Virgil E. Biondi

February 18, 1921 - October 29, 2019

Virgil Biondi passed away peacefully on the night of October 29, 2019 in Sacramento, after spending the day saying good bye to his loving family. He was 98 years old. Virgil was born in 1921 to Nick and Lena Biondi, and raised in San Francisco’s North Beach where he attended Galileo High School. He had a passion for baseball, playing in the neighborhood with the DiMaggio brothers, and even enjoying a short stint with the SF Seals. Naturally he was a lifelong Giants fan, regularly sending them emails telling them how to improve their batting line up (now you know where all of those championships came from!)….The other love of his life was hunting, which began in his youth shooting rabbits for dinner on a family ranch near Los Banos. All through his life he was crazy about hunting ducks, geese, doves, and pheasants—and he enjoyed cooking and eating them even more! When he was finally too old to hunt, he still enjoyed sharing his wild game sauce with friends and relatives, along with the endless batches of biscotti that he baked every year. And of course Virgil was crazy about pasta! Like all good Italians, sharing good food with the people he loved was one of the great joys of his life. His drink of choice was cheap bourbon and water, every night promptly at 5 o’clock, and he never apologized for it. As other hobbies go, Virgil became a very good bridge player which he enjoyed right up until the very end. Virgil spent four years in the Army during WW2. He enlisted right after Pearl Harbor, and ended up a Master Sergeant in the Pacific Theater. His claim to fame was that his photo was used in a war bond poster because he “had the right look”. He always said Truman saved his life because he knew he was about to get swept up for the invasion of Japan. The little rabbit hunter had been classified as a rifle expert, and able bodies were in short supply. In Saipan he somehow managed to set up a darkroom where he printed photos of the island life to sell to the GI’s passing through, which resulted in him sending enough money home to buy a new car when he finally shipped home. After the war, Virgil returned to SF and got back into banking, and started a family. He and Camille had been married in 1943. They recently celebrated their happy marriage with a 76th anniversary last April! They spent their early years in SF and Fairfield, and then settled down in Walnut Grove where Virgil worked at the Bank of Alex Brown. He loved the delta and the people there, and to this day there is a “Stop the Tunnels” poster in his front yard. And you can’t leave out his love of pears. Virgil had a very big heart. He bought lottery tickets, not for himself, but in hopes that he could pay off his relatives mortgages. He was the guy who would help paint your house or take you to the airport, or move you into your new home. He took incredible care of his parents, and his in laws, and many friends in their old age. People could always count on him. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for the people dear to him. But the most amazing thing about Virgil Biondi is that he never let his age get in his way. He was 98 years old, with the attitude of a man half his age. Always active, always alert, and always in control, he remained healthy right up to his last breath. In fact, he was still driving a just few days before he passed away! At the first flap of the angels’ wings, one of his last comments was, ”Well, we’ll see how I feel in the morning and maybe the doctors will let me go home”. He then held Camille’s hand and said, “We had a good long run, didn’t we?” Even in the face of death he was so calm, so "matter of fact”, and still so optimistic about the future...yet another example of the greatest generation. Let him be an inspiration to us all. As one friend put it, he was a giant of a man, and he will be sorely missed. We thought he would outlive us all, and in the end, he nearly did… Surviving Virgil, is his wife Camille Biondi, his daughter Chris Culbertson of Fresno, and his son Paul Biondi and his wife, Tila, of Sacramento. He also leaves behind his grandson James Culbertson and his grand daughters Ottilia Biondi, and Kari Blakely and her husband Max and their son Ryan. Virgil was preceded in death by his first son, Craig Biondi, who passed away in 1990. A service will be held at 2:30pm on November 19th at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery 5810 Midway Rd. Dixon, Ca. A reception will immediately follow at Bud’s Pub and Grill at 100 south First Street in Dixon, which is conveniently located very close to the cemetery. Please join us for a celebration of Virgil’s life. He would like that…