SILVA

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 at 05:17:13 :

Independent Journal
Friday, February 29, 1980

ROBERT J. SILVA

A Mass of Christian Burial for Robert J. Silva, longtime West Marin dairyman, will be said Saturday at 11 a.m. at St. Vincent de Paul Church, Petaluma.

Silva died Wednesday at a Santa Rosa hospital after a brief illness. He was 55.

Silva was born and raised in Petaluma and attended St. Vincent schools. As a youth, he worked for the Pacific Market and Volpi’s Grocery Store.

He served in the Army during World War II as a staff sergeant and was assigned in the Phillipines and New Guinea. After the war, Silva returned to Petaluma and his job at Volpi’s.

He and his father, the late Harry Silva, went on to operate a dairy ranch at Bodega and in 1953 moved the operation to his present ranch on Tomales Road near Two Rock.

Silva was a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Petaluma Post 1929, and the Sonoma County Farm Bureau.

He is survived by his wife, Veana Silva; three sons, Ronald, Kenneth and Douglas Silva of Petaluma; and two brothers, Harold Silva of Penngrove and James Silva of Petaluma.

Recitation of the rosary will be at 8 p.m. Friday at the Sorensen Funeral Home, Petaluma. Entombment will be at Calvary Cemetery.