Willow Glen Resident

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Photograph courtesy of the De Vincenzi family

With A Smile: John De Vincenzi helped his art students find the beauty in everything they looked at. De Vincenzi was also a founding member of the Italian American Heritage Foundation.

De Vincenzi valued his Italian heritage and saw the beauty in everyday objects

By Lynn Crocker

John De Vincenzi used to say that life is what you make of it; the 85-year-old Willow Glen resident, who died April 18, made a great life.

Born in San Jose in 1921, De Vincenzi married his San Jose High School sweetheart, Lonnie Santina, in 1943 while on a two-week furlough from the army.

Lonnie's ability to plan an entire wedding, complete with three bridesmaids and reception for 345 guests, in less than a week demonstrated her ability to take De Vincenzi's ideas and, with a quiet forcefulness, make them a reality. The couple was married for 53 years before her death in 1996.

After their wedding and a weeklong honeymoon, De Vincenzi returned to his assignment in Riverside, and eventually was sent to Europe as a member of the 1255th Combat Engineers, where he participated in the Battle of the Bulge.

Two years after his marriage, De Vincenzi came home and settled in Willow Glen. They built the family home on Keesling Avenue and raised two daughters, Nancy and Marcia.

Now a civilian, he enrolled at San José State University on the GI Bill and became an art major. After graduating in 1949, he earned an master's degree in art at Stanford University and was subsequently hired as an art professor at San José State University, where he remained until his retirement in 1991.

He had a tremendous influence on the young artists who entered his classes.

"He taught me so much of what I consider the backbone of my life," said Marilyn Dorsa, who had classes with De Vincenzi from 1961 to 1962 and remained friends with him and his family. "He had a true artist's eye and could see beauty in everything. He used to love to take us out of the classroom to find art in everyday things. He'd take us to an alley in the grungiest part of San Jose and ask us to find the beauty there. He would say 'look at that doorknob. Look at how the light hits it.' It was all an exercise to open our vision and see things in a different way."

De Vincenzi received 52 awards over the years for his artwork and, as a professional artist, exhibited his paintings all over the world, including in Italy and Japan. Locally, he showed his work at the De Young Museum, Legion of Honor, de Saisset Museum and Triton Museum of Art.

"He was truly a Renaissance man. He had great ideas and always wanted to transform the present into something better," said daughter Nancy Melander. "He always saw the beauty in things, and everything to him was art in the making,"

In 1948, De Vincenzi began to promote the idea of fine arts in San Jose and served as chairman for the committee that eventually developed the San Jose Museum of Art.

In addition to art, he loved everything Italian. He was one of the founding members and one-time president of the Italian American Heritage Foundation (IAHF) and was knighted twice by the Republic of Italy.

"He was a tireless worker for the Italian American community and was very passionate about Italian art and history," said Sal Caruso, longtime friend of De Vincenzi's and a past president of the IAHF.

"He had a long-standing desire to establish an Italian American heritage center, and after that was accomplished he worked to create an art exhibit with in the cultural center that illustrated all the contributions of the prominent Italian families from the area."

De Vincenzi's love for everything Italian was passed onto his family.

"It speaks volumes about his passion for his heritage to know that he instilled it in a very positive way not just in his children but also grandchildren," Caruso said "His grandson, Josh, ran for the board of IAHF and when he stood up to speak he said, 'I am John De Vincenzi's grandson.' It was clear he was proud to be his grandson. When a young man in his 20s is that proud of his grandfather, it says something about the life he lived and the legacy he passed down."

According to Melander, De Vincenzi was the center of the family.

"We always had our extended-family celebrations at Dad's house. Mom would cook, and it was a great party house," she said. "When he became sick, the grandkids took turns spending the night at his house. How many grandkids would do that? He was very emotional about his family and very proud that his grandkids took some aspect of him and made it a part of themselves."

Granddaughter Santina Bowers agrees.

"He always made a big deal abut each grandchild and made us feel special," she said.