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Active volunteer Mary Marchese
always put her family's needs first

By Mary Gottschalk

Mary Virginia Genovesi Marchese had a front row seat to the transformation of the Valley of Heart's Delight to Silicon Valley.

She watched as the farms and orchards where she and her late husband, Chris, grew tomatoes, broccoli, beans, apricots and cherries, gave way to housing developments and shopping centers over the years.

Born July 14, 1921, in her family's home in Santa Clara, Marchese died at her home in Saratoga on Aug. 30.

She was the daughter of Enrico and Alice Genovesi, who both emigrated to the Santa Clara Valley from their native Tuscany, Italy.

Marchese graduated from St. Clare's grammar school, Santa Clara High School and Heald Business College.

She often expressed amazement at the activities and schedules of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

"She used to say, 'All I did was play jacks and jump rope,' " recalls her daughter, Helen Marchese Owen of Cupertino.

After graduating from Heald, she did the bookkeeping for her parents' Central Grocery Store chain. The original one in Santa Clara later became the site of Lord John's Inn and is now part of the University of Santa Clara campus.

Marchese also worked as a bookkeeper at San Jose Ford.

In 1945, she married Chris Marchese and plunged into the role of a farmer's wife at their ranch in Santa Clara and Cupertino. The family lived there for almost five decades, moving to Saratoga in 1990. Their ranch is now the site of a Citation Homes housing development and the new Kaiser Hospital.

"She made good cherry pies. We always had spaghetti on Sundays, and she loved making polenta to serve with pheasant," says Owen, who remembers the entire family traveling to Tracy for a month every summer to help harvest their apricot orchards there.

"My mother was everything for us," Owen says of herself and her brother, Chris Jr.

"Because my father worked around the clock in farming, she did everything for us in school. Our summer vacations were my mom, brother and me going to Santa Cruz or Lake Tahoe."

Marchese remembers, "My mom would ride horses with us on our Trimble Road ranch."

Family was central to Marchese's life.

"All our holidays we'd do at her house--her side of the family and my father's side of the family--until we got to be over 55 people," Owen recalls.

When she was raising her children, Marchese was active in the PTA organizations at their schools. As her son and daughter got older, she became active in the Cupertino Women's Club and volunteered time working with the mentally ill. She was also a member of the Cupertino Young Ladies Institute.

She was one of the founders of the O'Connor Hospital Guild and a member of the O'Connor Hospital 89ers.

Marchese was also active in Catala Club, helping to raise scholarship monies for students at Santa Clara University, and she was a member of the Italian American Heritage Foundation, ICF and Caritas.

"Family, friends and church were important to her," says Owen.

After her husband's death in 1990, she maintained an active role in Marchese Family Properties, based in Los Gatos.

Son Chris remembers her coming to the office to help and participating in business decisions.

She also made time for reading and gardening and was enthusiastic about travel.

She made three trips to Italy and frequently joined her children and grandchildren on trips to Hawaii, Alaska, Disneyland and Disney World.

Marchese also accompanied her daughter and son-in-law, Eddie Owen, on trips with the Santa Clara University Board of Fellows to Italy, Washington, D.C., and Arizona.

"She was truly a lady," says Helen Owen. "She was also impeccably dressed, her hair was done and she never said a bad word about anyone. She never had an argument with anyone. She was always a lady and she died a lady. She was always gracious."

Services were held Sept. 8. Her family suggests memorial contributions to Santa Clara University, 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara 95053 or to O'Connor Hospital Foundation, 2105 Forest Ave., San Jose, 95128.

Waldo William Wagner, 91, formerly of Saratoga, died Aug. 12.

Wagner, who was born in Ann Arbor, Mich., graduated from Ann Arbor High School in 1933. During World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Signal Corps and was sent to Hanford, Wash. After the war, he returned to Ann Arbor.

His family moved to California in 1948, residing first in Bakersfield and then Monterey, where he was involved with the construction of the Moss Landing Power Plant in the early 1950s. In 1955 he moved to Saratoga, where he resided for several years before moving to Campbell and working for NASA Ames Research. He lived in San Jose for the following 40 years. He retired in 1982 and traveled the Western states with his wife, Ethel, who died in 1993.

Wagner was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. After retirement he took up oil painting, leaving his family and friends with many original paintings when he died. He lived independently until the age of 90, when he moved to Our Lady of Fatima in Saratoga. He made many friends there and enjoyed the activities, especially the musical entertainment.

Wagner is survived by his daughter SueAnn and her husband, James Taylor of Los Gatos; his son Frank and his wife, Linda Wagner of Manteca; his grandson Benjamin and his wife, Robin Strong of Saratoga; his grandson Mel and his wife, Jenny Wagner of French Camp; his granddaughter Robin Taylor of Los Gatos; his granddaughter Michelle and her husband, Steve Mysko of Foothill Ranch; and his great-grandchildren Nathaniel and Aidan Strong, Xachary and Andrea Wagner, Kaitlyn and Meghan Shea and Ryan Mysko.

A celebration of his life will be held at Darling-Fischer Chapel of the Hills, 615 N. Santa Cruz Ave. in Los Gatos, on Sept. 16 at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations in his name may be made to the American Diabetes Association.