Search for celebrities on Ancestry.com!George DeBernardi
George DeBernardi, who grew up on a family dairy in Petaluma and was associated with the Sonoma County dairy industry all his life, died Monday at a Petaluma hospital following a two-month battle with bone cancer. He was 66.
A native and lifelong resident of Sonoma County, DeBernardi worked in the dairy industry for four decades, retiring in 1994 from Petaluma's Clover-Stornetta Farms, where he was valued as a conscientious employee.
DeBernardi learned about milk production at an early age. One of the four sons of the late Marino and Irene DeBernardi, he was born and raised on the family dairy ranch on Old Adobe Road in east Petaluma. He attended Petaluma grammar schools and graduated from Petaluma High School in 1953.
DeBernardi's career in milk processing started in 1960 when he got a job at the old Petaluma Cooperative Creamery, where he worked as the plant's pasteurizer.
After a fire at the creamery, he went to the Stornetta Dairy in Sonoma, working on the bottling line of the family-owned dairy. When the Stornetta Dairy became part of Clover-Stornetta Farms in 1977, DeBernardi joined the new company, where he worked until his retirement.
Friends and family remember DeBernardi as a good-natured guy who enjoyed nothing better than being surrounded by his family at a Sunday dinner.
He doted on his grandson, Christopher Ryan, 5, who was learning vegetable gardening from his grandfather.
"Family was everything to him," said Patricia DeBernardi, his wife of 40 years, who works in the entry office at the Sonoma County Fair.
Through his wife's association with the fair, DeBernardi often volunteered at fair events, including the annual steer weigh-in and Harvest Fair Awards Night Gala.
DeBernardi was an avid 49ers fan and loved hunting abalone on the North Coast with his two sons-in-law, Thomas Kehoe of Inverness and Jerry Ryan of Petaluma.
He was a member of the Petaluma Elks Lodge, the Clover Club, Teamsters Union, North Coast Teamsters Retirees Club and St. James Catholic Parish.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by two daughters, Darlene D. Kehoe of Inverness and Renee A. Ryan of Petaluma; two brothers, Vern and Don DeBernardi, both of Petaluma; one grandson; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Parent Sorensen Mortuary and continue to St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, where a funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Entombment is at Calvary Catholic Cemetery.
The vigil service is at 7 p.m. today at the mortuary.
The family suggests memorial contributions to Hospice of Petaluma, 416 Payran St., Petaluma 94952 or to the St. James Church Building Fund, 125 Sonoma Mountain Parkway, Petaluma 94954.
Georgiana Silva
Georgiana M. Silva, a daughter of dairy farmers, a mother and grandmother of dairy farmers and a Petaluma dairy farmer herself, died Friday of cancer in Oakdale. She was 80.
Silva was born and raised in Mill Valley where her father, a Portuguese immigrant, and her mother, a California native, owned a dairy farm. She graduated from Tamalpais High School.
Silva found romance close to home. In the mid-1930s, she marriage John J. Silva, a hand on her parents' farm.
The young couple soon moved to Petaluma to start a farm and a family of their own. They had a son and a daughter.
Operating the 40-acre, 100-cow farm was a team effort. John rose early to milk the cows, and Georgiana fed them and managed the books.
Her first priority was always her family. She encouraged her children and grandchildren in their various activities, from sports to agricultural contests.
"She was very supportive," said daughter Jean Hurtgen of Oakdale. "She went to ballgames and went to fairs and watched them show" dairy cattle.
Silva, a longtime member of the California Holstein Association, was particulalry proud to see two generations of offspring join the Future Farmers of America and the Four-H Club and later pursue careers in dairy farming.
Shortly after Georgiana and John Silva celebrated their 50th anniversary five years ago, John died.
Although Silva sold most of the Petaluma farmland, she kept a piece of it and continued to live there until she was diagnosed with cancer in February. She then moved to her daughter's house in Oakdale.
In addition to her daughter, Silva is survived by her son John J. Silva of Petaluma; sisters Dorothy Silva of Mill Valley and Grace Moraes of Novato; and five grandchildren.
