Frances “Dolly” Tortorich Sainsbury
Died on September 27, 2020 surrounded by love. Dolly was the youngest of five children born to Antonino Tortorich and Annie DiMaggio Tortorich on January 2, 1933 in Detroit, Michigan. She and her family moved to San Francisco’s Richmond District in 1935.
Dolly met Walter Sainsbury while working at Metropolitan Life Insurance. She found the tall, blue-eyed red head bright and full of interesting conversation. They married in 1956 at Star of the Sea Church in San Francisco. A short time later their family was complete with the birth of two children; a son and daughter.
One afternoon while visiting her husband’s grandmother, Dolly heard the stories of his family’s crossing of the plains from Iowa to Oregon. This set Dolly on her life’s greatest passion: genealogical research. Her quest to trace her husband’s family tree began in the early 1960s, long before the internet or Ancestry.com. Correspondence was pecked out on her typewriter. Research was accomplished by visiting libraries and cemeteries, pouring over microfilmed periodicals and censuses, and writing and visiting distant family members and churches. She was meticulous in the details – requiring proof before anyone was added to the family tree. Later she sought to fill out her own family tree, although that required learning Italian. A highlight for her was a visit to Sicily in 1985 with Walter. She saw her father’s childhood home in Bisaquino and met an uncle and cousins who still lived there. Along her genealogical journey she became well known for her craft and was credited by other researchers in books and periodicals. Her notes survive in libraries and historical societies. Her research encompassed nearly six decades, ending only in recent months.
In 1968 Walter and Dolly purchased a commercial stationery store in downtown San Rafael. Many will remember it as the store directly across from JC Penney on 4th Street, at a time when downtown San Rafael was the retail core. Here she and Walter developed many lifelong friendships. Originally Whitey’s Stationery, named for the White family who originally owned it, they later changed the name to Sainsbury’s. It was the go-to spot for back to school and office supplies. Later, they expanded with a second store on Irving Street in San Francisco, and with a partner, the Scratch Pad, in Santa Rosa’s Coddingtown. The stores remained open until 1983.
Dolly was the last of her generation, predeceased by her parents, her husband, and all her siblings. She is survived by her son, Walter D. Sainsbury Jr. of Westfield, IN and daughter Patricia Sainsbury Gilardi (Ed) of Cotati, CA; as well as grandchildren Anthony Gilardi (Danielle) of Windsor, CA and Marissa Gilardi of Cotati. She is also survived by brother-in-law William Schuler of Redwood City, many adored nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews and cousins near and far.
Arrangements are by Parent-Sorensen Mortuary, Petaluma. Private entombment, Valley Memorial Park, Novato. Her favorite color was pink, and she loved roses, lillies and daisies. Donations may also be made in her name to St. Anthony Foundation San Francisco, www.stanthonysf.org.