James Lee Spiritosanto entered into the presence of his Lord and Savior on March 1, 2023. He was born in Philipsburg, PA on December 15, 1946 to James and Phoebe Spiritosanto. He grew up in Buffalo, NY along with his brother Anthony and sister Carmen. James graduated from high school at Maryvale High School in 1964. He went on to college at Louisiana Polytechnical Institute, where he met the love of his life, Mary Katherine Storey. While dating, the Lord drew them both to know and love their savior Jesus Christ. On August 22, 1970, they began their 52 years of marriage.

After teaching high school in southern Louisiana and then a return to the church where he was married, James felt the call to ministry. He enrolled in seminary at Reformed Theological Seminary, where he graduated in 1978. Upon graduation, James served at two small churches in Gadsden, Alabama. In 1984, he entered into active duty with the United States Navy as a chaplain. While in the Navy, James lived and served in South Carolina, Italy, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. He served on ships, at a hospital, in an alcohol rehab program, with a submarine squadron and in a chapel. During this time, he also traveled to 27 countries and was able to organize service projects to assist the locals in many of those places.

In 1998, James left active duty military service and began work as a prison chaplain at Pender County Correctional Institute. After September of 2001, he was recalled to active duty from his reserve unit and stationed in Norfolk, VA with the Transient Personnel Unit. After about 18 months, James went back to work at the prison. During his time in prison ministry, James worked to spread the gospel and change lives. Because of the limited space available for this ministry, he and several volunteers worked hard to raise funds and facilitated the construction of a chapel so that they would no longer have to turn away so many prisoners desiring to participate in their programs.

In 2016, James retired from full time ministry and moved to Spring, Tx to be closer to many of his children and grandchildren. He jumped into life in his church, singing in the choir, teaching a Sunday school class on marriage, helping with men's ministry and serving on the mission committee. He continued to love spending time with family, doing wood working projects, and giving his time generously to help those around. After a long battle with heart related illness, James went on to be with the Lord.

Left to cherish his memory are his wife, Mary; son Vincent Spiritosanto; daughter Rebecca Cooper, her husband Dean and children Katherine, Michael, and Sarah; daughter Deborah Kovach, her husband Stephen and children Lilly, Travis, Anna, and Daniel; son Samuel Spiritosanto, his wife Crystal and children Marieva, Rosina, Samuel, and James; daughter Mary Coleman, her husband David and children Emma, Nathan, and Jacob; his brother Anthony Spiritosanto and his wife Mariel, brother-in-law Herman Storey and his wife Carolyn+ ; nieces Christine Reyling, Carlina Horley, Alicia Ticconi, Kris Knight and Micki Vincent; nephew Anthony Spiritosanto; numerous cousins, friends and beloved brothers and sisters in Christ.

Preceding him in death were his parents, James and Phoebe Spiritosanto, and his sister, Carmen Ticconi.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, March 11th at Spring Cypress Presbyterian Church with Pastor Ben Duncan officiating. Burial will be at 1:45 pm (arrival no later than 1:30pm) on Tuesday, March 14th at the Houston National Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Geneva- Relief Fund, PO Box 896761, Charlotte, NC 28289. https://genevabenefits.org/relief-fund/give/