On a typically festive day at the California Pacific Exposition of 1935-36, Concetta Buono Wache smiled and waved at camera-clicking spectators during a parade through Balboa Park. Royally resplendent in the back seat of a convertible -- she was wearing her queen's tiara -- she caught the eye of Louis "Irv" Wache. Little did Wache, a visitor from Baltimore, know that several years later he would meet the woman he photographed during that parade and they would be married in 1942. When she met her husband-to-be, he didn't recognize her from the expo parade, but he had kept the photograph he had taken of her. And when she told him of her role as queen, the photo took on a renewed - and romantic - significance.
Mrs. Wache, who had volunteered as a bilingual hostess at the park's House of Italy before becoming an expo queen, died Dec. 4 at her home in Spring Valley. She was 83. The cause of death was complications from pneumonia, said daughter Janet Wynn. The San Diego expo, which attracted more than 5 million visitors between May 1935 and September 1936, featured several queens at various events in a fair-like atmosphere. For Mrs. Wache, who had graduated from San Diego High School in 1934, it was the highlight of her young life.
But, in raising a family in a remote area of Spring Valley, a different Concetta Wache emerged. This one collected insects, skinned wild rabbits, raised farm animals and fended off rattlesnakes. "She had been a city girl for most of her life, but she really liked living in the country," her daughter said. Mrs. Wache lived at the end of a two-mile dirt road in a home overlooking the Sweetwater River. She assembled her insect collection in an adobe shed, augmenting it with the heads of rattlesnakes she had killed.
Her husband worked as an aviation technician at North Island Naval Air Station until the late 1960s, and he had to get up at 4:30 each morning for the drive to the ferry landing downtown. Mrs. Wache rose at 4 to prepare his lunch. She spent the rest of the day tending to their 60-acre spread near the base of San Miguel Mountain and raising a family.
When her daughters were young, she was a leader of an East County chapter of the Blue Birds, a young version of the Camp Fire Girls. She was active for years at St. Piux X Catholic Church of Jamul, where she participated in crafts projects as a member of the Ladies Guild.
Mrs. Wache was born in a home on Commercial Street in San Diego and grew up in a family of eight children, two of them from her father's former marriage. Her first language was Italian; she learned English in school.
At 12, known as Conjet to family and friends, Mrs. Wache she began working in the Central Park Market on Imperial Avenue. The store was owned by John Buono, her father. In 1932, the store moved down the street and, as Buono's Food Market, became a fixture for decades at 30th and Imperial.
While attending San Diego High, Mrs. Wache began volunteering at the Italian cottage at the House of Public Relations in Balboa Park. Her ability to speak Italian enabled her to help newly arriving Italian families feel welcome.
After her marriage, Mrs. Wache lived in a trailer park owned by her husband. In 1948, her husband traded the park on El Cajon Boulevard for the property in Spring Valley, where the Waches raised geese, goats, chickens, rabbits and a few cattle. Mrs. Wache assembled a vast collection of preserved spiders and bugs in her shed, which she tended to until health problems surfaced n 1989.
Survivors include her husband of 59 years, Louis; daughters, Linda Gentz of Chula Vista and Janet Wynn of El Cajon; a sister, Clara Hendrick of San Diego; brothers Nick and Chal Buono, both of San Diego. Services were Friday at St. Pius X Catholic Church of Jamul. Burial was at Singing Hills Memorial Park.
Mrs. Wache, who had volunteered as a bilingual hostess at the park's House of Italy before becoming an expo queen, died Dec. 4 at her home in Spring Valley. She was 83. The cause of death was complications from pneumonia, said daughter Janet Wynn. The San Diego expo, which attracted more than 5 million visitors between May 1935 and September 1936, featured several queens at various events in a fair-like atmosphere. For Mrs. Wache, who had graduated from San Diego High School in 1934, it was the highlight of her young life.
But, in raising a family in a remote area of Spring Valley, a different Concetta Wache emerged. This one collected insects, skinned wild rabbits, raised farm animals and fended off rattlesnakes. "She had been a city girl for most of her life, but she really liked living in the country," her daughter said. Mrs. Wache lived at the end of a two-mile dirt road in a home overlooking the Sweetwater River. She assembled her insect collection in an adobe shed, augmenting it with the heads of rattlesnakes she had killed.
