LaNORMA REMEMBERS THE SCARONIS

The Scaroni’s – The Dairy and Family – BEFORE it was the Red, White and Blue Nudie Beach – when it was hard working and Fun people.

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Photos of Scaroni House Courtesy of Al and Norma Wilson. TOP PHOTO 'LA NOSTRA COSTA ARCHIVES': 'BEACH PARTY AT THE SCARONI BEACH' [C.1956]. (From Left to Right: Shirley Wilson(?), Florence Bianco,Unknown, Esther Frizza,Jerrill ('The Old Professor' Kerrick, Alan Cornick (deceased), Jim (FA)Ceragioli, Christine Roen and Jerry Mungai at the extreme right hand edge. )

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Katie, Bill, Johnny and Arnold were the neatest and most unique people. None of them every married. Who remembers?! I know that Dee Murray (Dolores Viviani) does and I am sure many many others. Here are some 0f the things I remember:

They loved company and accommodated so many – in summer I remember Ted Templeton (and some friends) spending time at the Dairy and helping bring down the hay in big wagons (with horses) from the north side of the Old Hwy l. Also Bill and John would stop cars and the cement trucks on the Hwy in the morning and afternoon in order to cross their cows from the north side to the south by their house and where the milking barn was. (The Borges - Arvelas Dairy was the next one
Going to Santa Cruz – when Vera and Della Borges Dad was not feeling well – we girls stopped the cars and crossed the cows from one side to the other – then their brother Frank would milk the cows – this was the old Annand property by the Dal Porto Ranch)

Bill was rather quiet and very nice and kind of the head of the family. I remember him going to Holy Cross Church for Easter and Christmas.

John the youngest (most of us called him Johnny), was short and was full of pep and a real jokster – but had a good heart. Took his family matters very seriously, though he was always joking around.


Katie had been a school teacher but I do not remember where she taught. When her parents passed she took over caring for her brother Arnold who was blind and the rest of the family. She cooked, washed, etc for all the brothers.

Arnold (I believe) was the oldest and a real sweetheart. He was an inspiration and had a way of not making you feel sorry for him because he was blind.




He was so talented – he did some wood carvings, chopped and stacked firewood and many other things. His job with the dairy was to go to the milking barn and pick up two buckets full of milk (that were always placed in a certain place by the door); then walk l50 feet and up about 20 stairs to the “cheese house” and dump the buckets in a trough that then pasteurized the milk. He kept doing this until the milking was done – quite a job! It seems he never even spilled a drop of milk.




Arnold knew his way by feeling around and always going the same exact way. From the house to the barn there was a white picket fence with a gate always open. No one ever parked in front of the gate because that was his path. One day one of the neighbors accidentally parked at the gate and Arnold walked straight into into the car . (The neighbor felt really bad about this.)



One Sunday my mother (Diana Dinelli) and I walked to the Scaronis. No one was home except Arnold. With Arnold, we started to walk around the front yard – talking and looking at the flowers (this was an unfamiliar part of the yard for Arnold). Arnold felt the fence and plants and then cautiously found the clothesline and walked holding onto the line until it stopped – there was still a little ways to go around the house to where he was familiar so he called me over and said, "Let's see how tall you’ve gotten". He kind of held onto me until we walked to the house again and onto familiar territory. He never asked for help and I did not even notice he was using me as a guidance.



In the summer , Katie would pick me up once or twice a week and I would help clean her house. She would then fix lunch. After lunch we did the the dishes and then we would walk down to the beach (no nudies then). At times Katie would do something special with me tagging along. After putting on her straw hat, we would take a drive to Santa Cruz to get meat out of the meat lockers (where Lenz Art store is now) or drive up to Scotts Valley to visit the Don Santos family or the English family that ran a dairy where Nob Hill is now (at the time it was all pasture and cows – their House was where Walgreens now is located).

The Scaronis were a wonderful family. -As Ivano (The Gran Blaggatore) said, Katie
always counted heads coming and going to her beach. She wanted to make sure everyone was safe. I miss you Katie. I miss all of you. Thanks for giving us such wonderful memories. ****Norma (Dinelli) Wilson
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