Friends may call after 10 a.m. today at the Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and Crematory on Magnolia Avenue and Keokuk Street, Petaluma. A vigil service at the mortuary will start at 7 p.m.
Funeral services will start at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the mortuary, with a funeral Mass to follow at 10 at St. Vincent de Paul Church at 35 Liberty St., Petaluma.
William Turney
William Turney sold meat and seafood for almost five decades in Petaluma, where his Washington Street kiosk was a hub of local activity.
Known as "Jerry the Butch," William Gerald Turney took on other roles after the town's young men were called to duty in World War II, including postman, film projectionist and Boy Scout troop leader.
Turney, 95, died of pneumonia June 27.
He was once Petaluma's oldest rookie pilot, learning in his 50s to fly a two-seat Champ aircraft on a dirt runway.
In the 1950s, he was part of a research team for a friend who built from scratch a high-torque, highly efficient engine that Turney would mount to his speedboat and test by charging up and down the Petaluma River. In his 70s, he and his late wife drove from Santa Rosa to Mexico City in his Chrysler New Yorker.
"He was forever the optimist," said his son, Gerald Edwin Turney of Oakland.
Born in Oakland in 1904, he lived in San Rafael in his youth before moving to Petaluma and attending Petaluma High School.
He dropped out in the 11th grade to go to work for his father, a lifelong butcher who owned Turney and Co. in the 1920s.
Following in his father's tradition, Turney worked at the same shop for almost 40 years before opening Jerry's Fresh Fish, where he used rhymes to sell fish for almost 10 years.
Turney's son remembers being dispatched to buy seafood every morning, during crab season returning in an old truck full of 500 pounds of crab that his father would sell for $1 a crab fresh out of the cooker.
Turney met his wife, Helen Bernice Burns, at a 1920s dance hall, where they both were top dancers.
The couple started a family and in 1939 moved to a big farmhouse in Cotati, but continued their work and community service in Petaluma.
Turney was president of the meat cutters and chicken pickers union in the 1930s, held office in the Petaluma Rotary Club, was a leader in the Christian Science church and was a scoutmaster in the late 1940s.
He helped his friend, Russell Burke, create the Burke Cycle engine. Burke was developing a more reliable aircraft engine than the one powering the planes he saw so many young World War I pilots die in, Turney's son said. The project ended when Burke died in the 1950s.
During World War II, Turney delivered mail to Penngrove, Cotati and Two Rock. In the 1950s, he was projectionist at the State Theater, now called the Mystic Theatre, and the Cal Theater, now the Phoenix Theatre, his son said.
Fun-loving and hard-working, his secrets to living 95 years were avoiding alcohol and tobacco and growing his own vegetables, his son said.
He had an ingenious sense of the mechanical and would have succeeded as an engineer if he had continued his education, his son said.
Turney and his wife traveled on annual adventures after retiring in the 1970s, going to Central and South America, Europe, Asia and several Pacific Rim countries.
His wife died of complications from the flu after returning from China in 1988.
"He had a great appreciation for people of the working class," Gerald Turney said. On his trips abroad his father would befriend ordinary people at their jobs. "He was outgoing and sincerely interested in people," his son said. "He enjoyed seeing what was going on in the world."
Turney, who spent the last two years of his life in a Hayward convalescent home, is survived by his son and a daughter, Bernice Turney-Borgia of Albany, New York; a brother, Eugene Turney of Clearlake; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Friends and family are invited to a memorial service at 11 a.m. Saturday at Cypress Hill Cemetery, 430 Magnolia Ave., Petaluma.
Memorial planned for softball booster Guanella
A public memorial is planned at 11 a.m. Saturday at Howarth Park on Summerfield Road for Walt Guanella, general manager and co-sponsor of the two-time American Softball Association champion Guanella Bros. fastpitch softball team.
Saturday's service will be on the softball diamond that was home to the Guanella Bros. team and which Walt would water and care for on game days.
He died July 23, 2000 in Santa Rosa. He was 72.
A native of Sommers, Mont., he was co-owner of Guanella Bros. Floor Co. for 45 years, retiring in 1997.
