Mary Chelini

EULOGY WRITTEN BY MARY'S DAUGHTER, JOSEPHINE Mary Sarafina Tambellini was born to Leo and Josephine on March 13, l920 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her sister, Helen was born a year later. Mary had a very close and loving relationship with her family. She was a shy little girl, with light brown eyes, pretty black hair and a beautiful smile. Mary had a wonderful childhood. Her mother kept her and her sister very active. They rode their toboggans down the snowy hilly streets of Pittsburgh. As they got older they went horseback riding & ice skating with their cousins and friends. We always loved listening to our mom tell her funny stories of her horseback riding days, as much as she enjoyed telling them. Not actually funny, more scary! One day when she went riding her horse got spooked and she ended up under the belly of the horse! She decided to let go of the reins and ended up rolling down a hill! She survived to say the least! She graduated from South Hills High School in Pittsburgh and attended Business School. Most of her jobs were in sales. She had a friendly personality and everyone liked her. In 1949 when Mary was almost 30 years old her mother, father, sister and brother-in-law drove 3,000 miles from Pittsburgh to Santa Cruz. It was her father's dream to move to California to be close to his brothers and sister. This is where Mary met her future husband, Giuliano Chelini. He was a very handsome, friendly and loving man, from Lucca, Italy and had a passion for life. They met at a Deer Party in Santa Cruz and married only five months later on October 28, 1950. They built a home in Monterey. I was their first born in July 1951 and then three years later they had another daughter, my sister, Patricia in June 1954. When Patricia and I were children, mom liked to sew our doll's clothes. Years later I told her that I still have the little pink & white stripped dress on my baby doll in the attic. She said that she couldn't believe that she had the patience to make dresses for our dolls. Mom had many wise words, but two things that she always told Patricia and I that stuck with us is; "There is no one like your sister," and "If they can do it you can too." She also instilled a lot of self-confidence into Patricia and I. In 1976, Patricia married Richard Quaglia and had two children, Daniel and Tricia. In 1982, I married Steven Schielke and later Matthew and Michael were born. Mom adored her four grandchildren. In the past five years her family extended with another grandson; Justin and two more granddaughters; Paulette and Nicole and her darling great granddaughter Giuliana. She was very proud of all of them and they loved and respected her dearly. She worked for the school food service for 24 years before she retired. She worked her way from salad girl to manager and was a dedicated hard worker. Mom and dad took a few trips to Italy to visit my dad's family and enjoyed taking cruises to Alaska, Hawaii and Mexico. She loved cruises! They even returned to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania a few times to see her relatives. However, mom never missed the snow! They also loved to entertain their family and friends by having delicious five course dinners. All of Patricia and my favorite recipes are from our mom. Over the years she made biscotti so many times that she lost count. Her cookies were the best! And, Michael remembers how much rum his grandmother put on her rum cake and we all remember how much brandy she poured over her fruit cake! For over 50 years she belonged to the "Sewing Club" with Bettye, Pansy and Rosalie and her late sweet friends; Angie and Jill. However, as the years passed they didn't sew they just enjoyed visiting. She also enjoyed playing cards and a dice game called Froggie Farkle with her family and dear friends. Bocce was a sport that she liked playing. She said that, "It doesn't matter if you win or lose; it's just fun to play." We were very blessed with the years that we had with our Mom. Patricia and I always thought that our mom was one of the best mom's in the world! She has touched all of our lives in some way or another. People were always amazed how young she looked for her age. I guess because she was always young at heart. She had a wonderful long life of 94 years and will be missed abundantly. We love you, Mary, mom, Zia, Nonni.