Francis was born at Los Medanos Hospital in Pittsburg, to William J. Avitabile, and Catherine E. Vidaurri, longtime parishioners of St. Ignatius of Antioch. He was the sixth of the eight Avitabile children, listed in order: Mario, Dominic, Joseph, Dante, Anthony, Francis, Maria, and Rafael. He was also blessed to acquire as good friends Indira Nederpelt, Tony's partner, Rock Allison and Raul' Avitabile-Perez, his brothers-in-law, and Ana Cristina Avitabile, his sister-in-law. He attended AUSD schools up through high school, sometimes participating in CYO basketball as an extracurricular, and also piano lessons with Kathleen Flemming, his late godmother. He spent much time teaching himself guitar on the instrument she bought him for his birthday one year. His passions were history classes in middle school, and he loved Prospects High School; his time there offered him opportunities to be creative in his writing, thinking that he would study literature and writing in college; and he did in fact go to LMC, only to be set afire with love of Math by one very personable teacher to whom we are grateful. He became a volunteer Math tutor in the learning center there, and a private math tutor for several years after that. He also attended Sonoma State, but briefly. His jobs in Antioch were of the service type, Lowes, Sprouts, Amazon delivery, etc. In his thirties, Francis became a close friend and sometimes personal assistant to Marty, an economist and neighbor who had written a doctoral dissertation. Marty loves to tell the story of how Francis, upon first reading the paper that had taken Marty a span of years to write, spotted a math error unnoticed by Marty's advisors! Marty, whom we had known for years before, became a close family friend, often coming home with Francis to our home for dinner.
Francis was also fortunate to enjoy since middle school, the company of Dexter, with whom he would often hike the trails of Contra Loma Regional Park and Black Diamond Mines. They were regulars, having much of the map memorized. He also spent much time with Emilio, exchanging manga, graphic novels, and vintage science fiction. With Bryan, he spent nights into the wee hours of the morning playing sophisticated video games. When Bryan married and moved away, they were still able to play at night, now and then. He and his friends also enjoyed movies, hockey, and the fights. He was a great and fun-loving babysitter to his nieces Celeste and Nova, and his nephew, Rocky. He was especially close to Celeste, having spent much time with her as a newborn and toddler, often helping his sister Maria with her care. Will, Catherine, and his siblings will miss Francis with aching hearts, and will pledge awareness to those young people struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues.
In lieu of flowers the family requests donations to Winter Nights Shelter – Safe Parking Lot/ Shower Ministries, St. Vincent de Paul Thanksgiving food distribution, or NAMI Contra Costa (National Alliance on Mental Illness). These donations can be made via St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish, 3351 Contra Loma Blvd., Antioch, CA  94509