It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Bernard Monetta on July 30, 2022 at the age of 95. He led a wonderful balanced life of love, family, professional career along with travel and leisure. Bernie was born in Toledo, OH to William and Kate Monetta. The family soon moved to Vallejo, CA where he became an Eagle Scout and attended Vallejo High School. He often noted that his high school years, spent with seven close knit guys who were inseparable, were some of the best of times.
Bernie was called into the US Army in WWII and was stationed at Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu where he repaired B-17 Bombers. Following the war, he used the GI Bill to study optometry and graduated from Pacific University College of Optometry in 1952. He opened his own practice, Dr. Monetta Optometry, in the Stonestown Shopping Center in 1954. He practiced for over 30 years and the practice continues today with his son, Robert, on Ocean Avenue.
Escaping the fog in San Francisco, Bernie met the love of his life, Nadine, on a summer day in Marin County. They were married in the Gold Room at the Fairmont Hotel where they also celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They had a storybook marriage lasting almost 62 years. They traveled the world, but their hearts were truly left in San Francisco. They were members of Lake Merced Country Club and of Monterey Country Club while spending time in their Palm Desert home.
Bernie's two sons, David and Robert, were the joys of his life. His daughter in laws, Lisa and Natalie, were the daughters he always wanted. His grandchildren Alexander, Kayla, Zachary, Jacqueline and Dominic kept him young at heart. Although Bernie was an only child, his closeness to his late brother in laws, Louis and George Everett, and Leonard Hurwitt, as well as his late sister in laws Yvonne Hurwitt and Peggy Everett was unparalleled. He was a loving uncle to Charles Everett, Suzy and Steve Stemerman, Laura and Rich Everett, Sharon and Alan Levins, Nancy and Matt Browar, and Joan and Mitch Berger.
Bernie was the last of his family's generation in an unusually close extended family who will be remembered with warmth and loving devotion.
Funeral services were held. In lieu of flowers, donations in Bernie's memory can be made to the American Heart Association.