Her husband worked as an aviation technician at North Island Naval Air Station until the late 1960s, and he had to get up at 4:30 each morning for the drive to the ferry landing downtown. Mrs. Wache rose at 4 to prepare his lunch. She spent the rest of the day tending to their 60-acre spread near the base of San Miguel Mountain and raising a family.
When her daughters were young, she was a leader of an East County chapter of the Blue Birds, a young version of the Camp Fire Girls. She was active for years at St. Piux X Catholic Church of Jamul, where she participated in crafts projects as a member of the Ladies Guild.
Mrs. Wache was born in a home on Commercial Street in San Diego and grew up in a family of eight children, two of them from her father's former marriage. Her first language was Italian; she learned English in school.
At 12, known as Conjet to family and friends, Mrs. Wache she began working in the Central Park Market on Imperial Avenue. The store was owned by John Buono, her father. In 1932, the store moved down the street and, as Buono's Food Market, became a fixture for decades at 30th and Imperial.
While attending San Diego High, Mrs. Wache began volunteering at the Italian cottage at the House of Public Relations in Balboa Park. Her ability to speak Italian enabled her to help newly arriving Italian families feel welcome.
After her marriage, Mrs. Wache lived in a trailer park owned by her husband. In 1948, her husband traded the park on El Cajon Boulevard for the property in Spring Valley, where the Waches raised geese, goats, chickens, rabbits and a few cattle. Mrs. Wache assembled a vast collection of preserved spiders and bugs in her shed, which she tended to until health problems surfaced n 1989.
Survivors include her husband of 59 years, Louis; daughters, Linda Gentz of Chula Vista and Janet Wynn of El Cajon; a sister, Clara Hendrick of San Diego; brothers Nick and Chal Buono, both of San Diego. Services were Friday at St. Pius X Catholic Church of Jamul. Burial was at Singing Hills Memorial Park.
On a typically festive day at the California Pacific Exposition of 1935-36, Concetta Buono Wache smiled and waved at camera-clicking spectators during a parade through Balboa Park. Royally resplendent in the back seat of a convertible -- she was wearing her queen's tiara -- she caught the eye of Louis "Irv" Wache. Little did Wache, a visitor from Baltimore, know that several years later he would meet the woman he photographed during that parade and they would be married in 1942. When she met her husband-to-be, he didn't recognize her from the expo parade, but he had kept the photograph he had taken of her. And when she told him of her role as queen, the photo took on a renewed - and romantic - significance.
Mrs. Wache, who had volunteered as a bilingual hostess at the park's House of Italy before becoming an expo queen, died Dec. 4 at her home in Spring Valley. She was 83. The cause of death was complications from pneumonia, said daughter Janet Wynn. The San Diego expo, which attracted more than 5 million visitors between May 1935 and September 1936, featured several queens at various events in a fair-like atmosphere. For Mrs. Wache, who had graduated from San Diego High School in 1934, it was the highlight of her young life.
But, in raising a family in a remote area of Spring Valley, a different Concetta Wache emerged. This one collected insects, skinned wild rabbits, raised farm animals and fended off rattlesnakes. "She had been a city girl for most of her life, but she really liked living in the country," her daughter said. Mrs. Wache lived at the end of a two-mile dirt road in a home overlooking the Sweetwater River. She assembled her insect collection in an adobe shed, augmenting it with the heads of rattlesnakes she had killed.
Her husband worked as an aviation technician at North Island Naval Air Station until the late 1960s, and he had to get up at 4:30 each morning for the drive to the ferry landing downtown. Mrs. Wache rose at 4 to prepare his lunch. She spent the rest of the day tending to their 60-acre spread near the base of San Miguel Mountain and raising a family.
When her daughters were young, she was a leader of an East County chapter of the Blue Birds, a young version of the Camp Fire Girls. She was active for years at St. Piux X Catholic Church of Jamul, where she participated in crafts projects as a member of the Ladies Guild.
