IN MEMORIAM: ANNA MARIA PIERINI

Saying goodbye to a longtime Friends of China Camp (FOC) docent and volunteer

Anna Maria Pierini, a volunteer of Friends of China Camp since 2012, died unexpectedly in her home in Santa Venetia this past November. During her years at China Camp, Anna Maria served as a Natural History Docent in the museum, a Visitor Center Docent, and as a volunteer in the kiosk at Back Ranch Meadows Campground. She was also an active participant in China Camp’s Heritage Day celebrations.

Anna Maria was a woman of great talent who earned many accolades over the course of her lifetime. During this busy life, Anna Maria discovered China Camp and was an enthusiastic and committed volunteer. She loved meeting and greeting park visitors and sharing her wealth of information with them, always accompanied by good humor.

Friends of China Camp bids a sad farewell to Anna Maria Pierini, her gracious presence will be missed by all. For those who would like to read more about her life, see this tribute. 

Santa Venetia Neighbor Association (SVNA) COMMUNICATOR November/December 2020
Anna Maria Pierini Has Left Us
It was very sad to read in the Marin IJ (https://tinyurl.com/y5ogz4h4 ) that we lost Anna Maria in November.
She was such a nice woman and well-known around the neighborhood for pitching in whenever needed.
Many remember her from years ago when she served on the then-SV Community Plan Committee
(although we didn’t get our plan that go-round) and she also volunteered at the SVNA Labor
Day Picnic. She worked the front gate, year after year, and welcomed everyone with a big smile.
She also helped with the Cookie Contest and also volunteered for FOCC (Friends of China Camp)
at the Visitor’s Center and Camp-ground Kiosk. They described her as accomplished, friendly, sharp
and witty, and generous with her time.

She will be missed.

Anna Maria Pierini
published in San Francisco Chronicle, Marin Independent Journal, Nevada Appeal

May 1949 - November 2020

A first-generation Italian American, Anna Maria Pierini always felt her most fulfilling blessing was to be an Italian born in America.  She was born in 1949, in Reno Nevada, to Pete and Maria Pierini, natives of Lucca, Italy who kept the Italian language and cultures strong in the home.

Anna Maria’s youth was spent between Carson City, NV, Lake Tahoe, CA and Italy.  At age 4, she flew on Pan Am airlines for her first trip to Italy.  She attended St. Theresa of Avila Catholic School (’63) and Carson City High School (’67). She moved to San Rafael, CA, to attend Dominican College (BA ’71), where she resided until her death at home, from a complex cancer complicated by a stroke, surrounded by her life-long friends on November 19, 2020. 

After graduating from Dominican College, she began her first career of 19 years with Irwin Memorial Blood Banks in Marin and San Francisco, and the Alameda Contra Costa Medical Association (ACCMA) in the East Bay.  During her tenue at ACCMA, she was invited to speak, in Russia, Poland and Hungary, by the Dwight Eisenhower Ambassadorship Program, as an expert in non-clinical organization development in allied health fields.  She earned her MS in Human Resources and Organizational Development (MS HROD) at University of San Francisco in 1989.

In 1996 she became the tenth Executive Director of the Italian Community Services (ICS), dedicated to the Italian Community since 1916. It was to this position that she brought her organizational skills, management style, and Italian heritage. She felt deep pride in her work there.  Under Anna Maria’s leadership, ICS became a national model for Italian non-profits.

Anna Maria was recognized as Citizen of the Year by UNICO (the largest Italian American Services Agency in the USA) National California District II in 2004. In 2010 she was awarded, in Lucca, Italy, the Medaglia d’Oro (Gold Medal) by the City of Lucca, for being an Italian who has distinguished herself abroad.  Of the fifteen honorees from around the world, she was the sole woman.

In 2014, she was awarded a Certificate of Honor by the City and County of San Francisco, recognizing her dedication and commitment to serving the older populations and those with disabilities.  Additionally, Il Cenacolo, an Italian Cultural Club founded in 1928, recognized Anna Maria as the 2017 Woman of the Year.  It is said that she “broke the glass ceiling” by becoming one of the first women to be accepted as a member.

She participated on many boards over the years including the California Blood Bank Society, On Lok, and the Advisory Council to the San Francisco Department of Aging and Adult Services where she served two terms as Council President. She was a polished media spokesperson, well-known and beloved in her San Francisco Italian communities.

In addition to her many professional activities, she enjoyed weekly tennis, a daily 2.5 mil walk in her neighborhood, volunteer service, and gathering with friends for an Italian repast.  Anna Maria will always be remembered for her signature red lips, quick quips, wonderful phone calls, a phenomenal memory, exciting world adventures, her genuinely caring service to others, a love of everything Italian and babies, and her effervescent spirit.

In preparation for retirement, she volunteered for the China Camp Visitors Center (since 2012) and at Falkirk with Marin Master Gardeners.  So enamored was she with gardening that she completed the 18 week intensive Master Gardeners program, taught by UC Berkeley faculty and staff.  It built her confidence and opened her eyes to new challenges.

She is survived by a loving circle of extended family and friends throughout the Bay Area, Nevada and Lucca, Italy. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic no services are planned. 

Donations may be made to: Dominican University   dominican.edu/makeagift    Choose "Other" and enter "LAE Scholarship"  

or The Santa Venetia Marsh Preserve, www.marincountyparks.org/about-us/donations

Fino a quando ci incontriamo di nuovo!

______________________________________________________________________________________________