Augustus J. Ghirardini

To the family and friends of Augustus J. "Gus" Ghirardini, who died peacefully at his home in northeast Atlanta Jan. 2, 2012, at the age of 96, he will be remembered as the man who was made of music. Music bubbled from his lips in phrases from a million old songs, from his toes in little spontaneous dance steps, from his fingertips into and out of the upright piano he worked three jobs to buy as a young family man in his hometown of New Haven, Conn. His bass singing voice was a natural for the choir at St.Rose's Church there, where it took little time for him to notice the beautiful slip of a girl next to him. Lena Palmisano knew the words to more songs than he did, and could, and did, dance the night away with him.Leesurvives her beloved Gus after a wonderful marriage of 73 years. Mr. Ghirardini was choir director of his church, Atlanta's Immaculate Heart of Mary for more than a decade, and for nearly 60 years sang with quartets and choruses of SPEBS -- the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America. He was equally at home raising a joyous sound unto the Lord with his choir – his "Battle Hymn of the Republic" brought church-goers to their feet – or at the afterglow of a SPEBS show, killing people with "I Lost Frieda on the Freeway."
And he never stopped playing the old upright.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Ghirardini is survived by a daughter, Janet Roderiguez, and her husband, Joseph, of King's Mtn., N.C.; son, Fred, and his wife, Sylvia, of Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., and son John, and his fiancee, Linda Webb, of Suwanee. Also, two sisters, Ellen Gabinelle of New Haven, Conn., and Rena Grillo of Hamden, Conn.; three grandchildren, Deborah Buckler of Pittsburgh and Chip Crenshaw and David Crenshaw of Charlotte, N.C., and several nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to Keep A Melody Ringing (https://www.harmonyfoundation.org/donorinfo.aspx?id=4) at the Harmony Foundation, 110 Seventh Ave. N., Suite 200, Nashville, TN 37203


Funeral Home:
A. S. Turner & Sons
2773 North Decatur Road
Decatur, GA
30033