Margaret La Rose Nastasi

Margaret LaRose Nastasi, also known as Kitty, a beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed away peacefully on July 28th, 2024, in San Marcos, CA. A funeral service and interment at Eternal Hills in Oceanside will be held on Monday, August 5th at 10 am at St. Mary Star of The Sea in Oceanside.

Kitty was born on December 27, 1938, in Statham, GA, to Dorsey and Margaret Savage. Dorsey and Margaret had three children: Kitty, Dorsey Junior, and Diane. After they divorced, Dorsey had two more children, Carol and Bobby. Margaret then met John Etheridge, and when Kitty was 15, she and her sister Diane moved with them to Oceanside, where John was stationed at Camp Pendleton. Margaret and John went on to have five children: Mike, Denise, Eilene, Arlene, and Scott.

Kitty attended Oceanside High School, and at 16, while working in a drug store on Hill Street in Oceanside, she met John Nastasi, 18, of New Jersey, a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton.

They had a whirlwind romance, and on October 17, 1955, they married in the small chapel on Camp Pendleton.

John and Kitty moved to New Jersey shortly after to be with John’s family. They would go on to have two of their three children, John and Marc while living in New Jersey.

Several years later, they moved back to California and lived in Santa Ana, where they had their third child, Lisa. The couple eventually settled in Anaheim Hills before moving to Oceanside in 1983, when John founded the San Diego Dealers Auto Auction. Kitty's husband, John, passed away in 1988, and the family owned the auction until 1990.

In 1991, Kitty met Larry McLean, and the two moved to Sonora Bay, Mexico, to a home Kitty and John had owned there. In 1993, Kitty and Larry moved to Tucson, AZ, where they opened Azure Hair Salon in 1995. Kitty found her new purpose with Azure and was incredibly proud of what it became. Kitty and Larry owned the salon and lived together in Tucson until 2014, when Kitty moved to San Diego to live with her daughter, Lisa.

Kitty loved to cook, entertain, and throw parties, and she was an incredible Italian chef. She will be remembered for her Southern sweetness, warmth, and love of family and those around her.

Kitty is survived by her grandson John Junior, son of her late son John, and his wife Erika; her son Marc, his wife Tiffany, and their daughters Krystal (from a previous marriage); and Bella, her daughter Lisa, and her husband Paul, their son Chris and his wife Nicole; and Paul's three children, Chantal, her husband Mike and their children Noah and Joshua, Bill and his wife Lina and their child Billy, Ryan and his wife Meredith and their children Henry and Charlie. She is also survived by her best friend and partner, Larry McLean. Kitty was preceded in death by her husband John, son John, and granddaughter Krystal. Kitty's legacy of love and dedication to her family will live on in the hearts of all who knew her.