He was a graduate of Todd Elementary School, graduated from Santa Rosa High School Class of 1946 and attended Santa Rosa Junior College.
He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the Army.
He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Carol Guanella of Santa Rosa; his children, Tina Clements, Toni Kahaulelio, Lou Guanella and Tracy Guanella, all of Santa Rosa; a brother, Ray Guanella of Santa Rosa; two sisters, Erma Bridgett and Rena Sieboldt, both of San Rafael; and grandchildren Jessica Magowan, Reika Clements and Alexys Magowan, all of Santa Rosa.
A vigil will be held at 6 p.m. Friday at the Eggen & Lance mortuary. Friends may pay their respects at the mortuary between noon and 9 p.m.
Interment at Calvary Catholic Cemetery will be at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Those desiring may make memorial contributions to the St. Rose Multipurpose Room Building Fund, 4300 Old Redwood Highway, Santa Rosa, 95403, or to the Santa Rosa Youth Athletic Field Trust, c/o Steele Lane Community Center, Attn: Chuck Rust, 415 Steele Lane, Santa Rosa 95403.
Henry Walraven
Henry Walraven, a longtime manager with a passion for collecting wire insulators, died Friday. He was 78.
An Alabama native, Walraven served in the Army in World War II. He was assigned to the 20th Armored and 20th Tank Battalion and drove a tank.
In addition to battles, the battalion helped liberate the Nazi concentration camp in Dachau, a German city near Munich.
"It wasn't pleasant. It wasn't glamorous. Funny things happened to them and scary things happened to them," said his wife, Lamona Walraven.
"They were all young men who believed in their country and they were told to go and they went," she said.
Walraven moved to Santa Rosa from Alabama in 1955. A sister lived in Napa and he sought work in the region.
He was a production manager for an electronic parts manufacturer in Forestville. He then managed the maintenance department for the Twin Hills Union School Districtin Sebastopol until his retirement in 1980.
"He had a skill in working with people. He was a very funny guy, very likable," his wife recalled.
The couple marriage in 1956 and lived in Santa Rosa. They moved to Oakmont in 1973.
A passion for collecting wire insulators took Walraven and his wife across the country and around the world.
"We had a lot of fun doing that. It's very interesting," his wife recalled.
The glass devices insulate and support electric wires. Collectors prize insulators for their variety of colors and shapes.
Walraven amassed a collection of more than 1,000.
Friends are invited to attend funeral services at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Daniels Chapel of the Roses, 1225 Sonoma Ave., Santa Rosa. Burial will follow at Calvary Catholic Cemetery, in Santa Rosa.
Friends may attend a visitation at Daniels Chapel of the Roses between 3 and 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Marta Brians
Marta Brians lived almost her entire life within a single-mile stretch of Petaluma Hill Road. But even though she didn't travel far, her 85 years in Penngrove were rich with farm chores, gardening, raising children and expressing herself creatively through poetry, drawing and photography.
Brians died July 12 at home at the age of 88, not far from the chicken ranch where she was raised after her parents moved up to the country from her native Oakland when she was 3 years old.
Family members said she enjoyed the outdoors, tending her roses and canning; she put up fruits and vegetables well into her 80s.
After graduating from Petaluma High, she worked at the Penngrove Hatchery. She marriage dairyman Ted Brians in 1936. The pair had been marriage 59 years when he died in 1995.
On the ranch, she was in charge of the chickens. She also was involved in a number of local clubs and organizations, from the Mothers Club of Penngrove Community Church and the Sonoma County Farm Bureau to the Maple Leaf Card Club.
She had a good eye with a camera, and left her family a treasured pictorial history of family events, large and small. She also faithfully chronicled the vicissitudes of farm and family life with drawings, poems and frequent letters.
"She tended to not always be on the front of things but she was active in her club work, making posters for bake sales or helping with refreshments," recalled her daughter, Rita McMillan of Santa Rosa. "She very much gave of her time and energy."
Private family services will be held, with arrangements handled by The Neptune Society.
In addition to her daughter, she is survived by another daughter, Ellen Harris of Penngrove; her son, Lee Brians of Penngrove; another daughter, Lorraine Meadows of Bloomfield; 16 grandchildren; and 16 great-grandchildren.
