flowers and book

Lori Giacomini

Sunrise

January 11, 1966 – Torrance, California

Sunset

February 16, 2022 – Los Alamitos, California

Lori (Mahoney) Giacomini was born Jan 11, 1966 to Jim and Jo Mahoney.  She grew up in Cerritos, CA attended Cerritos Elementary school, Carmenita Junior High School  and graduated from Cerritos High School in 1984.  Her youth was spent hanging out with lifelong friends Parrie Christie and Jane Roslansky.  Jim and Jo knew they had something on their hands with Lori’s determination and will to “get it done” with her perennial awards as the top girl scout cookie salesperson.  Her childhood vacations were spent with her family, friends and annual trip to Kern River.

Lori left for college in the Fall of ’84 and had a brief (but very fun) stint at San Diego State.  After using all her money (a year’s worth in a short few months) she returned home and enrolled at Long Beach State, majoring in Interior Design.  At Long Beach, she was involved  in many school programs and was an active member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority. Her sorority affiliation was always a prideful memory and ultimately led to her GPhi sister Lynn Walti (Phipps) introducing her to John.

John and Lori met at the end of John’s college experience and a long courtship ensued.  Lori graduated from Long Beach in ’88 and worked for Lionel Ramirez Design in Long Beach.  Space Planning, drafting, and architectural finishes consumed her early career. She left the poorly paying life of a designer and went to work for American Business Ventures, which was a company Lori was exposed  to while working for Lionel. ABV was an early pioneer in capital raising and invented the large box retail concept with Home Base being the first product.  From there after ABV burned all its capital (just like leaving SDSU), and Lori was introduced to American Funds, a mutual fund company based in SoCal.  A college friend, Mari Ellen Hamann, helped Lori get her start at American Funds where she spent the next 16 years. The car started early each day with Lori on the road before 6 am. Lori worked in customer service, dealer marketing, and eventually settled in the Training and Development area of the company.  She was a hard worker, capable, and was known for getting more work done by 9am than most people got done in a day.  With the business day tied to the financial markets, Lori’s days would end at 3p and she was back in the car headed home to her more important job, being the wife to John, and mother of her three children-Evan 26, Sarah 24 and Emma 20.

Lori was efficient, never leaving a minute wasted.  Lunches were made, clothes laid out and schedules adhered too.  We were blessed to have help with kids while living in Long Beach, with Jackie Spencer looking after the family as well as Kathy’s Daycare on Heather Street.  When the family moved to Rossmoor, Candelaria Flores blessed the Giacomini family with years of service. Having nurturing child care was critical to Lori as it allowed her to thrive in her career knowing the kids were safe and well taken care of at home.

During the kid’s school age years Lori was a hands-on Mom (aka Helicopter Mom 😊).  She helped in the kid’s classroom, was a team mom, worked in the snack shack and rarely missed a game, dance recital, or other activity on the docket. Lori was one of the early members of the Hopkinson Hukilau, a fundraiser at the kid’s elementary school. This event raised significant funds for the school, and Lori was a key influence  of its early success. She was always there to answer a question, fix a database, handle a check out glitch- but never wanted any notoriety. She was happiest just giving her time to help and being behind the scenes, ensuring the trains ran on time.

As the kids moved to high school, Lori decided it was time to stay home full time and left American Funds to help be more involved with the busy lives of the children.  Evan started at Servite in 2009, and Lori’s attention turned to support  many activities at the high school- she was a team mom for the baseball team, was involved in organizing the fund raising for Friar Feast and supported Evan’s academic and athletic pursuits (not to mention 1,000s of miles of carpool time to Anaheim each day).  With Evan a senior, and Sarah starting at Rosary in Fullerton, Lori again was right there to help.  She supported Sarah’s dance passion as the team parent for the Rosary Dance team, and chaired the Red Wine, and Gold Annual fundraiser.  Like all things Lori did, she grew the result of RWG dramatically, yet never wanted to be recognized, because it was never about her.  Emma attended Los Alamitos High School, and Lori was able to help with class projects and support Emma’s ASB endeavors as well as hosting lots of teenagers on a weekly basis at the house.

The kids were always her priority and being a supportive wife at home.  Her “tight ship” mentality allowed John to pursue his career which required frequent travel across the US and abroad.  Vacation time was spent skiing at June Mountain, summer trips to her favorite spot on the planet, Bass Lake, as well as trips to Hawaii and Europe.  Flying wasn’t Lori’s favorite thing to do, but as the kids moved onto college in Texas, Nebraska, and Colorado, she would suck it up, and jump on a plane to see her kids.

When Lori wasn’t helping the kids with their passions, supporting John in his career, or working, she was heavily involved with two organizations called National Charity League (NCL) that she participated in with her daughters, Sarah and Emma, and Pathways of Independence. Lori was involved with National Charity League for a total of 10 years and dedicated countless hours to volunteer work, fundraisers, and managed the NCL Thrift store for a few years. Lori loved for things to be organized, so she took her skills to the store to redecorate, reorganize, and ignite a passion in the members hearts about why the Thrift Store existed. Lori was passionate about helping others and loved her time as a member of Pathways of Independence alongside her time in NCL. She was proud to be a part of Pathways, an organization whose mission is to transform the lives of disadvantaged young women through education, therapy, mentoring, housing and healthcare to break the cycle of poverty and abuse. Lori was dedicated to always putting others before herself. She never asked for recognition or expected to be thanked. She left a legacy in these organizations and all the people involved for years to come.

John and Lori were married in June 1992, and would have enjoyed 30 years of marriage this June. Just prior to Lori’s passing, they were able to spend time with college friends, the Stanford’s and Ciampa’s at the 34th  Superbowl party, an annual celebration that commemorated when John and Lori met in 1988.

Lori had just turned 56 at the time of her passing. She battled a rare form of brain cancer for almost seven years.  She did so with the utmost courage, determination and grace.  Never once did she question “why me”, and never did she complain about the ravages of the treatment she endured. She was able to take everything the medical team could come up with to slow the effects of the disease.  Special thanks must be shared with her team of doctors and support team at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach.  Dr. Robert Louis’s skill as a neurosurgeon definitely extended the time Lori had with us, and allowed her to water ski, snow ski, attend graduations, and be at her niece and goddaughter, Katie’s, wedding this past October in Florida.  Along with Dr. Kim, Dr. Kelly, Dr. Carillo, Dr. Semenuik and Lori Berberet, there was no better place one could be if they had to go through something like this.

Lori was preceded in death by her sister Debra Wilson who passed away in December, 2012.   She has 4 nephews Samuel and Garrett Wilson, Quinn and Mitchell Giacomini and two nieces, Katie DeWaters and Anna Giacomini.

Lori was the most supportive, loving, hardworking, and selfless woman. She cared so deeply about her family and always wanted to make every experience for them memorable and special. She went the extra mile to pull off the small details and surprises for birthdays, holidays, and random days here and there. She was surrounded by friends who loved her and supported her family as well.

In lieu of flowers, Lori requested support be directed to Pathways to Independence, in Los Alamitos, CA (https://pathwaystoindependence.org).  Pathways was very important to Lori and her involvement with Friends of Pathways (FOP) gave her great joy and sense of accomplishment as the proceeds she helped raise makes a significant difference in the lives of the clients of this organization.

The funeral mass will be at St. Hedwig Catholic Church in Los Alamitos, CA on Monday, March 7, 2022 at 10:00am with urn burial to follow at Good Shepherd Cemetery in Huntington Beach, CA.  A Celebration of Life will commence at Old Ranch Country Club in Seal Beach, CA after the burial services conclude.