Since 1957, the town has continuously employed at least one member of the family. Some years, there were even two or three relatives working for Los Gatos. Those who didn't work for the town were never far from it; countless relatives made their home in the town.

But for the first time in nearly 50 years, a member of the Giordano family will not report to work for the town this week. With the retirement of Duino Giordano as captain of the Los Gatos­Monte Sereno Police Department April 1, the family legacy has come to an end.

The decision to retire was not sudden; Giordano had worked for the department for more than 34 years and had been thinking of retiring for the past two years. But he admits that there were few pressing reasons for him to leave.

"I honestly feel like I could continue working. I'm healthy and I don't have any issues," he said.

A tall, white-haired man sporting a moustache of the same color, Giordano is hard to not like immediately. There's something trustworthy about his demeanor; he puts those around him at ease. Serious when talking about his career or work, he also displays lightheartedness, often bantering with those around him.

Ask him what he plans on doing after retirement, and he will laugh and respond, "Annoy my wife." Ask him about stories of his school days at Los Gatos High School and he'll caution, "They're all lies."

Ask what he'll miss about his job, and he will respond with all sincerity and seriousness that he will miss his colleagues the most.

"The people I've worked with—it's like an extended family," he said. "When you work in an agency like this, because you are involved in other people's tragedies, you become a big family.

This balance is what makes Giordano successful in both his personal and professional life, said longtime friend Chris Benson.

"You define friendship as unquestionable trust and faith and hearts being always in the right place, and he personifies that," he said. "That's what makes him such a great cop, too. He's fair but always with a sense of humor."

Los Gatos­Monte Sereno Police Chief Scott Seaman agreed.

"I met Duino when I was a cop in San Jose, and I didn't know what I was missing by not getting to know him better," Seaman said. "He's among the most generous and charismatic people I know."

Giordano's career path, from being a member of the California Air National Guard to captain of the department, is intertwined with his personal history of growing up and living in Los Gatos.

He was born in town, the son of Italian immigrants. His father sold vegetables house to house for a while, meeting Giordano's mother when she opened the door one day. The family never had much money, but this never bothered Giordano.

"My parents obviously were never educated in this country, and Italian was my first language. All we knew was to work and labor," he said.

Though he grew up in Los Gatos, Giordano's Italian roots made a strong impression on him.

"There was a big Italian community here when I was growing up. All the social events we went to were Italian," he said.

His family moved back to Italy for a year when he was 9, and Giordano would go back several times by himself as he grew older.

Between these trips, Giordano was just another boy growing up in Los Gatos. He was a member of the first graduating class at Fisher Middle School and played football at Los Gatos High School.

His trajectory to the police department was not so straightforward. After a stint in basic training in the California Air National Guard, Giordano returned to Los Gatos and worked in the department of parks and public works as a landscaper. Officers in the police department who knew the 21-year-old encouraged him to try for a summer spot in the department.

He got the job and wore badge No. 17 the whole summer. But it would be another year before he could make it a full-time affair.

Any résumé detailing a long career is filled with different jobs and responsibilities, and Giordano's is no exception. He has worked, as he puts it, "every kind of assignment imaginable," from a traffic beat to a SWAT team leader. There are stories to go with each job—like the time Giordano's SWAT team crawled through the window of a home to rescue hostages while a negotiator kept the gunman preoccupied—but he values his time working with troubled youth and families the most.

Though he plans to travel to Italy this fall, Giordano said he has no intention of leaving Los Gatos.

"I was born and raised here. My wife grew up here. My son lives a block away from me. My mother-in-law lives a block from me. My sister-in-law lives a block away," he said.

And in this way, the family legacy will go on.