The Cupertino Courier
Community
Obituaries
Her Cupertino homestead is home to new Kaiser Hospital
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 on the Cupertino border. 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.
Frances Wilbur wrote books, was equestrian
One-time Cupertino resident, children's author and noted horsewoman Frances Puckett Wilbur died Aug. 3 in Cupertino. She was 75.
Wilbur was born in Minnesota. She graduated from Beloit College in Wisconsin with a major in English and minors in French and chemistry. Following her graduation, Wilbur worked for the U.S. War Department and during WWII was a part of the first Voynich manuscript team, which attempted to decode a work that remains undecipherable to this day.
After living in Europe for seven years, Wilbur moved to California, where she worked for the Rotary Club and the Red Cross, earned the designation of certified dressage instructor and established a horse camp with her second husband, Dr. William Wilbur.
In 1977 the Wilburs turned their weekend ranch into the full-time Cielo Azual Ranch in La Cañada. They taught numerous young riders the basics of horsemanship and eventing. Wilbur also published three children's books on horses: A Guide for the Parents of Horse-Crazy Kids, A Horse called Holiday, and the Milkweed National Prize Winner for fiction, The Dog with the Golden Eyes.
In 1994, Wilbur and her husband moved to Cupertino and retired at the Sunny View Retirement Community. Wilbur remained active in the writing community and was a member of several local writers clubs.
She is survived by her husband of 33 years, William Wilbur; brother Allen, children Marguerite, Geoffrey, Katherine, Maryla and May; 12 grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
Private burial services were held at the Oakmont Memorial Park in Lafayette.
