Kerri Jo Fucaloro, née Moody, 62, of St. Louis, passed away on Monday, June 16, 2025 after bravely battling lung cancer for more than a year.
Kerri was born on February 4, 1963 in St. Louis to J L and Jo Ann River Moody, formerly of Montgomery City. Kerri grew up in Florissant and graduated from McCluer North High School in 1981. She attended Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau and graduated with a degree in marketing and business management in 1986.
Kerri married Michael J. Fucaloro on September 29, 1990. They would have celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary later this year. In November 1993, Kerri gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Nina Marie, and in January 1996, a stalwart son, Phillip Michael, followed. Kerri described these three people, along with grandsons Franklin Edward J Applegate and Joseph Anthony Michael Applegate as the “loves of her life.”
While still in high school, Kerri began what would become a 45-year career in the restaurant and hospitality industries. She spent the last 23 years as an award-winning bartender at Ameristar Casino in St. Charles. Kerri was an expert in mixing traditional cocktails and designing new drinks, but she was best known for her cheerful personality and building rapport with customers and coworkers alike. Her “regulars” and colleagues all considered her a friend – a good friend. Kerri poured not only drinks, but also her kind and caring soul, into her work. She was an attentive listener and was genuinely interested in those she interacted with; she made it her mission to see that people would always feel better somehow after their conversations.
When her children were little, she took a break from the food and beverage industry to join her husband Mike in the family shoe repair business. Kerri put her marketing and management skills to work at the Shoe Hospital in Florissant, a shop Mike’s father founded in 1945. In the late 1980s, she worked for three years as a traffic manager for Ryder Truck Rental in St. Louis.
In addition to being an extremely hard worker and devoted wife, mother and grandmother, Kerri was exceptionally coordinated and a talented athlete. She played both varsity softball and soccer in high school and aced every single physical education course her college had to offer, even becoming the badminton champion of Southeast Missouri State! She may have been small in stature, but she was fierce on the playing field or court, whatever the sport she tackled. Kerri was an excellent bowler, and for a time, she worked as the league coordinator for AMF Dick Weber Lanes in Florissant. She was all set to take up pickleball about the time of her diagnosis, so sadly, there is one sport she never mastered.
Kerri was very generous by nature, always offering her time and talents to others. She was a creative and gifted giver of gifts, and family members and friends will continue to enjoy her thoughtful, clever presents long into the future. But if there is one personality trait for which Kerri was known, it was her eternal optimism. She always saw the best of everyone and everything in every situation, and she always predicted the best of outcomes. For Kerri, it wasn’t just “the sun will come out tomorrow,” it was “the sun will come out today.” (quite literally her prediction on many an iffy family picnic or outing!) Sorrowfully, her final bit of optimism – that she would beat the cancer – never came to fruition.
She is survived by and will be sorely missed by her husband, Michael Fucaloro of St. Louis; daughter, Nina and son-in-law, Kevin Applegate of O’Fallon; son, Phillip Fucaloro, of St. Louis; grandsons, Franklin and Joseph Applegate, of O’Fallon; mother, Jo Ann Moody, of St. Peters; brother and sister-in-law, Mark Moody and Sonya Hryshko, of Detroit, Mich.; sister, Kim Moody, of St. Louis; sister and brother-in-law, Margo Doherty and Pete Tallo, of St. Peters; brothers- and sisters-in-law, Tom and Pat Fucaloro, of Dallas, Texas; Sam Fucaloro and Peggy Lecrone, of St. Charles; and brother-in-law, Ken Kuhlenschmidt of St. Charles.
Kerri was preceded in death by her father, J L Moody; father- and mother-in-law, Frank and Frances Fucaloro; paternal grandparents, George and Icel Moody; maternal grandparents, Louis River and Margaret River Johnson; sister, Wendolyn Moody; sister-in-law, Phyllis Kuhlenschmidt; brother-in-law, Frank Fucaloro; and niece, Taylor Jo Doherty.
A celebration of life will be held at a later date. It is to be determined.
Memorial contributions in celebration of Kerri may be made to the charity of one’s choice.
