Melba Patricia Futini

Melba Patricia Futini, (nee Lemos), passed away peacefully at the age of 100 on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Napa, California, due to complications of dementia. Melba had a very full and vibrant life. She was born on September 28, 1923, in the town of Alvarado, now part of Fremont, California. A midwife assisted with her delivery in a small apartment above a market where her family lived at the time of her birth. Of Portuguese descent, she was the middle child with two sisters, Bernadette and Ernestine. She moved with her family to Benicia in the 1930’s and lived across the street from the original Benicia High School. She was raised Catholic, and her family attended the Catholic Church in Benicia. She had just graduated from high school when the U.S. entered World War II in 1941. She immediately went to work at the Benicia Arsenal and Mare Island Naval Base as a clerk typist, a position that was greatly needed at that time in the war effort, and she knew shorthand. Right after World War II ended, she met the love of her life, and future husband, John Joseph Futini, a native of Salinas, who had served in the 13th U.S. Army Air Force in the Pacific Theater during the war. They met through an introduction by one of her friends and were married in 1948 at the scenic and historic Mission San Juan Bautista. They had three children, John, Norma (born on Melba’s birthday), and Andrea. Melba was devoted to her family first and foremost. They moved from Vallejo to Napa in 1965. She was a homemaker until 1967 when her children entered their teen years. She went to work as a secretary for Napa County Social Services, and remained there until 1981, when she retired from the County. Following that she continued to work at a variety of Napa businesses, including the Napa Register and two chiropractic offices. Her grandchildren, Greg, born 1990, and Trevor, born 1993 meant everything to her and she became a doting grandmother, visiting them all the time, and baking them her special peanut butter chocolate chip cookies; she never missed any of their events, and her love for them was immense. Besides being devoted to her family, Melba had many interests. Her parents had offered her piano lessons when she was growing up and she took immediately to piano playing, which was the start of a lifelong love of music and classical piano playing. At age 13, she gave a piano recital at her piano teacher’s home. She also loved animals and had a pet Boston Bulldog named Jerry whom she treasured during her teen years. This love for animals continued throughout her life after she married and had a family. She enjoyed taking care of the family’s two dogs and many cats. While her husband was away at work as a truck-driver, she spent the time having fun with her children playing ball, croquet, tag, games, reading to them, and often wrapped up the day with an ice cream treat. Sundays were spent attending St. Vincent’s Catholic Church in Vallejo and St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Napa, followed by family afternoons together. She enjoyed baking and filled any free time she had baking designer cakes, and all kinds of amazing desserts. She loved dancing and often she and her husband would host family dance parties in their Vallejo home in the 60’s. She was very social, enjoyed gettogethers with her friends, and for a while was a member of the Napa Valley Tennis Association. She loved beautiful things, and especially clothing. Her home was decorated tastefully with the nicest of furnishings and she was always dressed beautifully. She was an A+ homemaker. At home she loved flower-gardening, helped re-paint her home inside and out- she could be seen on a ladder outdoors painting the eves on occasion- and energetically worked consistently hard to keep the entire household and yard clean and neat. Somehow, she always managed to maintain a very orderly and immaculate household, despite having three children, two dogs and a few cats. Melba was athletically inclined. During a school footrace in the 8th grade, she outran the entire rest of her classmates. She learned to play tennis in her teens at the public tennis courts just down the street from her home. She continued to play tennis into her 80’s. In 1984, at age 61, she hiked with her husband, son and daughter, to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, stayed overnight at the bottom, and hiked back up the other side of the Canyon for the next two days. In all, she made four trips to the Grand Canyon with her children and husband. Nearer to their home, she hiked to scenic Mare Island Strait on family excursions when the family lived in Vallejo, and the colorful hills of Napa after the family moved there in the Fall of 1965. Family picnics to public parks in Napa and Sonoma Counties also took place in the 1950s and 1960s, and frequently culminated in her family treating her to another love she had: a one- or two-pound box of See’s or Partrick’s chocolates. Her favorite things to do were anything for her children and grandchildren, even when they were adults. This included typing two 100-page drafts and a final copy of her son’s Master’s M.A. Thesis, as she had the ability to type a good 80 words per minute on an electric typewriter, read the handwritten drafts written in indiscernible script, and transcribe from dictation. She and her husband loved to travel, many times to Hawaii, but a few of her favorite trip highlights were touring the Azore Islands where her father was born, flying above the Alaskan ice fields in a float plane, and walking on the Mendenhall Glacier after touching down in a helicopter. Life was not without difficulties. As a young girl, she and her family lived through The Great Depression. Melba was also a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in late 1997 at age 74, and enduring chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Melba’s husband passed away in 2018 at the age of 98, and she continued living in her Napa home with her two daughters caring for her. In addition to her husband, she is pre-deceased by her mother, her father, her stepfather, and her two sisters. Melba lived a full and rewarding life. Her vibrance, upbeat personality, and great love of her family are her legacy. She will be sorely missed and greatly cherished, always. Her kindness and caring attitude towards others, and her beautiful smile will endure. She is survived by her three children, John Stephen Futini (Jaime), Norma Roxanne Saunders (Royce), Andrea Stephanie Murphy (Greg), her two grandchildren Greg and Trevor, and many nieces and nephews. A private service and burial will be held.

Melba Patricia Futini

September 28, 1923 - June 27, 2024

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Melba Patricia Futini

September 28, 1923 - June 27, 2024

Obituary Notification

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