Eugene Ralph Cuomo, 85, of El Cajon, California, joined our Heavenly Father on December 18, 2015. Eugene was born in Port Washington, New York to parents, Pasquale Cuomo and Itanello "Ida" Mongiello on October 1, 1930. Ida later married Albert McCarthy and the family of 3 made their home in Port Washington. In 1947 Eugene joined the US Navy at the age of 17, because of his age; he needed his mother's permission to join. He married the love of his life Mary "Becca" Liberty Lambaris on June 4, 1952. Their family began to grow in 1954 with their first son Steve, born in Key West, Florida, again in 1957 their second son Richard, was born in Bethesda, Maryland and in 1965 David Cuomo, was born in Riverside, California. In the navy they nicknamed him Perry like "Perry Como" the singer, because they pronounced his last name "Como". For most of his navy career he saw the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and Cuba just before Castro ousted Batista in 1958. Aboard the USS Rodman in 1958 they were sent on a goodwill mission to Havana, Cuba. Back then those were touchy times. While on Cinderella Liberty, Cuomo & company staggered back to the ship and one of his fellow sailors climbed on the statue of Jose Marti, Cuba's patriot poet. They tried to get him down from the 30ft tall statue before anyone noticed but it was too late, the town square began to fill with people yelling "hang them" in Spanish. Needless to say this almost caused an international incident; things were made right and they were out of Cuba as fast as possible. On February 20, 1962 the USS Randolph was the prime recovery ship for the Friendship 7 Atlas Rocket when John Glenn landed in the West Indies. Commissaryman First Class Cuomo was set to serve John Glenn his first meal after he orbited the earth 3 times. The meal included bacon wrapped filet mignon steak, coleslaw – which Eugene made the best coleslaw – and cake. Glenn missed his landing by 26 miles – and was late for dinner – was taken to sick bay and rushed ashore by doctors and was never able to enjoy his meal. The punch line is the crew shared the cake and Eugene got to eat the steak and in his words "it was cooked just right, medium rare". In 1967, after serving 20 years in the Navy, Chief Cuomo retired, moving his family to Barstow, California where he then went to work at Bendix Field Engineering at NASA's Goldstone Site. In 1972 Eugene opened up Barstow, California's first McDonald's. This was McDonald's most profitable franchise in its first year and consistently set sales records of hamburgers sold in an hour that still holds to this day. Eugene was a graduate of McDonald's Hamburger University with a Degree in "Hamburgerology". Later he joined the staff at Southern California Edison where he would later retire from, before moving to El Cajon, California in 2002. Soon after his wife Becca would be diagnosed with Alzheimer's and passed away in May of 2007. Eugene had a passion for Photography, Golf, Watches, Pens, and gadgets "The Gadget Man" as we referred to him. Perry's partner in crime, his mini Dachshund Chief, kept him company until he could no longer care for him. Eugene is preceded in death by his mother, Itanello McCarthy, Albert McCarthy, Pasquale Cuomo and the love of his life Mary Cuomo. He is survived by his son, Steve Cuomo and his wife Theresa Cuomo, Richard Cuomo and his wife Sandra Cuomo and David Cuomo. His grandkids, Christi Crawford, Michelle Santos, Corrine Cuomo and Anthony Cuomo. His great grandkids, Colleen, Nicholas, Kailanie, Jillian, Malia, Bria, Ashley, and Ellis. Services will be held at St. Luke's Catholic Church Wednesday January 13, 2016 at 10:00am, immediately followed by a reception at the church hall. His internment will