Obituary: Ednamae Joan Flowers Campanile Of Petaluma

"Ma" passed away peacefully on Friday, May 22, 2020 in Petaluma, California. She is a beloved wife, retired nurse, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, friend. Ednamae Joan Flowers Campanile was born April 3, 1925, in Ceres, California to Mother, Ida Silva, 25, of Sao Jorge, Azores, Portugal and Father Manuel Juaquin Flores, Jr., 27, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. She grew up with her siblings Audrey, Pat and Arthur. All predeceased her.

When she was a child, she enjoyed singing with her father, Manuel Juaquin Flores, on the radio while he played the guitar.

On March 3, 1946, Ednamae graduated from St. Joseph’s College of Nursing at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco. She worked in Pediatrics at St. Joseph’s Hospital, as well as St. Luke’s General and other hospitals in San Francisco.

She met the love of her life, Peter Anthony Campanile, while at a dance. They married on Aug. 24, 1947, in Milpitas, California. They began their adventure at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco and honeymooned up the California coast.

Their favorite vacation as a couple was Zephyr Cove, Nevada, at Lake Tahoe.

In 1955, they established the Tower Delicatessen on Broadway in Burlingame, California, a business they owned and operated for 50 years.

She proudly served on the San Mateo County Grand Jury in 1974.

In 1997, Ednamae and Peter moved to Petaluma.

She is survived by her four children, Judy, Tom (Claudia), John (Lily), and Peter Jr. (Suzanne); her grandchildren, Kendra (Daniel), Anthony (Patrick), Michael (Carvel), Kelly, John Peter, Dante, Gina and Marcus; and great-grandchildren Sabrina and Devon.

She had quite the hat collection over the years, and loved her jewelry, a fun party, a good story; and she loved to drive. She enjoyed her gardens and watching hummingbirds drink from her hummingbird feeders. She will always be remembered for singing songs all the time, calling you “Doll, Dolly, or Hun” and for her sayings like, “Hello, hello, hello!”, “Happiness!”, and “Kiss me hello, don’t kiss me goodbye!”

“Ma” wished donations to be made in her name to Epiphany Center St. Eliza: https://epiphanycenter.wufoo.com/forms/s125lowv1pm1o9x/

“Death is nothing at all. It does not count. I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened. Everything remains exactly as it was. I am I, and you are you, and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by the old familiar name. Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone. Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was. There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just round the corner. All is well. Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before. How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!” ― Henry Scott Holland, "Death is Nothing at All"

Obituary submitted by family members