My condolences to John's three nieces and families, for their recent and past family losses. While I knew John only on a casual basis, my early contact with the Pattavina family was as a teenager.
My uncles owned farms down Pleasant Valley, and during school vacations we would deliver cases of farm produce to Rosario DiGiovanni and his wife, Lorraine, the original owners of the Cedar Crest restaurant on Broadway, in Lawrence.
My uncles would go to the kitchen and hold court with the head chef, Charles Pattavina Sr., (John's father) about all their early childhood days in Lawrence.
Later in high school I regularly delivered wholesale grocery canned food products, to The Cedar Crest, also during school vacations. John's father was always very engaging, and would never let me leave without some special delicacy of his.
Charles Pattavina Sr. later owned and sold their landmark property to Mary Claire Kennedy who reopened the Cedar Crest Restaurant, to the overwhelming joy of the Lawrence citizens and sourrounding communities.
May John truly rest in peace.
Anthony Longo
Salem, NH