The family suggests donations to the Penngrove Community Church or the Penngrove Social Firemen.
Ellis Chase Slayter
Ellis Chase Slayter, a Napa educator who devoted his life to children in the classroom and as a North Bay soccer official and administrator, died Monday of cancer. He was 69.
Slayter lived in Napa, where he taught fifth- and sixth-grade students since 1958, but he was known throughout the North Bay as an active umpire and soccer referee.
He was the longtime president of the Sonoma County Soccer Referees Association, teaching new referees and assigning referees to hundreds of high school boys and girls soccer games throughout Sonoma County.
His son, Matthew Slayter, said Chase, as he was known to his friends, was the consummate teacher.
"He was teaching to the end," Matthew Slayter said. "That was just his way," refereeing his last youth soccer game just 10 days ago.
"With the reffing, he just wanted a chance to show people that you can be competitive but at the same time be fair and treat people appropriately."
Slayter was born in French Camp and moved with his family to Napa when he was 17. He earned his bachelor's degree in education from San Francisco State College, then taught in San Bruno schools while he earned his master's degree in education and served as an infantryman in the National Guard. In 1958, he returned to Napa.
Slayter is survived by his wife of 39 years, Marianna Slayter of Napa; three sons, Matthew Slayter of Santa Rosa, Patrick Slayter of Sebastopol and Erik Slayter of Arroyo Grande; a daughter, Molly Slayter of Vacaville; his mother, Florence Slayter of Napa; two sisters, Margaret Lee Pearson and Carol Hall, both of Napa; and one granddaughter, Chloe Slayter of Arroyo Grande.
A service will be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 1226 Salvador Ave. in Napa. Matthew Slayter said he is trying to organize a blood drive after the service as a symbol of his father's contributions to the community.
The family has arranged the Chase Slayter Memorial to raise money for local youth soccer programs. Contributions to the memorial can be sent to Napa National Bank, 3263 Claremont Way, Napa 94558, Account No. 03228366. Contributions also can be made at www.ccsoccer.com.chase
Edgar Allen Imrie
Memorial services are scheduled today for Edgar Allen Imrie, who died Monday in Santa Rosa. He was 82.
Imrie was born in 1918 in Napa. During the Depression, he traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska, where he worked for the railroad.
He eventually returned to California and graduated from Santa Rosa Junior College, where he became business manager for two years, according to his daughter, Sue Chambers.
Imrie also served in the Navy during World War II. When he returned, he spent 33 years as the owner and operator of Santa Rosa Building Materials. But Chambers said he had a tremendous work ethic and never really retired.
He served on the Urban Renewal Board for Santa Rosa and was instrumental in the development of Northern Redwood Transport. He also participated with others to develop several subdivisions.
Chambers said her father was an avid fisherman and hunter. She said the family "will always remember happy times with 'Grampa' on the salmon boat or drifting the Rogue River." Imrie also enjoyed cultivating roses.
Chambers said Imrie was a true family patriarch. "Responsibility came naturally and he wasn't timid about giving good advice," she said.
Imrie is survived by his wife, Barbara Imrie; his children, Sue Chambers, Allen Imrie, Margi Lorey and Thomas Imrie; step-children Thomas Roth Unthank and Karen Unthank Colen; 12 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and a sister.
Services are scheduled at 2 p.m. today at Lafferty & Smith Colonial Chapel, 4321 Sonoma Highway, Santa Rosa. Private entombment will be at Santa Rosa Memorial Park.
Donations in his memory may be made to the Santa Rosa Junior College Foundation, 1501 Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa 95401.
Maxine Chiaroni
Adopted just after birth, Maxine Chiaroni of Santa Rosa came nearly to the end of her life without knowing who her birth parents were or meeting any of her brothers or sisters.
Chiaroni, who died at home Saturday at age 78, was thrilled last fall to learn about her birth family and to embrace and visit with her one surviving sibling, an older sister from Minnesota.
"She was happy to find before she died that she hadn't hatched on a rock somewhere," said her husband of 55 years, Sonoma County native Melvin Chiaroni.
