Remembering My Aunt Lil - A Pioneering Lady, Mendocino California

Aunt Lil 2022

At the conclusion of the family reunion, I headed up the northern California coast to Mendocino.  My aunt Lil (my dad's sister) passed on while I was in Italy just 4 days shy of her 96th birthday!   Gilda Lillian Drinkwater was a grand lady, way ahead of her time, and a role model for me throughout my youth.  She and her husband (my Uncle Homer) had several hundred acres they had purchased for peanuts in the 1940s.  I had spent much time there many summers and wanted to pay my respects to someone who for which I have great respect.  Aunt Lil's obituary is here

Aunt Lil on her porch overlooking the Laguna Ranch in 2019

Upon arriving, I booked a room in the iconic Mendocino Hotel on the Main street.  The Mendocino Hotel was established in 1878, during the Victorian era. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Mendocino was a thriving logging town. The hotel, in its prime location overlooking the Pacific Ocean, became a hub for travelers, loggers, and residents alike.  This was my first stay there and it was still outfitted like a classic vintage Victorian hotel.  

Adjacent to the hotel, my aunt and uncle Homer had run the local grocery store and butcher shop (Homer's Market).  They lived upstairs until moving to their 300-acre Laguna Ranch a few miles inland. On special occasions, this is where my family enjoyed traditional Italian meals (with homemade gnocchi and polenta). Any food one needed downstairs in the grocery store.  Their old living space above what was Homer's Market was now a fine dining restaurant, called The Flow.  That evening I dined there and enjoyed a fabulous meal while looking out at the Big River Bay and remembering what it was like to be here when I was a boy.  After the main meal, I headed for the best restaurant in Mendocino, Luna Trattoria.  Here I indulged in their amazing chocolate peanut butter pie while meeting eclectic folks at the bar and listening to fabulous guitar music.  Oh my!  

Homer's Market - Back in the Day

 Now The Flow Restaurant

View of Big River bay from The Flow Restaurant Balcony

The restaurant where my Aunt once lived

Fabulous Food at The Flow

RIP Aunt Lil

A block down from the restaurant, my aunt was buried next to her husband (my uncle) in the local cemetery.  The next morning I paid my respects and then headed out to visit with my cousin Beth (daughter of my aunt) and my aunt's "baby brother" Uncle Bob and his family.  

91-year-old Uncle Bob still lives on the old homestead in a home he built with giant redwoods, right off the land. In traditional Italian fashion, all 3 of his daughters live in homes on the homestead as well.  This is where my father, brothers, and I had planted Christmas trees 55 years ago.  The remaining ones were quite tall now  We reminisced for a while and showed me the portable sawmill he was setting up for the redwoods he had recently logged.  His vigor and clarity of mind were impressive and made me hope I have some of that genetic disposition.  

Rhododendrons at the old Family Homestead.            My Aunt, Uncle, cousin

Comptche Road to Old Homestead

Little River- 3 miles south of Mendocino with the Ubiquitous Fog