Margaret "Sally" Mary Garegnani

October 4, 1926 – March 4, 2020

Margaret Garegnani passed peacefully in her home surrounded by family as was her strong wish.

“Sally” was born in San Diego to Oscar Simon and Margaret (Wilson) Sachs, the second of two children (older brother Melvin). Her formative years were spent in rural Miramar where she attended the “one room” Miramar grade school and then commuted to and graduated from Hoover High School. One of her joys in later years was relating tales of her “exploits” during her teenage years at Miramar.

While at Miramar, she met a handsome young Marine named Anthony (“Tony”) Garegnani from St. Louis. After Tony returned from his WWII deployment, they married and started a family. Daughter Mary Ann was born in 1947 and the small family moved to St. Louis to be near Tony’s family. After a year, they returned to San Diego and settled in Linda Vista and then Mission Village. The family grew through the years with the addition of Thomas, Teri, Rose, Dennis, James and Tony. They were very much a traditional family with Tony working many years in Aerospace and Sally lovingly tending to the needs of the children and the family home. Devout Catholics, Sally and Tony made sure their children received religious education and attended mass on a regular basis. They were founding members of St. Edwards (now St. Columba) parish in Serra Mesa.

Sally’s favorite pastime was worrying about her family. She loved them all so much and was a nurturing and protective mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great grandmother.

Sally was preceded in death by her beloved husband Tony, daughter Mary Ann and grandson Brian. She is survived by 6 children, 17 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren, in addition to too many nieces and nephews to count.

She was the matriarch and hub of the Garegnani Family and will be terribly missed by us all.