Dec. 14, 1914 - Feb. 8, 2004
Laurabelle Cecilia (Rowley) Cavaletto went peacefully to be with her
Lord Sunday, Feb. 8. Lolly was born in Danbury Township to Denver and
Tina (Larsen) Rowley and grew up Port Clinton.
She wore out several pairs of roller skates in her childhood, as that
was the quickest mode of transportation for getting around town. She
learned to play the coronet and was the youngest member of the Port
Clinton Band.
With a December birthday, Lolly was only 17 at her graduation from high
school. Her mother had to do a lot of talking to convince the nuns at
St. Vincent Hospital, Toledo, to let her enroll in their nursing school
before she was 18.
Shortly after graduation as a R.N. in 1935 her mother asked her to
accompany her on a trip to Santa Barbara to visit Lolly's sister Clarice
Walters, who had just delivered the Rowley's first grandchild. She made
Lolly promise to return to Ohio after their visit. While in Santa
Barbara Lolly stopped at St. Francis Hospital and found that they were
paying $75 a month plus room and board. Compared to the $40 she was
making in Ohio made the choice easy. She didn't have her California
license yet but the Nun said, "You trained at a Catholic hospital. You
must be good." She started work, got her license and became head surgical
nurse at St. Francis Hospital.
At the hospital she met a young farmer patient, Lodovicco Michael (Cy)
Cavaletto. This Danish Lutheran girl was proposed to by this young man
from an Italian Catholic family in Goleta. She was unsure of this
proposed union and left Santa Barbara with Laura Schaetzle to drive
across the country and work as nurses in New Orleans and Pueblo, Colo.
She returned to Santa Barbara and St. Francis Hospital a couple years
later. When this young farmer called the nurses residence looking for a
date with Mary, Lolly answered the phone said, "Mary is out" and asked,
"Will I do?"
They were married at St. Rafael Church in Goleta Sept. 10, 1940. They
lived on a lemon and avocado ranch and started their family of three
children; Jeanette, Rollie and Larry and dreamed of the house they would
someday build on their new orchard near Santa Barbara.
Lolly was an active participant in Goleta PTA and a 4-H Club leader and
was the camp nurse at Santa Barbara County 4-H summer camp in the Los
Padres National Forest for several years. She was active in the women's
group of the Goleta, Santa Barbara County, California State and National
Farm Bureau. One of her favorite projects was working on Rural Health
Conferences to improve the lives of people in rural areas. She put her
nurses training to use at clinics for polio vaccinations when the whole
country was being vaccinated. She was also active in well baby clinics
in the area.
She was so active in Farm Bureau, that in the Nov. 4, 1951 issue of the
Santa Barbara News Press she "became the first woman to be honored as
the person making the greatest contribution during the year to the Santa
Barbara County Farm Bureau, thus ending Man of the Year title for the
award."
For over 68 years she was an active member and participant at Trinity
Lutheran Church. She was active with Trinity Lutheran Church Women
including several terms as president of the group. When Trinity became
active in El Camino Pines Camp near Fraser Park her support was constant
and continuous including physical labor and monetary contributions.
Lolly's husband, Cy, died in 1959. With three children she continued the
operation of the farm. Her dedication to the ideals of cooperation made
her a strong Sunkist and Calavo member for over 40 years. In the mid
sixties she traded in her ladders for boom hoists for picking avocados.
With the use of two "man positioners" her family was able to harvest up
to three quarters of a million pounds of avocados a year with very
little outside labor.
After a trip to Israel in the late sixties she told her sons to think
about using drip irrigation. Her sons were a little old fashioned but
ten years later they installed drip irrigation in the Santa Barbara
orchard.
In 1965-1966 Lolly was one of the leaders in getting Valley Stadium
built at San Marcos High School. She called everybody she knew in Goleta
asking for support for the new "community stadium." Judging by the
pictures in the press she must have been "poster woman" of the
committee.
Lolly loved to travel. She made trips to the Middle East, Europe,
Russia, South America and back to the Holy Land which she loved. She
must have passed this gene on to her grandchildren. They have worked in
Mexico, studied in Spain, been missionaries in Switzerland, Tonga, and
Kenya. After sale of the orchard, with no farm to manage, Lolly turned
even more to community activities.
In 1981 she was in one of the earliest Hospice training classes in Santa
Barbara. She put her training to use for many years helping people to
die with peace and dignity. Lolly was very active in Let Isla Vista Eat
(LIVE), distributing food and clothing every Tuesday for many years.
Her house was always "open." Family from Ohio or New York, visitors from
Europe or the Middle East, grandchildren working or going to college,
missionaries passing through Santa Barbara, all found warmth and
welcome.
She is survived by daughter, Jeanette (Edward) Silva of Scott Bar,
Calif.; sons, Rollie (Nellie) of Nipomo and Larry (Jackie) of Santa
Barbara; grandsons, David and Dennis (Deneen) Silva, Jon (Jamie),
Michael (Ruth), Giovanni (JoCeleste), Joseph and Cy Cavaletto;
granddaughters, Nicole (Jeff) Barnett, Patricia (Adrian) Alvarado,
Catherine, Teresa, Susan and Nancy Cavaletto; great grandchildren,
Taylor, Carson, Rachel, Juliana, Jacob, Sierra, Sophia and Brendan
Cavaletto, Joshua and Emily Barnett, Jason, Nicholas and Samantha
Alvarado and Zak and Garrett Nave. Lolly was preceded in death by her
husband, L. M. (Cy) Cavaletto; her parents, Denver and Tina Rowley;
sister, Clarice Walters; brother, James Rowley; nephews, Richard Borgaro
and Dennis Walters.
Visitation: 1 to 4:30 p.m. Friday at Welch-Ryce-Haider Funeral Chapel,
450 Ward Dr., Goleta.
Interment: 9:30 a.m. . Saturday, Calvary Cemetery, 199 N. Hope Ave.
Memorial Service: 11 a.m. Saturday at Trinity Lutheran Church, 909 N. La
Cumbre Rd., Santa Barbara.
Memorials: In lieu of flowers to donate Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care of
Santa Barbara, 222 E. Canon Perdido St., Santa Barbara CA 93101 or to
one of the organizations Lolly gave to during her lifetime of service.
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