September 10, 1938 ~ October 25, 2026 (age 88)
John Carl Moracco of Auburn, Alabama passed away peacefully at home on October 25, 2026, at the age of 88. John was born in Geneva, New York on September 10, 1938, the fourth of the late Anthony and Carmela (Guererri) Moracco’s six children. He grew up in a vibrant Italian-American community on Angelo Street, where three families who emigrated from the same area of Calabria (Italy) together had settled in the early 1900’s. On Angelo Street, the food was delicious and plentiful, nobody knocked, and everyone was somehow related.
A 1956 graduate of Geneva High School, John was named best all-around athlete in his senior year, was a two-time state wrestling champion, and lettered in wrestling, football, and track. He was also an excellent student and went on to earn his BS in Education from SUNY Cortland in 1960, where he was on the varsity wrestling team. After graduation, he taught 5th and 6th grades in Rochester, NY before receiving a fellowship to attend Arizona State University, where he earned a master’s degree in Counselor Education in 1969. John received a fellowship for his doctoral studies, so he and his growing family moved from Arizona to Iowa City, IA, where he helped set up the University of Iowa Lab School, and was awarded his PhD in Counselor Education in 1971.
Following graduation, he accepted a position as an assistant professor in the School of Education at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in Beirut, Lebanon–halfway around the world, and a long way from Angelo Street. In those days Beirut was a flourishing, multi-cultural metropolis, and John and his family thrived there. John enjoyed working with the international student body and the quirky intellectuals who made up the faculty, and was a key player on the AUB Faculty softball team, who, despite their enthusiastic fanbase, were perennial basement dwellers in the city’s softball league. He and his family embarked on numerous road trip adventures that traversed Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, and Jordan, and included camping among Roman ruins in Jerash, a horseback ride on a narrow mountain trail to the Nabataean ruins in Petra, and getting their VW station wagon dug out of the sand by Bedouins in Wadi Rum. The civil war in Lebanon cut short John’s tenure at AUB. After his return to the US and a one-year stint as a visiting professor at the University of Iowa, in 1978 John accepted a faculty position at Auburn University in the Department of Counseling and Counseling Psychology, where he remained until retiring as a professor emeritus in 1995.
During his university career, John published dozens of articles in peer-reviewed journals, as well as an influential textbook, Comprehensive Approach to Human Relations Development: Advanced Human Relations Training Program, co-authored with his friend and Auburn University colleague, the late Earl Higgins, in 1985. John was Auburn’s liaison to the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs and was selected for the “Outstanding Contributor to the Extension Program” award by the School of Education in 1995. He exemplified the gruff-yet-lovable professor, including his cluttered office in Auburn’s Haley Center, full of numerous alarming stacks of articles, books, and papers. He became an avid Auburn Football fan and found a secret parking spot near Jordan-Hare stadium, the location of which he is taking to his grave, and was pleased that one of his daughters, his son, son-in-law, and two of his grandsons graduated from Auburn.
In retirement, John ramped up his love of gardening and cultivated tomatoes, zucchini, sweet peas, and garlic transplanted from his mother’s garden in Geneva. His harvests were so abundant that he frequently donated fresh produce to local food banks. Unable to stay away from teaching for long, he taught classes part-time at Troy University until 2013. John also enjoyed visits from his adult children and grandchildren and secretly delighted in handing out gifts as the Christmas Frog and providing tractor rides to the grandkids, who called him “Paroka.” He was convinced that he was a great cook and had a few “world famous” dishes that he would produce with a flourish.
John was proud of his Italian heritage, academic accomplishments, homegrown tomatoes, largely imagined culinary skills, and of all his children and grandchildren. Despite being from a large, boisterous family, he was an introvert and had a small circle of close friends to whom he was incredibly loyal.
In addition to his parents, John was preceded in death by his brothers Albert Moracco of Trumansburg, NY, Francis (Chico) Moracco of Geneva, NY, and Edward Moracco of Geneva NY. He is survived by his children Kathryn Elizabeth (Beth) Moracco of Carrboro, NC; Karen Lee (David) Knecht of LaGrange, IL; and John George (Jack) Moracco (Christin Coan) of Carrboro, NC; seven grandchildren: Jessica, Garrett, and Erik Knecht, Mikaela and Elijah Moracco-Schelp, and Paul and Geneva Moracco; great-granddaughter Alice Knecht; brother David Moracco (Sharron) of Minneapolis, MN, and sister Barbara Siegfried of Charleston, SC, his former wife, Judy Northridge Wyne, and 13 nieces and nephews.
The family is deeply grateful to Tonya Felton and Annie Philpot for their loving care for John over the past 13 years, as his health declined.
Visitation will be held on Friday, November 6, from 1:00-2:00, at Jeffcoat-Trant Funeral Home, 1500 Frederick Road, Opelika, AL; followed by a funeral service in the Jeffcoat-Trant chapel, and burial at Town Creek Cemetery, 1150 South Gay St,. Auburn, AL.
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