Dorothy Pistoresi

Dorothy Krikorian was born in Fresno, California on August 14, 1937 to Haig and Aznive Krikorian. Dorothy was the youngest of seven children, she is predeceased by her father Haig, and mother Aznive, three brothers: Eddie, Alfred, and Kenneth, and three sisters: Florence, Helen, and Eleanor, one niece, and three nephews. Dorothy is survived by seven nephews, and six nieces. She attended both elementary school and high school in Fowler. She had many first cousins and they were very close. Her parents were raisin growers and provided for their children by growing their own vegetables and fruits, they also had chickens, pigs, and milk cow.

Before Dorothy was old enough to attend school, one of her favorite memories was sitting on her father’s shoulders while he worked in the field tying vines. It was cold, but she never complained, she enjoyed being outside. At the age of 11, she traveled on the train by herself to San Francisco to visit her aunt. Dorothy enjoyed camping in Yosemite to with her family.

When Dorothy was 15, she got her first job working as a car-hop at her sister Eleanor and brother-in- law Wes’ diner in Kerman, CA. She lived with Wes and Eleanor for the entire summer. She and Eleanor would work different shifts so that one of them would be home with the kids, while the other waitressed at the diner, Wes was the cook. It was at this Kerman diner where she first saw Emil Pistoresi with a bunch of his very loud and rowdy friends, Dorothy was NOT impressed. Emil lived in Madera at the time, but would often travel to Kerman to see his friends.

As a young adult, Dorothy was known to be a real speedster; she once raced some boys (and won). Unfortunately, her victory was short-lived when she was stopped by a Fresno police officer; he asked her: “were you racing against that car?” She politely answered “yes, and I won!” (Dorothy wasn’t issued a ticket that day.)

Dorothy was hired to work for Fresno County when she was in her early twenties. Her job required a lot of driving, and one day she was sent to the county garage where she was surprised to see Emil talking with some guys. (She hadn’t seen him in years; she remembered the day he and friends had lunch at the diner in Kerman.) He recognized Dorothy and asked why she was at the county garage and when she responded “I work for the county’, Emil said “so do I’.

Emil was a plumber for Fresno County and invited Dorothy to dinner, she agreed, (although she had a backup plan for her roommate to rescue her should the date not go well) however, it was quite the opposite, she had a great time, he wasn’t at all like the person she saw at the diner. Dorothy married Emil in June of 1961; they purchased a home from their good friends Mac and Betty Hester, to begin their life together. Dorothy and Emil were married 42 years until Emil passed in 2003, at the age of 73.

Dorothy had only high praise for her in-laws who lived just a block away, and they loved her as well. Whenever her father-in-law would purchase something for the household for his wife, he’d buy the same for Dorothy. She recalls a knock at the door one morning when a serviceman said ‘we’ve got your new dishwasher’; she quickly told them she did not order a dishwasher, and they had the wrong Pistoresi house and pointed them to her in-laws. The serviceman responded ‘no mam, we’ve already installed their new dishwasher, this one if for you!”

One day when Dorothy was shopping with friends, Emil received a call from their bank to notify him their checking account was overdrawn (banks offered real customer service in those days). Of course, Emil corrected the situation immediately; however, when Dorothy returned home from her day of shopping, Emil was still very unhappy; he asked Dorothy if she ever looked at her checkbook balance in which she replied “no, that’s your job”. A favorite saying of hers was “money is meant to be spent!

After working for the county for 30 years Dorothy retired and quickly became bored. She went to work for Central Business Interiors which eventually became CORE. Dorothy loved working for CORE and retired when she was 85 due to her health; however, she still missed working there.

Dorothy was issued three speeding tickets in the same day. The third officer warned her if she were stopped for speeding again, she would be taken to jail. When Dorothy told Emil about her day, he told her if she was taken to jail; he would not bail her out, she would have stay there.

Dorothy never lost her great sense-of-humor, she was always quick to laugh. On more than one holiday, she was the brunt of ‘holiday cheer’. Whenever she would bring a dessert to the holiday potluck, it quickly became the subject of several sarcastic jokes. In fact, she was awarded the Builders Concrete Cake of the year award with a broken knife attached to the plaque. When it came time for her to leave the holiday gathering, her nephews had hidden her Volkswagen ‘bug’ somewhere on the farm. She would laugh at their prank; she would never be upset.

Dorothy loved to surprise Emil. One of the more unusual animal heads that adorned Emil’s office was that of a bighorn ram; however, since the ram was white, she found it to be quite dusty. During one of Emil’s many hunting trips Dorothy decided to wash the ram head to surprise Emil upon his return. After scrubbing with soap and water, and a dab of tide, it was indeed white again; however, as it dried the fur became wild and unruly, Dorothy knew this wasn’t good. When Emil saw his prize ram with unruly fur, well, the surprise didn’t go as Dorothy had planned, and the fate of the bighorn ram head is unknown.

Dorothy loved to travel all over the world with her friends. Her favorite country was Spain. She loved the country, the food, and the people. She only traveled abroad once with Emil; they went to Italy. After that trip, she vowed she would never travel out of the country with him again. Of course he wasn’t too offended by her comment, he only heard: more time for hunting!

Emil and Dorothy would often spend Thanksgiving in the mountains with friends. They had a friend, Sam Johnson, who leased thousands of acres of forest land in the mountains where they all liked to hunt. Sam was thrilled that Emil was willing to help him build six cabins on the land for family and friends. They would spend many weekends and holidays there.

Although Dorothy was a no-nonsense person often heard saying get over it and get on with it! She was also a very generous person, always thinking of others. Every Christmas she would buy dozens of children jackets for various charities. She would also buy groceries for families, and at times she would pay a bill for them if needed. She attended The Well and was a greeter at the early service. She had three or four friends in extended care facilities that she would visit often and buy personal care items for them. Dorothy loved to have fun with her friends and family: she had a genuine care for others.