GNOSS

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 07:04:46 :

Marin Independent Journal
Sunday, March 4, 1990
Section B, page 2

JOSEPH GNOSS
Veteran rancher

Joseph A. Gnoss, 96, of Novato, died Saturday, March 3, 1990.

He was born in San Francisco and moved to Marin County with his family early in his life when the dairy ranch his father worked for was relocated in Corte Madera. Later the family bought a ranch in Novato.

“There wasn’t much in Corte Madera when we moved there, just marshes and a salt outfit. They had salt ponds down there and would collect salt after the bay water evaporated. Convicts from San Quentin used to come over in horse-drawn wagons to get water,” he said in a family member’s account of him published by the Novato Advance.

He lived in Marin for 85 years, mostly in Novato. He attended seventh and eighth grades at Novato Grammar School, graduating in 1907. He sent to San Rafael High School but dropped out after a year when his parents asked him to stay home and help out on the family farm in Novato, according to the story. He was a member of Novato Druids No. 113, the Novato Volunteer Firemen’s Association, Marin County Farm Bureau and San Antonio Gun Club.

He is survived by his brother, George H. Gnoss, and nieces and nephews. Two other brothers, William Gnoss and Edward Gnoss, died earlier.

The funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Our Lady of Loretto church. Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery in San Rafael. Vigil services will be recited at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Keaton’s Redwood Chapel of Marin. The family prefers memorial contributions to a favorite charity.