Bob (Robert Angelo) and Ruby (Franch) Zanoni are longtime parishioners at Presentation Catholic Church in Stockton, a place they refer to as their “home away from home”. On June 12, 1954 they were the first couple to be wed at the church. In April of this year, Presentation dedicated 2 pages of their newsletter to Bob and Ruby and their history in the community.
Bob’s father, Serafino Zanoni, was from Cloz in the Val di Non, and his mother, Pia Panizza, was from Vermiglio in the Val di Sole. During WWI Vermiglio was on the battle line and suffered from massive bombardment. The town was evacuated. Bob’s mother was 9 or 10 at the time, and she was relocated to a refugee camp in Mittendorff, Austria along with her family. She had an uncle in Cloz, and after the war the family settled there until Vermiglio could be rebuilt. It was then that Bob’s parents met. Ruby’s parents, Giovanni
Franch and Felicita Flor, were also from Cloz. Her father was a coal miner in Illinois and Missouri, and her parents married in St. Louis. They later moved to Stockton where Ruby’s father practiced carpentry. In 1950, 19-year-old Ruby accompanied her parents on a trip to Italy. In transit they stopped in Chicago to visit Bob’s grandmother, who they knew from their time in Cloz. During the visit Bob and Ruby met and established a long distance friendship. That led to a lifetime of bliss plus 6 children, 12 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.
In Chicago Bob delivered groceries for his family’s store. In Stockton he started in the
grocery business but then ran a car wash till retiring. Bob and Ruby are active members of their local branch of the Italian Catholic Federation (ICF) and Bob served as president. Bob’s uncle, Father Silvio Zanoni, was instrumental in forming ICF clubs in California and Las Vegas. Bob is also our club’s representative in the Central Valley. We are not alone in thanking Bob and Ruby for their dedicated service to the community.