Mrs. Wache was born in a home on Commercial Street in San Diego and grew up in a family of eight children, two of them from her father's former marriage. Her first language was Italian; she learned English in school.
At 12, known as Conjet to family and friends, Mrs. Wache she began working in the Central Park Market on Imperial Avenue. The store was owned by John Buono, her father. In 1932, the store moved down the street and, as Buono's Food Market, became a fixture for decades at 30th and Imperial.
While attending San Diego High, Mrs. Wache began volunteering at the Italian cottage at the House of Public Relations in Balboa Park. Her ability to speak Italian enabled her to help newly arriving Italian families feel welcome.
After her marriage, Mrs. Wache lived in a trailer park owned by her husband. In 1948, her husband traded the park on El Cajon Boulevard for the property in Spring Valley, where the Waches raised geese, goats, chickens, rabbits and a few cattle. Mrs. Wache assembled a vast collection of preserved spiders and bugs in her shed, which she tended to until health problems surfaced n 1989.
Survivors include her husband of 59 years, Louis; daughters, Linda Gentz of Chula Vista and Janet Wynn of El Cajon; a sister, Clara Hendrick of San Diego; brothers Nick and Chal Buono, both of San Diego. Services were Friday at St. Pius X Catholic Church of Jamul. Burial was at Singing Hills Memorial Park.
Mrs. Wache, who had volunteered as a bilingual hostess at the park's House of Italy before becoming an expo queen, died Dec. 4 at her home in Spring Valley. She was 83. The cause of death was complications from pneumonia, said daughter Janet Wynn. The San Diego expo, which attracted more than 5 million visitors between May 1935 and September 1936, featured several queens at various events in a fair-like atmosphere. For Mrs. Wache, who had graduated from San Diego High School in 1934, it was the highlight of her young life.
But, in raising a family in a remote area of Spring Valley, a different Concetta Wache emerged. This one collected insects, skinned wild rabbits, raised farm animals and fended off rattlesnakes. "She had been a city girl for most of her life, but she really liked living in the country," her daughter said. Mrs. Wache lived at the end of a two-mile dirt road in a home overlooking the Sweetwater River. She assembled her insect collection in an adobe shed, augmenting it with the heads of rattlesnakes she had killed.
Her husband worked as an aviation technician at North Island Naval Air Station until the late 1960s, and he had to get up at 4:30 each morning for the drive to the ferry landing downtown. Mrs. Wache rose at 4 to prepare his lunch. She spent the rest of the day tending to their 60-acre spread near the base of San Miguel Mountain and raising a family.
When her daughters were young, she was a leader of an East County chapter of the Blue Birds, a young version of the Camp Fire Girls. She was active for years at St. Piux X Catholic Church of Jamul, where she participated in crafts projects as a member of the Ladies Guild.
Mrs. Wache was born in a home on Commercial Street in San Diego and grew up in a family of eight children, two of them from her father's former marriage. Her first language was Italian; she learned English in school.
At 12, known as Conjet to family and friends, Mrs. Wache she began working in the Central Park Market on Imperial Avenue. The store was owned by John Buono, her father. In 1932, the store moved down the street and, as Buono's Food Market, became a fixture for decades at 30th and Imperial.
While attending San Diego High, Mrs. Wache began volunteering at the Italian cottage at the House of Public Relations in Balboa Park. Her ability to speak Italian enabled her to help newly arriving Italian families feel welcome.
After her marriage, Mrs. Wache lived in a trailer park owned by her husband. In 1948, her husband traded the park on El Cajon Boulevard for the property in Spring Valley, where the Waches raised geese, goats, chickens, rabbits and a few cattle. Mrs. Wache assembled a vast collection of preserved spiders and bugs in her shed, which she tended to until health problems surfaced n 1989.
Survivors include her husband of 59 years, Louis; daughters, Linda Gentz of Chula Vista and Janet Wynn of El Cajon; a sister, Clara Hendrick of San Diego; brothers Nick and Chal Buono, both of San Diego. Services were Friday at St. Pius X Catholic Church of Jamul. Burial was at Singing Hills Memorial Park.
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