Betty Jo Alboreo

BETTY JO ALBOREO

You could call her “Jo.” Or you could call her “Betty Jo.”

But you better never call her just “Betty!”

STOW - Jo passed away on the sixth day of April 2025, at the age of 88. Born on December 30, 1936, to Kentuckians Mary Eleanor “Skeet” and Oscar L. “Red” Cook, Jo grew up in Cuyahoga Falls and was a class of 1954 Black Tiger. Her daddy had a coal yard and a SOHIO gas station he built on Front Street, and Jo, with her cute freckles, used to ride with him sometimes when he delivered coal.

Jo and her cousin, Judy, were born two weeks apart and had great fun and also got into many shenanigans together, as evidenced by the time they put Ivory Soap Flakes all over the bathroom floor in order to “skate” indoors. Jo’s little sister, Donna Sue “Susie” (Fred Martin), was nine years younger. Jo adored her from the moment she was born and was like a second mother to Susie.

At age 17, while working at the soda fountain at Barney’s Busy Corner Store, a handsome Italian named Andy Alboreo, saw her and was bewitched by her red hair and dimples. They fell in love and ran off in 1955 to elope in Angola, Indiana, right after Jo turned eighteen. Andy had been a little vague at first about his age. Although Jo knew his true age long before marrying him, her parents had no idea he was 13 years older than Jo! When her mother found out later, she said: “Good heavens, I wanted a son . . . not a BROTHER!” Despite their initial misgivings about the man their daughter married with the old beat-up car, Andy loved them and treated them extra special all through the years, and they depended on him and loved him like their very own son.

Despite their age difference and all of the kidding that went along with it, Andy and Jo were happily married for over 53 years until her short, round Italian passed away in 2008. They built a close-knit family together and lived on Lauby Avenue in the Firestone Park area before moving in 1966 to the red house with the big porch they lovingly built on Maple Road in Stow, right behind Indian Trail School, where Jo was a room mother and lunchroom volunteer.

Family dinners and family vacations were especially important to Jo and Andy. Their four children, John (Annette Knapp), Joni (Doug Heisterman), Jill Marie (Mike Merk), and Jeff, were called home from playing in the neighborhood at suppertime by the ringing of the bell on the front porch! Jo was best known for her clean house and sweet smile and always wanting to spend time with her kids, grandchildren, and Andy - especially after he retired from Sears at Chapel Hill and had even more time to go on adventures and day trips like to Amish Country or just gallivant around for fun. Jo went through a spell of always coming home with some newfangled kitchen gadget and everyone would have to guess its use. Outings to the park, walks in the wagon, or just hanging in the backyard or in the playroom are memories held fondly by all. Andy and Jo always welcomed friends of their kids to the house and sometimes friends would hang out at the house with “Mr. and Mrs. Alboreo” even when their friend was not around!

Jo was a great cook and baker . . . her spaghetti and meatballs even got the approval of her Italian mother-in-law, Maria Molfetta Alboreo, her lasagna was a Super Bowl tradition, and Jo’s chocolate chip cookies were legendary among kids, grandkids, and all of their friends . . . there were ALWAYS cookies to steal in the freezer. Fun neighbors and friends on Lauby Avenue and Maple Road, childhood friends like June and Bev, and wonderful nieces and nephews, were all special to Jo, as was her First Christian Church family in Cuyahoga Falls and Stow.

Ever since she was a little girl, Betty Jo Cook wanted to be a mother. And she was an incredible mother! She and Andy gave their children the best childhood a kid could ask for. Eventually, she became an amazing grandma and great-grandma to 24 total, (grandchildren plus great-grandchildren), ranging in age from 44 years to NEWBORN!

Grandchildren Blake (Chris), Shea (Yasmany), Dare (Meghan), Kade, Josette (Joe), Kate, Drew (Dally), Logan, Crimson (Ryan), Carson (Amy), Carter (Austin), Zac, and Mac . . . and great grandchildren, Dillinger, Ila, Renata, Bodyn, Emmy, Judah, Maria, Silas Andrew, Isla, Savannah Jo, and Mattimeo . . . along with Jo’s four children and their loves, will miss Grandma Jo beyond words and we will think of her every time we hear the song she sang to the babies: “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.”

The circle of life is beautiful in so many ways . . . less than 24 hours after Grandma Jo transitioned out of this earthly world, our whole family welcomed her newest great-grandbaby, Miss Renata Wrenley, INTO the world!!

Jo’s immediate family will gather to celebrate her wonderful life.

In lieu of flowers, if so inclined to make a caring gesture in Jo’s honor, please do an act of kindness for a stranger, reach out to someone with whom you have lost touch or had cross words, help a friend or family member in need, or donate to a favorite cause. And please remember to love all of the people in your lives a bushel and a peck and give them a hug around the neck!!!