Feb 12, 1914 - Feb 22, 2012
Resident of Santa Cruz
Lena G. Shaw passed away peacefully on February 22, 2012 at her Maple House residence, she was 98.
Lena was born February 12, 1914, the daughter of Paul Barbara Fistolera. Her childhood years were spent in Swanton where she attended Swanton School and Aqua Puerca School. She later moved with her family to Yellow Bank where her father ran a dairy. She rode the train into Santa Cruz to attend Santa Cruz High School where she graduated.
Following High School Lena worked at Polleti's Packing Shed, the Davenport Cash Store and taught citizenship classes. She worked for Penniman Title Company for many years until her marriage to John E. Shaw. John was the love of her life. They were married at the Carmel Mission in 1956. Lena's wedding dress was hand crocheted by a friend which later became the discussion of the ceremony because, although the dress was beautiful the more Lena moved in the dress the longer the dress became.
Lena was a resident of Maple House from 2002 until her passing.
Lena enjoyed traveling on road trips with her husband to Oregon and Northern California. After the passing of her husband, she continued to take road trips to Truckee and Tahoe with her sisters, Inez Grossi and Vivian Rodoni.
Lena enjoyed gardening, especially the vegetable gardens she and her husband planted on a city owned plot off Trescony Street in Santa Cruz. They planted these gardens for many years. They were several other gardens that were planted on this city owned plot, but Lena and her husband's space was the best looking and always produced the most vegetables. Lena enjoyed the flowers and plants on her own manicured yard. She continued planting flowers and vegetables when she moved to Maple House.
Lena had other talents such as woodcarving, ceramics, crocheting, sewing and baking Gravenstein apple pies (her favorite) from the apples grown on her tree.
Lena is survived by numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, John E. Shaw in 1999, by her parents, Paul and Barbara Fistolera, sisters, Inez Grossi, Winnie Giraudo, Zelda Ceragioli, Nora Della Santina and Vivian Rodoni. The Fistolera sisters including Lena all lived to the minimum age of 93 except for her sister Nora who was just shy of her 101st birthday. With Lena's passing the Fistolera generation has come to an end. Lena's smile and loving persona will be missed by all that knew her.
Services will be held on Wednesday February 29, 2012 at the Oakwood Memorial Chapel 3301 Paul Sweet Road Santa Cruz. Friends and family are invited to call beginning at 11:00 AM until the service time which is 1:00 PM.
Memorial Contributions may be sent to Hospice of Santa Cruz County 940 Disc Dr Scotts Valley, CA. The family would like to thank the staff at Maple House for their compassion and loving care of Lena during her residency.
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IVANO SAYS: The above Remembrance of Lena was first published in the Santa Cruz Sentinel:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/
As the very well written Remembrance above states, Lena was the last of the Fistolera sisters. In "La Nostra Costa (Our Coast) I have a Chapter end note (p. 251) regarding these remarkable sisters. "Lea (Grossi) Lambert, the daughter of Settimo and Inez (Fistolera) Grossi, has reminded me that there were six Fistolera sisters: Inez, Winnie (Giraudo), Nora (Della Santina),
Zelda, Vivian (Rodoni) and Lena (Shaw). Her grandparents, Paul and Barbara Fistolera had a rancio in Swanton. Later Lea lived on a ranch with her father and mother, just north of Laguna."
Truly, a remarkable legacy. Addio, Lena. Until we meet again across "Il Ultimo Ponte".
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