Posted by Newspaper Transcriber on Saturday, October 21, 2006 at 13:29:29 :

Mary "Agnes" Tapia

Mary "Agnes" Tapia of Amherst, Mass., where she had moved after living for 35 years in Montara, died Aug. 26 at age 97, due to natural causes at the home of close family friends Bill and Ellen Lindsey of Amherst.

Ms. Tapia was born July 16, 1909, the third of 10 children of Salvadore and Madeline Ragona in San Francisco, where she grew up and attended Haight Elementary School, Columbia Middle School and Commerce High School.

Living in San Francisco, she made a 40-year career at manufacturing company Ames, Harris and Neville, which manufactured bags - from burlap bags to sleeping bags - for the military. She began as a sack stacker and later became the manager of manufacturing in the company's bag division. In her 40-year career, she missed just one day of work.

Upon retirement in 1964, she divided her time between San Francisco and Montara, where she finally settled in 1971 with her husband of 30 years, Albert "Rocky" Bauwens, who died in 1994.

She left California for the first time in March 2005, when she moved to Amherst with the Lindsey family, who had recently relocated there from the Coastside. They had met in 1999 when Lindsey, a volunteer at Senior Coastsiders, offered to take Ms. Tapia's beloved cat "Toby" to a veterinarian for necessary dental attention.

"Agnes was a generous, giving and caring person," said Lindsey. "Her presence here on earth will be greatly missed by those who knew her."

Ms. Tapia was preceded in death by her siblings Philip, Josephine, Catherine, Anna, Rose, Madeline, Lillian and Dorothy. She is survived by her younger brother, Salvadore "Sam" Ragona of Vacaville, nieces and nephews including Linda Thomas of the Peninsula to whom she was especially close, and many grandnieces and grandnephews.

A memorial service in the Bay Area is being planned in the very near future. For details, contact Senior Coastsiders at 726-9056.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Ms. Tapia's memory to Senior Coastsiders at 535 Kelly Ave. in Half Moon Bay.

Half Moon Bay Review and Pescadero Pebble, Wednesday, August 30, 2006