Della Ann Wathen

On June 20, 1945, Della married her high school sweetheart, Spalding Hagan Gabriel Wathen. They married and hopped on a train that day for Banana River Naval Air Station in Pensacola, FL, where Spalding was stationed during World War II. Della graduated from St. John's High School, attended business school, and was the Naval Air Station Department of Personnel lead stenographer.

She was a member of the Candlelight Guild, Infant of Prague, and the mothers' club of San Joaquin Memorial and St. Anthony's. For 11 years after her husband passed away, Della was Chief Executive Officer of Wathen Family Builders.

Della loved to play tennis, try new recipes, and enjoyed needlepoint. She prided herself on being a farm girl from Clovis, CA; and true to form, she worked daily in her garden. She loved to dance and often lamented the loss of her dancing partner and husband, with whom she is now reunited.

Della was preceded in death by her parents, Anna Meisetschlager Riebschlager and Anton Riebschlager; her husband Spalding; her sister, Isabel Paladino; her grandson, Stephen S.E. Beals; her great-granddaughters, Anela and Kaila Oliveira; and her granddaughter's husband, Ken Yarak.

Della is survived by her five daughters, Judy Wathen-Farris and her husband Harold, Shelley Cox and her husband Gary, Leslie Casillas and her husband Leonard, Terry Lombardi and her husband Joe, and Cindy Wathen-Kennedy and her husband David; her six grandchildren, Tammy Yarak, Sarah Oliveira and her husband Jamie, Alison Prendergast, Josiah Prendergast and his wife Lindsey Demetral, Anna Prendergast, and Vincent Lombardi. She is also survived by four great-grandchildren, Emmie, Livie, and Sadie Oliveira, and Kayson Lombardi; and her sister, Dorothy Nixon.

A Recitation of the Holy Rosary will be held at Whitehurst, Sullivan, Burns & Blair Chapel on Tuesday, July 26, 2016, at 7:00 p.m.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church on Wednesday, July 27, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. Interment will follow at St. Peter's Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to either Storyland; or Infant of Prague of Fresno.