John A. Vani, 89, a longtime gas station and auto parts store owner who enjoyed new Cadillacs and his large family, died Thursday, Feb. 15, in Arizona after suffering from pneumonia. Born in Chicago, Mr. Vani and his brothers were raised in an orphanage after his father, who worked for the Fire Department, was kicked by a horse and died of his injuries. As a young man, Mr. Vani worked several odd jobs before taking a position with the Chicago Transit Authority. He repaired train cars for about 10 years. He met his wife, Catherine, at a dance on Navy Pier and the two married in 1936. Mr. Vani opened a gas station in Chicago in 1944 and ran it for a decade before he sold it. He moved his young family to Hillside in 1955, where he opened the West Hill Service Station. When it burned a year later, Mr. Vani opened another station in 1959. Mr. Vani’s three sons worked with him at the gas station, watching their father cruise around town in finned Cadillacs. “He loved cars, and he would get a new Cadillac every two years,” said his daughter, Marleen Lorenz. The family moved to nearby Berkeley in 1962. Mr. Vani operated the gas station until 1966, when he developed tuberculosis. When he was released from treatment six months later, he and his three sons opened Hillside Auto Supply. Mr. Vani was a past president of the Hillside Rotary Club, and he received the organization’s highest recognition as a Paul Harris Fellow. He took care of his wife, who has Alzheimer’s, for the past decade. Other survivors include three sons, Richard, Terry and Joseph; three other daughters, Rosemary Hudson, Jeanie LeDonne and Maryann Goyn; two brothers, Joseph and Frank; 21 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Wednesday in St. Domitilla Catholic Church, 4940 Washington St., Hillside.
