The Willow Glen Resident

Mentor and Guide: 'She was the most influential person in my life,' Cici Barone's best friend said shortly after her death.

'Spirited, loving' woman succumbs to lung illness

Cici Barone was a devoted mother who struggled to find a cure to son's disease

By Rebecca Wallace

"Courageous" was a word a lot of people used to describe Cecilia "Cici" Barone as she battled the serious illnesses that gripped both her and her young son in recent years.

But her friends and family made it clear that Barone, 35, who died March 18 at Stanford Hospital after a long fight with usual interstitial pneumonitis, was not defined by her struggles.

"She was the most influential person in my life," said Debbie Jaramillo, Barone's best friend, as she created a wreath for Barone's memorial service. She had tears in her throat as she said, "She played such a big role in my life as my mentor, as my teacher, my guide. She knew I came from kind of a messed-up family, and she set a great example of what a woman, a mother, a wife should be."

Angie Hays, one of Barone's four sisters, echoed the observations of other friends and family members, saying, "She had an incredible desire to be a mother and to fill that role. I feel I have some big shoes to fill in the mother department if I want to be like her."

But Barone also faced a great challenge as a mother when her son Austin, 8, was stricken in 1995 with meningo encephalitis, an inflammatory condition of the brain, and began to suffer debilitating seizures. When Austin's illness was at its worst, he suffered as many as 500 seizures a day, and he still battles the disease.

Besides desperately seeking a way to help Austin, Barone faced an increasingly difficult time breathing due to her own illness. She had been on the lung-donor recipient list at Stanford since June and had been relying on intravenous liquid oxygen to breathe. But a suitable lung donor could not be found.

"I'd like to live through March," Barone told The Resident earlier this month.

Her sister Ann Giluso of Willow Glen launched a campaign a few weeks ago, papering the Glen with fliers telling people how easy and worthwhile it is to become an organ donor.

Cecilia Maria Scapini Barone was born in Rome when her father was working there during the 1960s, and when the family moved to San Jose all five sisters attended Presentation High School. She was devoted to her family--sons Wesley, 5, and Austin, and husband Jeff--and had also done some part-time waitressing at Spoons Grill & Bar in San Jose, where she made many friends.

"She was a very courageous, spirited, loving person. She had a wonderful sense of humor, and that kept her going through all of this," Giluso said.

Jaramillo added, "She was so funny; she'd crack you up. She was definitely the coolest person I've ever met."

Barone is survived by her husband, Jeff Barone of San Jose; sons Austin and Wesley of San Jose; parents Don and Peggy Scapini of Pebble Beach; four sisters, Teri Barnes of Boulder Creek, Angie Hays of San Martin, Ann Giluso of San Jose and Patricia Quevado of San Jose; brother Tony Scapini of Tahoe City, Calif.; and numerous nephews, nieces and cousins.

A memorial service was held March 23 at Queen of Apostles Church in San Jose, with a reception following at Presentation High School.

Memorial donations may be made to the Barone Family Trust, c/o Municipal Employees Credit Union, 140 Asbury St., San Jose, 95110.

"She had such simple dreams for what she wanted out of life, and struggled to the end to try to get those," Giluso said of her sister. "She fought to the last breath."

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