Guido Deiro 1886-1950 Guido Deiro Passes Away |
Guido with nurses and attendant at Loma Linda Sanitarium, July 1950 Although the Guido Deiro Benefit Concert raised considerable funds to pay for his medical expenses, Guido's last days were upon him.
A little more than two months after the concert, on July 23, 1950, Guido was rushed to Loma Linda Sanitarium suffering from a "pulmonary embolism with infarcts." Three days later, on July 26, 1950, Guido Pietro Deiro, the former great vaudeville star and headliner billed as "America's Premiere Accordionist," died, invalided and destitute, at the age of 63, of congestive heart failure and depression, alone and practically forgotten. Only six persons attended the funeral (his brother Pietro was on a ship traveling overseas). Anthony Galla-Rini and Biaggio Quattrociocche were pallbearers.
Guido's grave lies next to a busy boulevard in Riverside, California marked by a simple brass plate with the inscription Guido P. Deiro - Beloved Father. Deiro's son reminisced, "I was too young at the time to help plan the funeral. My uncle Pietro must have had the marker placed at the grave."
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