In Memoriam – Mario Ferrero

Mario Ferrero passed away on January 13, 2021 after a long battle with cancer.

He and his wife, Karen, moved to Lincoln Hills in 2017 leaving their life of over 40 years as almond ranchers in the Central Valley to be closer to their daughters and their families.

Mario’s parents were born in a small village in Northern Italy called Perlo, nestled on the top of a hill. They came to the U.S. as immigrants settling in Santa Rosa on a prune ranch. As a child and young man Mario learned farming and ranching from his father and mother. He was expected to work alongside his parents tending and caring for the land and animals, with early mornings before school, milking the cows and doing other chores.

He served four years in the Navy in the Korean War and was the recipient of a Purple Heart. After the service, Mario started a career in the egg industry, finally ending up upon retirement starting his own business selling packaging to customers in the Central Valley for another 20 years. His true happiness came from working the almond orchard and seeing at the end of the day what he had accomplished.

He loved creating a vegetable garden every spring which was his great delight. He always planted at least 48 tomato plants to enjoy plus share with family and friends. When his wife Karen asked him why he planted so many, he would shrug and say, “They come in 6 packs!”

Mario loved golf and Bocce Ball, and was happy when leaving the ranch to have the opportunity to join the Italian Club and participate in the Bocce Ball League. The fun he had getting to know all the great people and the play of the game was the highlight of his week. Some wonderful friendships were formed because of the relationship he had with the Italian Club. Mario will be remembered as a quiet and gentle man and probably one of the nicest persons you have known.