Marinello Fidele Dirado Jr.

Marinello (Marty) F. DiRado Jr. was born on January 10, 1934 in Binghamton, N.Y. He was the son of hardworking Italian immigrants. They moved to California in 1945. He attended Cantwell High School where he played on the basketball team. He attended UCLA where he met the love of his life, Jean, when she walked into a dance at Mt. Saint Mary’s College that his fraternity attended. He worked as an aerospace engineer for the Marquardt Corporation in the San Fernando Valley. He helped design a part of the Apollo 11 lunar module.

Marty and Jean had two daughters and raised them in Northridge, California until 1977 when the company Marty was working for moved its operations to Oklahoma City. Marty and Jean lived there until 2005 when they returned to live in Beaumont, California. Marty was active in his church and volunteered at the church’s food bank every week. Marty loved camping and fishing and working in his yard.

He passed away peacefully in his sleep on July 16th. Marty was preceded in death by Jean in 2022. He is survived by his daughters, Julie Smith (Greg) and Jeanine Morley (Tim): his six grandchildren: Scott Smith (Nicole), Nicolas Smith (Julie Rose), Jessica Morley, Mitchell Morley, Alex Smith and Andrew Morley; and five great grandchildren: Nora, Maren, Hugo, Ellis and Lawrence; and his sister, Shirley DiRado. The family is very grateful for the loving care Marty received at Del’s Haven in Laguna Niguel.

Rest in peace but we know you’ll be busy keeping things in order up in heaven. We love you and we’ll miss you.