FERNANDO MORO; FIGLIO DELLA COSTA - 'FIGLIO DI FERRO'

Photo: Fernando Moro (forefront) sitting atop his 'Angry Beast' with side-kick Joe Alves, in Santa Cruz, c.1950. (Courtsey Fernando Moro Family Collection).


FERNANDO MORO, THE LAST OF ‘THE FIGLI DI FERRO’ (SONS OF IRON) PASSED AWAY LAST TUESDAY. BELOW IS HIS OBITUARY AS IT APPEARED
IN THE SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL:


Services will be Monday for Fernando Moro who passed away January 8, 2008 at a local hospital. He was 86.
He was born in Tulare, California and moved to Davenport as a child. He grew up in Davenport where he attended school. In 1958 he married Gloria Lippi and the couple moved to Santa Cruz where he has lived since. He worked many years for Lonestar Industries in Davenport as a brick mason and retired in 1981. He enjoyed camping and was an avid motorcycle enthusiast. He was a longtime member of the Marconi Club.
He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Gloria Moro of Santa Cruz; two sisters, Yoli Chavez of Santa Cruz and Mary Brown of Santa Cruz. He is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Fred Moro. Services will be held Monday January 14, 2008 at Benito & Azzaro Pacific Gardens Chapel, 1050 Cayuga St, Santa Cruz, CA at 2:00 pm. Viewing hours will be at Pacific Gardens Chapel on Sunday from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. Entombment will be in Holy Cross Cemetery, 2271 7th Ave, Santa Cruz, CA.


Published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on 1/11/2008.


IVANO SAYS:


AS FAR AS I KNOW FERNANDO, THE ELDEST SON IN A FURLAN FAMILY (SILVIO AND ELENA MORO OF DAVENPORT), WAS THE LAST LIVING MEMBER OF “THE FIGLI DI FERRO”, A LOOSE KNIT MOTORCYCLE GROUP THAT RODE THE HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS SU PER LA COSTA. AS I WRITE IN ‘LA NOSTRA COSTA’ (P.178) THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE GROUP WERE JOE GEMIGNANI, (MY UNCLE), FRED DIMEO, AND ALBIE ROSSI. ALL ARE GONE NOW; ONLY THE MEMORIES ARE LEFT FOR US TO REMEMBER THEM BY .

FERNANDO WAS ALSO A MEMBER OF THE ARMED FORCES DURING WWII. IN 1944, HE WAS CAPTURED AND MADE A PRISONER-OF-WAR BY THE GERMANS. HE REMAINED THEIR PRISONER UNTIL THE END OF THE WAR IN MARCH 1945.

WHAT FOLLOWS BELOW IS WHAT I WROTE IN ‘LA NOSTRA COSTA’ ABOUT FERNANDO MORO (LNC: P 180):


“I thought that Fernando had the best motorcycle of the group, and he always kept it in pristine condition. His motorcycle was also one of the loudest. You could hear Fernando coming from a very long way off. He usually started his journey from his home in Davenport and came south on the Coast Road. I can still remember the vibrating sound of his motorcycle approaching the gulch, then quickly descending into il buco before roaring up the steep grade. Rushing to the side of the road, I would see Fernando, perhaps for only a split second-hunched over on the handlebars, dressed in a black leather jacket and black leather pilot’s hat with the goggles pulled over his eyes -flashing by with
a burst of speed. On his trip back from Santa Cruz, I could hear the roar of his motorcycle as it approached the bend near the Rodoni Ranch. Whoosh! Like il vento, Fernando and his motorcycle blew by the house, going down into the gulch and up the grade on the other side. All the while his motorcycle’s engine roared like and angry, attacking beast. I continued to listen to its loud growling sound until it faded completely away, su per la costa. I swear that, on a quiet evening, I could hear that “angry beast” all the way up to Davenport.” *

ADDIO FERNANDO MORO. MAY YOU RIDE ONCE AGAIN CON IL VENTO.

*Copyrighted by Ivano Franco Comelli, and appears in his book “La Nostra Costa” (Our Coast), ‘A Family’s Journey To And From The North Coast of Santa Cruz’, published by
Authorhouse,www.authorhouse.com