Known as a strict but fair, Fr. Samuel Falbo prepared four decades of St. Pius X High School students to succeed. He passed away Aug. 3, 2020, at his home in Las Vegas, Nev. 

“He was very strict and very demanding, but you knew if you did your part and worked hard, he was going to be fair,” said John Menicucci ’70, who took Fr. Falbo’s junior year chemistry class in 1968. 

“If you were honest in trying to learn, you would never fail his class, he would find a way to help you,” added Ed Larranaga ’84, who took Fr. Falbo’s chemistry class his junior year. “If you didn’t try or if you did the minimum to get by, he didn’t show a lot of mercy.”

Falbo served and taught at SPX from 1963 to 2000. Serving at St. Anthony of Padua parish in Las Vegas, Nev., since 2006, he celebrated his 60th year as priest in May 2020. 

A St. Pius X High School Foundation endowment was previously established by Dr. Michael Olivas ’68 to allow alumni to honor Fr. Falbo during and after his lifetime and to support financial assistance at St. Pius X. Click the link to learn more about supporting The Father Samuel Falbo Financial Aid Endowment.

Awarded the Archbishop’s Distinguished Teacher Award in 1987, the People of God described then him as “a demanding teacher and exacting disciplinarian such that he gives the students not only the opportunity to develop their intellect to its potential but to learn the necessary discipline to be successful in life. He cares so much for his students and is so dedicated to bring out the best in them that they understand and appreciate his challenging manner.

 “Father Falbo also gives of himself to extracurricular activities, putting on dramatic productions of the highest quality and unusual success for high school students. He is not only a scientist but a truly talented artist who brings out the best in his students in both of these dimensions.”

“As a teacher he was brilliant,” Larranaga said. “You didn’t realize this until you started getting out of school and talking to people.”

“When I was at UNM, the head of the chemistry department taught my freshman chemistry class,” Menicucci said. “I’m breezing along, I take the first couple of tests and score 100. After the third test he came up to me and asked, ‘Where did you go to high school?’ I told him. He said, Oh, you had Sam Falbo. I want to see you after class.’ He wanted me to become a chemistry major.

“Fr. Falbo just had a way about him,” Menicucci added. “He made us memorize the periodic table with mnemonic devices. You would remember it though some outlandish thing. And we thought that was cool.”

In addition to the 1987 Distinguished Teacher Award, Fr. Falbo also was nominated for the Manufacturing Chemists Association Chemistry Teacher Award in 1973, for an Advanced Placement Recognition Award as an outstanding educator in 1988; and for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching by Council of State Science Supervisors for the NSTA in 1991. He received the National Presidential Distinguished Teacher Award in 1998.

Fr. Falbo was also known as a dedicated and conscientious priest who minutley prepares his sermons for student body Masses, according to the People of God. 

As a parishioner and lector at Annunciation Parish where Fr. Falbo would often say Mass, Menicucci also appreciated Fr. Falbo’s service as a priest and his homilies. “He gave phenomenal, extemporaneous sermons,” Menicucci said. “He was a wonderful man and a wonderful priest.”

Menicucci says that also as a parent of four St. Pius X students, he saw the impact Fr. Falbo made on his children and their own approach to their education. “That’s the gift Fr. Falbo had,” he said. “He came across as strict, but he changed people’s lives.”

Fr. Falbo was born March 25, 1933, in Carbondale, Penn. He was the son of Sam Falbo Sr. and Laura Paone Falbo. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount St. Mary’s University, Maryland in 1959; a Master’s degree at St. Thomas, Denver, Colorado in 1960; a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Santa Fe in 1971, and a Medical Technologist ASCP certification at the University of New Mexico Medical School in 1971. 

Fr. Falbo attended the seminary at St. Thomas, Denver, where he was ordained in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe on May 28, 1960. He taught at St. Pius X and served at other Archdiocesan institutions in New Mexico for over 45 years prior to retiring. 

In July 2006, Father Falbo moved to the Diocese of Las Vegas and began working as a Parochial Vicar at St. Anthony of Padua. In 2008, he served as an Administrator Pro Tem at St. Andrew’s in Boulder City. In 2009 he returned to St. Anthony of Padua where he faithfully served till his passing. Father Falbo also served as the Chaplain for the Italian Catholic Federation. 

He is survived by his sister, Marie Mazzoni and husband Angelo of Archbald, Penn. He was preceded in death by two sisters, Angela Caporali and Rose Carlo. Funeral Services were held on Aug. 14 in Las Vegas and Albuquerque and he was entombed in Albuquerque.