His wife was born in Minnesota in 1921. She was adopted as an infant by August and Clara Moehlenbrock, who reared her in Minnesota, Wyoming, Washington and Oregon.
She met her future husband in Tacoma during World War II. They settled in Sonoma County in 1945.
Melvin Chiaroni said his wife was 18 when the Moehlenbrocks told her they had adopted her from people they knew nothing about.
Nearly a decade ago, she learned something about herself. During the process of obtaining passports for a trip overseas, her husband found a helpful county official in Minnesota who uncovered her birth certificate.
It listed her as "Baby Aney" and indicated her birthdate was Aug. 4. She had always though it was Aug. 26.
"Since then I had two birthday presents to buy," her husband chuckled.
Melvin took it upon himself to see if he could learn anything about the Aney family. He used the Internet to issue a request for genealogical information on the name.
"I got responses from India, China, all over Europe," he said. But nobody could help them.
He persisted, and in 1998 connected with a man in Oregon who had done some research on a branch of the Aney family in Minnesota, where Maxine was born. The Oregon man located a sister of Maxine and arranged for them to speak by phone.
Last fall, Maxine's sister, Lorayne Dahlberg, came with her husband to Santa Rosa for a joyful visit. Maxine, who by that time was ailing from a number of maladies, learned that her parents were having trouble about the time she was born and they gave up for adoption not only her but her five brothers and sisters.
Later, the couple arranged to get back four of those children. But they didn't know where Maxine was, and Lorayne was old enough to decide for herself to stay with the couple who had adopted her.
All the other children had grown old and died before Maxine learned about her family.
In addition to her husband and her sister, Maxine Chiaroni is survived by her children, Dale Chiaroni and Kevin Chiaroni, both of Santa Rosa; Jimmy Chiaroni of Nevada and Ronna Chiaroni of Hawaii; and by numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
A graveside service is at 2 p.m. Friday at Pleasant Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary in Sebastopol.
Chiaroni's family suggests memorial contributions to Guide Dogs for the Blind or other organizations that serve the vision-impaired, or to the American Cancer Society or Memorial Hospice.
Evelyn Abrams
Evelyn P. Abrams, who spent most of her life in the North Bay and her later years working in a Santa Rosa group house for retarded adults, died July 4 in Citrus Heights. She was 74.
The second-to-youngest of 10 children, Abrams was born in Mill Valley to Portuguese immigrant parents who farmed a small parcel of land and operated a bed-and-breakfast.
She attended Tamalpais High School and marriage Charles Abrams, who owned the Ebb Tide newspaper in Tiburon. The couple had a son and three daughters.
The Ebb Tide was a family affair, said daughter Carol Weaver of Sacramento. Her father was the printer, her mother dabbled in editing and the kids delivered the paper, she said.
The Abrams sold the paper and moved to Petaluma in the late 1960s and then to Santa Rosa in 1972. Shortly after moving to Santa Rosa, Evelyn and Charles Abrams divorced.
Evelyn Abrams first supported herself by sewing alterations for a dry cleaner and later by assembling sling-shots for the Santa Rosa Pocket Rocket company.
At home, Abrams enjoyed crossword puzzles and crafts, especially creating ceramic tile mosaics for coffee tables and wall-hangings.
In the late 1980s, Abrams started a new career as an assistant in a private group home for retarded adults. It was a natural job for a woman who enjoyed helping other people, and animals too, said Weaver, who noted her mother provided a home to a number of stray cats over the years.
"She was meticulous in the ways she tried to help," said son Jim Abrams of Saratoga. For example, she kept a list of not only all her friends' birthdays, but also of all her friends' childrens' birthdays, he said.
Two years ago, Abrams became sick with with emphysema and moved into her daughter's home in Citrus Heights. But always the giver, she was embarrassed by sympathy.
"She never wanted anybody to know she was troubled," said granddaughter Ginger Havener.
In addition to her son and daughter, Abrams is survived by sons Skip Abrams of Santa Rosa and Paul Abrams of Citrus Heights and by eight grandchildren.
The family asks that remembrances be made in Evelyn Abram's name to a charity of choice.
