Vance Allen Vallenari

Vance Allen Vallenari of Jacksonville, Florida left us to go jam with the greats on July, 11 ^th 2019 at 10:40pm. He leaves behind a devastated family, a string of broken hearts and a lengthy record of making trouble for fun. A lifelong champion of having a good time, Vance punched a hole in the time-space continuum on March 25 ^th , 1958 in Pulaski County, Missouri on a mission to do one simple thing: play good music. He was adopted by Victor and Bernice Vallenari – Victor a well-known musician in his own right – and was raised in Chicago, where Vance spent his youth alternating between loveable scamp and ne’er do well. He got his first tattoo on a park bench with a ball point pen and a needle when he was thirteen years old and made a full-time job of giving his sister Vicki a hard time and generally being the scourge of his neighborhood. He learned to play left-handed guitar through a mix of sheer determination and natural talent – Vance was as gifted a musician as they come and loved the blues, jazz, and rock and roll. He played across several decades and in many bands, most notably Encounter, Radio London, and Jay Garrett and The Pack. He loved rhinos, Hunter S. Thompson, Joe Bonamassa, and women in general. Among the things he passed on to his daughters are his love of trouble (Alina), tattoos (Tara) and women (Brianne). Vance is preceded in death by his father Victor Vallenari – with whom he is no doubt comparing musical notes with as we speak – and his mother Bernice Vallenari, his brother in law Stanley Hap and many other friends and family along the way. He is survived by his daughters Brianne Vallenari-Frieder (Cynthia), Alina Vallenari and Tara Vallenari; his great aunt Jane Smith, his sister Vicki Vallenari Bocchino (Bill), his nieces Nicole and Amber Hap and nephew Randy Hap, and a whole slew of extended family and friends who loved to hear him play just as much as they loved to hear him laugh. And wherever there is music and laughter, V will be there – and we will hear him, always, loud and clear.