Joan Ann Marino Garbe's Obituary
Joan Ann Marino Garbe passed away on Saturday, December 30th, 2017. She had entered into home hospice after treatment for cancer, and passed away peacefully, listening to Frank Sinatra’s ‘Easy to Love’.Joan was born at the old Hayward Hospital on December 5th, 1947, the youngest child of Antonio and Gloria Marino. She was the baby of the family, and was raised with two older brothers, Frank Marino and Fred Marino, and her cousins (‘sisters’) Mary Garcia Safreno, Betty Garcia Soito, and Ellie Garcia Conklin. All of the kids grew up in the grocery store at the front of the house — Marino Market on Mission Blvd.Joan built strong friendships in her childhood, and leaves behind her “yayas” – a group of friends who have been together since elementary school: Margie Coelho Ramos Young, Linda Bozzi Winterbourne, and Pam Brodick Browne. Joan was a proud graduate of Hayward High, class of 1966.After graduation, Joan worked at the Singer Sewing Machine factory in San Leandro. During this time she met and fell in love with Ronald Garbe, a maintenance mechanic at the Kellogg Plant in San Leandro. The two married in 1969, and were still very much in love at their 40th wedding anniversary in 2009, just prior to Ron passing in 2010.Joan and Ron raised two daughters — Alicia Garbe Elbert and Amanda Garbe Ollis — in Union City, and Joan developed deep ties in the community. She volunteered as the librarian at St. Bede Catholic School in Hayward. For many years, Joan was a group leader for Campfire Girls and Boys of America, and helped coordinate the Campfire We-Ta-Chi day camp at Garin Park every year. Later, she worked in the office at Carco Automotive Care, and then worked as a paraprofessional at Cesar Chavez Middle School for ten years, working both in the classroom and at the after school Homework Club.Joan officially retired in 2009, and took on a new career — being a loving, full-time grandma and helping raise her four grandchildren by providing daycare fifty hours a week. As she frequently said, “the hours are rough, but I get paid in hugs”! She also took the opportunity to travel to explore family connections in Hawaii and Spain.Joan built close relationships with her neighbors in the Case Verde neighborhood, many of whom she has known since buying her home in 1973. She was a fixture in the park, where she was known for her kindness and her warm, friendly smile.Joan will be missed greatly by all those whose lives she’s touched. She is survived by her sisters, Mary Safreno and Ellie Conklin; sisters-in-law Kathy Marino, Darlene Parrish and Julie Wachal; brothers-in-law Stan Soito and Hank Garbe; daughters Alicia Garbe Elbert and Amanda Garbe Ollis; sons-in-law Andrew Elbert and Harvey Ollis IV; grandchildren Jack Elbert, Emmett Elbert, Sky Ollis and Harvey Ollis V; and many cousins, nieces, nephews, friends and neighbors.A memorial will be held to celebrate Joan’s life in her home at 3201 San Carlos Way, Union City, on Sunday, January 7th, 2018, from 11-4. Friends and family are welcome to attend. Donations can be made in Joan Garbe’s name to the Stanford Women’s Cancer Center through the Stanford Cancer Discovery Fund at makeagift.stanford.edu, or by calling (650) 725-2504.
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