Andrew A. Ballerini

Andrew A. Ballerini (94), passed away peacefully August 19, 2019 in Port Townsend, Washington. Andrew will forever be lovingly remembered by his six children, Brian, Celine, Dana, Edward, Frederic, and Gary. He was a grandfather of nine, and great grandfather of seven children. Andrew was preceded in death by his beloved wife of sixty years, Helen H. Ballerini. After graduating from Palo Alto High School, he enlisted in the US Army. As a US Army infantry, he trained at Camp Roberts in Paso Robles. On January 1, 1945, he boarded the Queen Mary in New York and was deployed to Europe during World War II. In Europe, he served in many places including the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, he applied to several colleges in Europe and attended college in Biarritz. Upon returning to the States, he attended San Mateo J.C. and San Francisco community college. He earned his nursing degree at San Bernardino Valley College then finished his training as an anesthetist at Sacred Heart School of Anesthesia. He practiced anesthesia for over forty years. He especially liked to work in Obstetrics, as nothing was more joyous and miraculous than bringing new life into the world. Andrew met his wife, Helen, while working as an anesthetist in Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Washington. He would find countless reasons to stop by the lab where she worked as a lab technician in between his anesthesia cases. The two were married on October 26, 1957, and they moved to San Francisco where they had five of their six children. In 1969, they moved to Vallejo and had their sixth child. They happily spent the majority of their sixty years together in their Vallejo home. Andrew taught his children discipline and a strong work ethic from all the many ongoing projects/tasks around the house, in the garden, on the farm or the “back forty”. He worked hard and provided many lessons and opportunities to enrich his family’s lives. He loved to travel and planned his time off to include his family on numerous unforgettable adventures from the mountains to the seas. He has touched the lives of many and will be dearly missed… A Mass will be celebrated in memory of Andrew on Saturday, September 7, at 11:00 a.m., at St. Basil’s Catholic Church, 1200 Tuolumne St, Vallejo, CA 94590 with Father Pat Stephenson presiding. Donations in memory of Andrew A. Ballerini may be made to: St. Basil’s Catholic Church, 1200 Tuolumne St, Vallejo, CA 94590, where he and his wife Helen were active parishioners for over 40 years. The Benevolent Order of the Elks, of which Andrew was a member for 40 years.