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» Our History  •  Wine Beginnings  •  Our Family Marian Zurlo Crinella      Marian Crinella was born in Los Angeles, near the intersection of First and Spring Streets, in 1904. This location is now in the very center of downtown Los Angeles. From there, she moved steadily northward, as her father went about seeking his fortune, finally settling in Santa Rosa, the Sonoma County seat, in 1912.      As a young girl, Marian enjoyed life in the strongly ethnic Italian community that was then located in West Santa Rosa. She was an eager student, enjoyed singing in the St. Rose's church choir, and was Captain of the girls basketball team and also a good softball player. She also was selected to become a Child of Mary, one of the highest honors that can be bestowed by the Catholic Church upon a secular woman, being one step below Papal Countess. After rigorous religious training which takes many years, a Child of Mary dedicates her life to her future husband and the children she will one day have and also to doing Gods work on earth. In this way, she follows the example of Mary, the Mother of Christ.      From late Spring to early Fall, she, along with her siblings and friends, would pick fruit--cherries, apples, peaches, prunes and grapes in the fields West of Santa Rosa. In the winter months, she helped her father in the store, and developed a good "business head," which was later to become an essential ingredient in the success of the Crinella family businesses. Not unlike most of her schoolmates, she opted to leave high school before graduation, to attend business college. Upon receipt of her business certificate, in 1922, she took a job at the Pacific Gas and Electric Company office in Santa Rosa, and remained there until she moved to Petaluma in 1933.      Marian was a strikingly beautiful and vivacious young woman, who had many close friends, both male and female. To the time of her death, at age 90, she remained in contact with many of her childhood friends who also lived in and about Santa Rosa, and had also lived to a ripe old age. As a young woman Marian had a rich social life in spite of the fact that she always worked long hours, and was also subject to a 10 PM curfew, set by her strict old-world Italian parents. The curfew lasted to the time she was married, at age 29, on August 19, 1933. But this is getting ahead of the story. In 1925, while attending a dance at the Cotati Women's Club (which still remains in downtown Cotati), she met Marino Crinella, who had recently arrived from Minnesota. While she would later admit that it was love at first sight, she was not about to abandon her other boyfriends, and the formal courtship and engagement was preceded by a year or so of casual dates, often in the company of several friends. More likely, Marian was clever enough to realize that the way to capture a strikingly handsome and sought after man like Marino was not to appear too interested.      Marian was a strikingly beautiful and vivacious young woman, who had many close friends, both male and female. To the time of her death, at age 90, she remained in contact with many of her childhood friends who also lived in and about Santa Rosa, and had also lived to a ripe old age. As a young woman Marian had a rich social life in spite of the fact that she always worked long hours, and was also subject to a 10 PM curfew, set by her strict old-world Italian parents. The curfew lasted to the time she was married, at age 29, on August 19, 1933. But this is getting ahead of the story. In 1925, while attending a dance at the Cotati Women's Club (which still remains in downtown Cotati), she met Marino Crinella, who had recently arrived from Minnesota. While she would later admit that it was love at first sight, she was not about to abandon her other boyfriends, and the formal courtship and engagement was preceded by a year or so of casual dates, often in the company of several friends. More likely, Marian was clever enough to realize that the way to capture a strikingly handsome and sought after man like Marino was not to appear too interested.      Finally, after an engagement of seven years, Marian and Marino married, in a brief ceremony during the regularly scheduled mass at St. Monica's church, in Santa Monica where her family had a summer cottage. But, she continued to live with her parents in Santa Rosa, while Marino built their first home, at 117 Belleview Avenue, in Petaluma, a slow process as he still had to run his plumbing business during normal business hours and they were paying mostly cash for the house. Eventually, their tiled roof and stucco, Spanish style bungalow was completed, and Marian was able to join Marino (Pop). They had a son Francis and and later daughter Ramona.      They emerged from the war years as a well-to-do couple. The family moved from the pleasant house on Bellevue Avenue to the large Victorian house at 252 Howard Street which was right next door to Saint Vincent where we attended school. Marian particularly missed the Bellevue Avenue which had been beautifully furnished and very modern with all the latest conveniences. But it was felt that we would do better in school if a close alliance was established between the nuns who taught us and Marian and Marino.      The nuns became close family friends. Pop would take some of them fishing and drove them when they needed to go someplace. Often when we went to San Francisco to shop we would have a nun or two with us, all the better to have a good long chat about how Francis and Ramona were doing at school.      By 1947, Marian and Marino entered into new investments including several car dealerships and land development projects. Marian took a less active part in the family business because the bookkeeping was not as labor intensive. Now, she devoted a great deal of time to St. Vincent's school, which Francis and Ramona attended, helping with various fund-raising events. She was also able to return to one of her girlhood avocations, singing in the choir and taking formal voice lessons. For several years, she was busy remodeling and working with a decorator on the Victorian home at 252 Howard Street, which she turned into a beautiful and comfortable showplace. Set on nearly an acre of land, the gardens and lawns were restored and a large playing field was set aside for us in the back.      While no longer able to compete in softball or basketball, her girlhood sports, she took up golf, in 1950, and played almost every day of the week until she was in her late 70's, and then several times a week until she was 88, and suffered a broken wrist. In her 90th year, although no longer able to swing the golf club, she rode around the course with her foursome, driving an electric cart and keeping score in her head for the group. She knitted all of her life, and seemed to pick up the pace as she grew older--everything from sweaters to socks to afghans--and, of course, head-covers for golf clubs. When she died she was also a student at the Santa Rosa Junior College which she had attended more or less continuously for thirty years. She was never idle.      Throughout her adult life, Marian was a wise counselor to her parents and siblings, husband and children, her grandchildren, and a large group of friends. Not much escaped her notice. She was intrigued by "words of wisdom," whether from the Bible or Reader's Digest, and she was always cutting out little scraps of inspirational prose to share with others. Her all-time favorite: "golf reveals your character; play accordingly." Often she would tell her daughter Ramona, "If you don't have fun today, it is your own fault."      Marian was a very beautiful woman and she loved fashionable clothes. She shopped frequently in San Francisco until her eightieth year. "When you get a little older, you don't care quite so much for fashion, " she remarked. She believed buying the very best was the most economical thing to do in the long run. Her wardrobe consisted of the finest fabrics and designs from the third floor at I. Magnin and although not extensive she was always beautifully dressed. Marian believed that the way a person dressed said a lot about their character and even intelligence. We are still wearing her things twenty, thirty,and even forty years after she bought them as they are timeless classics.      Probably, if she had chosen to do so, she could have run General Motors very well. However there was nothing of more interest to her than her family. She certainly kept the vow she made to God as a young girl.      Marian was always a very busy woman well into her ninetieth year, and while she was no slouch as an Italian cook, she was always looking for short-cuts so that more time could be spent on her many other pursuits. In that regard, soups were a favorite, because she could make up a quantity that could be used for several meals.      Minestrone comes from the Italian "minestrare" (to minister) and has its roots in the medieval abbeys, where it was the practice of the monks to offer hospitality to any traveler who came to their gates. They would minister to their guests from a large kettle of soup, that was kept simmering on the fire at all times. From time to time, new ingredients were added, but the minestrone pot was never empty.      Marian Crinella developed a recipe that enabled her to cook minestrone much more quickly than the medieval monks or in the traditional modern Italian method. Nevertheless, her recipe resulted in a flavor and texture quite indistinguishable from more conventional minestrone, while still allowing her to get in her daily round of golf. The first prerequisite was an ample stock of veal broth, which she kept refrigerated in quart jars.

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