riley and son, Randy (Megan) Repaci. He had nine children and 10 great-grandchildren.

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