Willodean Morgan "Billie" Vinci - a true Southern belle, loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, avid golfer, talented cook and homemaker and genuinely sweet soul - died February 7, 2010 at home in Santa Rosa, her daughter Diane Holt and Diane's partner, Michele McFarland, by her bedside. She was 83. Born August 4, 1926 in Troy, Alabama to Willa Mae (Williams) and James Monroe Morgan, Billie grew up in Troy and later Montgomery, Alabama. A straight-A student, she graduated from high school at 16. She married Jack V. Holt, a lieutenant in the Army Air Corps stationed in Montgomery, in 1945, when she was just 19, and returned with him to Jack's native Los Angeles, where they had two daughters, Debra and Diane. When the marriage ended in 1959, Billie set out on a new life as a single mother, going to work as a secretary in an era when divorce was still relatively rare and most women her age were stay-at-home moms. Longtime friends eventually played matchmaker and introduced her to the man destined to be the love of her life, Gerald "Jerry" Vinci. Jerry was tall, dark, handsome, charming and funny. He fell head-over-heels for Billie almost as soon as they met, and she for him. They married in 1965. A classically trained violinist and successful studio musician, Jerry introduced Billie and her girls, by now both teenagers, to a life filled with music, good food and a spirit of adventure. Billie had always enjoyed competitive pursuits, from bridge to poker to dominoes, so when Jerry taught her to play golf, she took aim down the center of the fairway and never looked back, scoring six holes-in-one over the years and winning multiple club championships. She enjoyed overseeing the redecorating and remodeling of the succession of homes they owned in the San Fernando Valley, and loved entertaining and cooking for friends. Anyone lucky enough to have tasted Billie's Southern-fried chicken has known true culinary bliss. Billie and Jerry traveled extensively, including trips to Japan, when Jerry was on tour with the Percy Faith Memorial Orchestra, and to Morocco, where they were guests of the King of Morocco for a royal golf tournament. But their favorite vacation spot was Hawaii, where they played many rounds of golf and made lifetime friends. They retired to Fallbrook, California, in 1988, where they continued to share their love of golf and enjoyed having Debra, their three grandsons and, eventually, four great-grandchildren close by. Billie lost Jerry to cancer in 2001, after 36 years of marriage, and just a few years later was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. She came to Santa Rosa in 2007 to be closer to Diane and moved into Brighton Gardens Assisted Living, where she had a whole new family of angels to help her. There was Adriela and Isabel, Michele and Felicia, and so many, many more who made every day happier for her. Even as the disease robbed her of her memory and eventually of her ability to speak, Billie never lost her sense of humor or her delight in meeting new people. In the spring of 2009, Billie moved into the Reminiscence unit at Brighton Gardens, where she woke up happy every day and went to bed contented each night, coddled and teased and loved by her caregivers, who recognized that even though you had to "knock twice," the true Billie was still inside. Special thanks are due to those amazing people who helped Billie live every day, including her last, with humor and grace: Tsega, Maria, Claudia, Ana, Silvia, Alma, Elena, Lydia, Lina, Hidat, Lauren, Cristina, Katie, Sandy, Julie, Gloria, Khammy and Chopey. Our heartfelt gratitude, too, to Kevin Haynes, Susan Easton, Jill Stone, JoEllen, Maureen, Brenda, Kathy, Louise, Melissa, Judy and all the rest of the Brighton Gardens family. In the final days of her life, the nurses and staff of Sutter VNA & Hospice offered Billie the support and care she needed to go peacefully to her rest, for which her family will be forever grateful. As daylight ebbed that final Sunday, Billie listened to her late husband's soaring violin solo on Natalie Cole's recording of "The Very Thought of You," and knew that Jerry was calling her home: ... The mere idea of you, the longing here for you/ You'll never know how slow the moments go till I'm near to you/ I see your face in every flower/ Your eyes in stars above/ It's just the thought of you/ The very thought of you, my love. In addition to Diane and Michele, A memorial service will be held at a later date in San Diego, where Billie will join Jerry at the naval cemetery at Fort Rosecrans on Point Loma. Daniels Chapel of the Roses in Santa Rosa is in charge of arrangements. Contributions in Billie's memory can be made to Sutter VNA & Hospice.
Press Democrat, The (Santa Rosa, CA) - Sunday, February 14, 2010
Deceased Name: VINCI, Willodean M. "Billie"