San Martin
– Rosie Mammini is closing in on 89, has a bad knee, and doesn’t
get around as much as she’d like, but she did come out Saturday
night to be honored by the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance.
San Martin – Rosie Mammini is closing in on 89, has a bad knee, and doesn’t get around as much as she’d like, but she did come out Saturday night to be honored by the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance.
Mammini was recognized as Senior of the Year for her tireless work on behalf of the community at the alliance’s annual spaghetti social. She is the award’s first recipient.
“I’m honored, but I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve done and I hope I’ve done some good to help people,” Mammini said. “The community has done a lot for me.”
Mammini was born in Utah in 1916 and game to Gilroy with her mother, Minnie, and two brothers, in 1920. Her father died in 1918, a victim of the great influenza pandemic. Her mother considered returning to Italy, but family in Gilroy persuaded Minnie to bring her three children west instead.
Mammini grew up dreaming of becoming a nurse, and was accepted by a San Jose nursing school, but she was needed at home.
“In those days,” she said, “my mother and brothers said no. So I got my chance to help people in another way.”
Just listing Mammini’s affiliations and volunteer efforts is exhausting. In addition to being the matriarch of a clan of three children, 12 grandchildren and 12 great grandkids, and living the muddy life of a farmer’s wife, Mammini has been president of the Sons of Italy, president of the Italian Mothers Club, president of the San Martin PTA, a Cub Scouts den mother, president of the Wheeler Hospital Auxiliary, president of the United Order of the Druids, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, a member of the St. Catherine’s Ladies Aid Society and John A. Berry Auxiliary and a volunteer at the Driftwood Convalescent Hospital.
“I’ve done everything that concerned my children when they were growing up and taking care of the elderly,” Mammini said.
And a little of everything in between. When her neighbor died and left two disabled teenagers, she helped their mother look after them. She took care of her bachelor neighbor, Dennis Leger, for many years, until he died at 104.
“She more or less took care of him until the day he passed away,” Mammini’s lifelong friend Louis Trinchero, 75, said Saturday night. “She’s about the hardest working woman I ever ran across. If anyone was in need she’d be there for him.”
In 1979, Mammini was nominated as Citizen of the Year by the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce, and in 2001, she was the first female president of the San Martin Lions Club. Mammini volunteered at several area hospitals for 47 years, until recent knee surgery knocked her out of action.
“She’s an amazing woman,” said Connie Ludewig, a member of the neighborhood alliance. “She’s very concerned about the community and the historical charm of San Martin. She considers the entire community to be her neighbors.”
For most of Mammini’s life, San Martin was blanketed with vineyards and then prune and apricot orchards. With her late husband, Louis, Mammini ran a prune farm. When the bottom fell out of that market, the Mammini’s turned to row crops.
Mammini’s son, Eugene, said the seasonal workers were part of one big family when he was a child. At least once a summer, his parents would host the field workers for a barbecue.
“She’s always set an example of being dedicated to what she believes in,” Eugene Mammini said of his mother. “Work hard and respect other people. She always worked hard no matter what she was going through. Us kids always came first. We always had the best.”
Mammini is also a member of the neighborhood alliance, which formed in 2000 to protect San Martin’s rural heritage against the rapid growth of neighboring communities and county development plans. Alliance members want to incorporate so San Martin’s 5,600 residents will have more say over their future. Agriculture is threatened all over South Valley, but Mammini said she welcomes the changes – as long as they’re good for San Martin.
“I don’t want to live in the past,” Mammini said. “I like progress, as long as its for the benefit of myself and everybody concerned.”
