Douglas Gilbert Pedrotty

Douglas Gilbert Pedrotty died on Monday, December 26, 2022, in Hilton Head, SC, at the age of 80. His quiet, open, gentle presence will be missed by all who knew him. Doug was born in Massillon, OH, on March 19, 1942, to Gilbert Louis Pedrotty and Ruth Marie Pedrotty. He grew up with his three sisters in Massillon, where he attended St. Joseph’s Elementary School and Central Catholic High School. He met Judith Carol Lamiell at Central Catholic, and for their first date asked her to the Winter Formal on December 29, 1959. They have been together and inseparable ever since. Judy’s father Tom once counseled her younger brother, “When you’re looking for a role model, look to Doug.”  Tom was known for his wisdom.

Doug earned a BA in Chemistry from Christian Brothers’ College in 1965, and he and Judy were married in Canton, OH in August of that year. They spent their honeymoon driving across the country to Manhattan, KS, where Doug started graduate school and Judy began her nursing career. The first two of their four sons - Eric and Steve - were born in Manhattan by the time Doug earned an MS in Inorganic Chemistry in 1967 and moved his growing family to St. Paul, MN to begin his career with 3M.

Sons three and four - Mike and Brian - were born in St. Paul before Doug moved the family out to 40 acres of woods in Baldwin, WI, in 1973. Doug literally built their home with his own two hands, hiring a contractor to dig and pour the foundation and construct the frame, but doing everything else himself with the help of Judy and (nominally) the kids. He raised his family in the woods there until 2015, when he and Judy retired to Bluffton, SC.

Doug was a professional chemist who earned three US patents on his inventions during his time at 3M, but his primary focus in life was always at home and outdoors. He was a competent auto mechanic by necessity, an avid reader, a lover of games, cards, and dominos, a diehard fan of the Packers, Buckeyes, and Baldwin-Woodville Blackhawks, and an eternally optimistic golfer.  Doug was very active in the Catholic Church, where he sang to himself every Sunday, was a fourth degree Knight of Columbus, a frequent usher, lector, and eucharistic minister.  He volunteered with Meals on Wheels, Staying Connected, and other organizations for much of his life. He was a great outdoorsman, and passed on that love to his sons through countless adventures in the great north woods. He was never happier than when he was up in the Boundary Waters - either in a canoe or (inexplicably) on snowshoes or cross country skis, and he and Judy had a special love of the North Shore of Lake Superior.

But most of all, Doug was the consummate father and grandfather. He was an enthusiastic roughhouser, could wrestle or carry four small boys at once, and could tickle anything. He volunteered for everything, and never missed a game, play, or performance. He and Judy crisscrossed the country in their trusty minivan  for every graduation, commissioning and winging, Baptism, First Communion and Confirmation, concert, recital and play, bee, tournament and state championship. Best. Dad. Ever.

Doug was preceded in death by his granddaughter, Madison Pedrotty; parents, Gilbert and Ruth Pedrotty; sister, Ruth Hambach; sister-in-law, Ann Lamiell Landy; and brother-in-law Jeffery Reinhard.  He is survived by his loving wife of 57 years, Judy; their four sons: Eric, his wife Maria, and their children, Alex and Maggie; Steve, his wife Tina, and their son, Dominic;  Mike, his wife Kate, and their children, Gil and Mary Rose; and Brian, his wife Theresa, and their children, Abigail and Matthew. He is also survived by his sisters and brothers-in-law, Janet and Jim Vennetti; Nancy and Ken Simone; and Roy Hambach; and by Judy’s siblings and their spouses, Janet Orth; Jim and Leslie Lamiell; Christine Lamiell Reinhard; Rosemary and John Russell; Patricia Lamiell and Andy Weltchek; Theresa and Hugh Burnstadt; Kathleen Lamiell and Arte Kuyper; and 26 nieces and nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Massillon, Ohio, on Monday, January 16, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. Interment will follow at St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Massillon. A memorial Mass will be celebrated at St. Gregory the Great, Doug and Judy’s parish in Bluffton, SC, on Monday, January 9, 2023, at 10:30 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to Central Catholic High School in Canton, OH. (www.starkcountycatholicschools.org/Giving.aspx).

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