GILROY
– Marie Bonelli looked very regal sitting in a high-backed chair
in the Clock Tower Room at Old City Hall Restaurant.
GILROY – Marie Bonelli looked very regal sitting in a high-backed chair in the Clock Tower Room at Old City Hall Restaurant.
Her hair was perfectly in place and a mink stole was wrapped around her shoulders. Guests were kneeling down to speak to the birthday girl. Bonelli, not looking a day over 70, celebrated her 100th birthday Sunday surrounded by family and friends who had come from far and wide to share this special day with her.
She is a resident at the Valley Pines Assisted Living Center in Morgan Hill, but she has lived from San Francisco to Carmel, and back to Gilroy in the 100 years she has spent in the area. Her grandfather, an Italian immigrant, moved to Oakland after becoming disillusioned about how slaves were being treated on the plantations in New Orleans. The Bonesio family purchased land as part of the Solis Land Grant and started the Bonesio Brothers Winery in 1917, which is now where Kirigin Winery is in Gilroy.
Marie was married to her husband, Paul Bonelli, for more than 50 years. He worked for the Bank of America in San Francisco, and Marie, who continued to work throughout her marriage, was an executive secretary for the world-famous San Francisco florist Podesta and Baldocchi for 25 years.
Her niece Joanne Hall remembers visiting her aunt in the city for lunch or an evening at the opera.
“They had an apartment near the ocean; it was such an elegant home,” Hall said. “She was always so beautiful, so classy. She didn’t have any children, but she is a mentor to all of us. She’s a wonderful listener, and a very caring person; she’s everybody’s auntie.”
Edith Bonelli and Pat Mayer, two other nieces, came from Daly City and Burlingame for the day. They remember their aunt as always being dressed to the “T.”
George Hall, a nephew-in-law, met Marie for the first time when he was 16 years old.
“She’s a very special person,” he said, “and she’s never too tired; she never says never.”
Marie Bonelli still loves to go out, last spring she went on a trip to Mexico with her family. Everyone else was dressed casually in shorts and sneakers, and Bonelli, elegantly dressed as always, was navigating the streets in high heels.
She has been the belle of the ball this week, having cocktails and elegant dinners with friends, a tradition her relatives remember as part of her social graces and cosmopolitan nature.
After everyone had eaten brunch, Marie was helped to her feet, so she could say a few words. Eyes sparkling, she starting speaking in Italian to a puzzled yet rapt audience. “Speak English,” whispered her niece.
“Ah,” Marie said in English with a chuckle. “I think my mother and father were trying to tell me something. I love my family to pieces, without their love I’d be nowhere. I love you all, and I love the people who came to see this little old lady celebrate her 100th birthday.”
There was not a dry eye in the house as Marie Bonelli took her seat.
On cue, the band started playing a Dean Martin classic, and the gathering joined in singing; “Volare, oh oh, e contare, oh oh oh oh; No wonder my happy heart sings; your love has given me wings.”
