James Vincent Ulisse

James Vincent Ulisse, our sweet dad, also known as Pop around the Hampton Roads area for the entirety of his 86 years, was a hard-working, good man, a dependable friend, and a Godly soul. Imagine our confusion when, just a few years ago, going through old papers with him, we pulled out a yellowed birth certificate with the same birthday as dad, October 12, 1937, but it reflected a foreign name, Vincenzo Raphael. Dad has a twin, Gene, who has been waiting for him in Paradise for almost 29 years, so we thought for a minute, maybe there were triplets and Vincenzo didn’t survive. When we turned around to ask dad, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “yeah, that’s me”. What? We looked at him liked he’d grown horns. Everyone who ever called out to him used Jimmy…we were totally confused and for the first time, realized how very Italian he truly was. Our Little Daddy was almost a “Vinny”!
Dad had an extraordinary work ethic…just ask my long suffering brothers, Jimmy, Mark, and Chris. Sleep was for the bodily rest they would need to get up before the sun and work way into the evening. Our dad didn’t pour concrete to get a paycheck, our dad worked in concrete because he loved it. It’s what drove him, and he strived to instill these traits in his sons. He left a legacy all across this area pouring sites like The Hampton Coliseum, Anheuser-Busch Brewery in Williamsburg and the Coliseum Mall just to name a few. He wanted to see excellent results, and he wanted them fast. Woe to the person who held up his vision or production.
Jimmy also knew what having a good time was supposed to look like. As a young man, his brothers, Gene and Tony, and his Dad, Carmine or Charlie, helped indulge my dad’s passion for fast cars. He would build a drag car and haul down a straight strip until he won the checkered flag. We have always been told he never lost a race. Our father would also buy old model A’s and work on the engines, race them through the field on their family farm and stage incredible crashes. He would have our mother and aunts, his brothers and cousins, and friends hang out of the windows as if they were wounded and take pictures. The social media of his time may not have been Tik Tok or Instagram, but he surely filled pages and pages in his old photo albums with black and whites that tell their own stories and still make us laugh.
Jimmy’s love for music filled all the space around his work. He would crank the radio up to distortion. Then one evening he discovered his daughter could sing and the new journey he took on was to help pave the way for her voice to be heard…even buying a restaurant so she would have a stage to sing on for the weekends. This led him into a new and much loved part of his life where he would hang in Nashville for weeks on end, being introduced to the music industry and making life long friends he cherished.
Dad was an avid Canasta player and Jigsaw puzzle worker. The card game was a staple from our earliest memories, when all the aunts and uncles would gather around my parent’s dining table and play for days and days while the snow fell. That’s right! No schools for us and no concrete pouring for them. Something good would always be simmering in a big pot on the stove as the adults, led by dad, would spend hours making canastas as all of us cousins would reek havoc while no one else was supervising. When the table cleared from the cards, a process to get the puzzle pieces would start and fill the table up until the picture was complete. All grand babies and great grand babies took it as a right of passage to be taught by their Pop, the master of Canasta himself! It kept Pops “little chickens” simmering like the good things mom kept on the stove until you could earn your way to the big table and play.
When our dad finally decided to stop pouring concrete, he did what a hard working man does and started another career building furniture. The company he formed was dubbed Jimmy Chopped Wood and the pieces were made with such love and joy. Quickly his wood-shop became known as Santa’s Workshop, filled with colorful tables and shelves.
Our dad loved the Lord and remained faithful to his Savior until Jesus rescued him from this life. We spent lots of time talking about our faith. He loved the Catholic religion, the solace and reverence and all his childhood memories from their Sunday ritual of attending mass and then pulling up chairs around his mama and daddy’s dining table to eat the most delicious Italian food.
We will continue to celebrate the life of our dad on Tuesday, April 9th at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, followed by a graveside service at Rosewell Memorial Garden Cemetery. Our family would be honored to have anyone join us who would like to share in this celebration of life with us as we honor Big Jimmy.
A funeral mass will be held on Tuesday, April 9th, 2024 at10:00am service at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church 315 Harris Grove Lane Yorktown, Virginia 23692 interment will follow in Rosewell Memorial Garden Cemetery 3609 Providence Road Hayes, Virginia 23072