Ruth Tarantino Cavaliere

Ruth Tarantino Cavaliere, 97, was peacefully called home by the Lord on March 1, 2025, where she was reunited with her beloved husband of forty years, Frank J. Cavaliere. 

Ruth was born and raised in Pittsburg, California. While working as an usher at the local movie theatre when in high school, she met Frank, who told her she was too young but that he would return after the war and marry her. Always a man of his word, after serving in the Navy at Saipan, he returned and found her working at Wells Fargo Bank. He married her, she quit working, and they started their family, raising two daughters, Carolyn and Marilyn. As Frank’s career as a General Contractor expanded to real estate development, they later moved to the Monterey Peninsula. Once their daughters were grown, Ruth returned to banking and advanced to the management team of Wells Fargo Bank at the Del Monte Center where she worked for many years. This was an all-female trail-blazing management team, which was way ahead of it’s time, before women in management were the norm.  

After they both retired, the couple relocated to Bellingham, WA, where they built their home on the bay. It was here she had the opportunity to perfect her Italian cooking and baking skills, while she and her husband together enjoyed mastering their gardening skills in their spacious yard surrounding their home. Frank, not one to stay idle, began yet another career in his retirement, owning and operating a commercial fishing vessel, fishing for salmon and crab in Bellingham Bay, salmon in Alaska, and herring in San Francisco. Ruth excelled in preparing all the fresh seafood he always brought home and loved sharing it with others.

Ruth was incredibly social, with a dazzling smile, who never met a stranger, and loved entertaining. Her oldest daughter, Carolyn, and her family moved to Bellingham as well. Frank and Ruth so enjoyed those special times with their grandchildren. Life was good, until Frank, the love of her life, passed away in 1985, at the age of 64. (She remained a widow for the next 40 years.) Five years later, Ruth moved to Brookings, Oregon, where her youngest daughter, Marilyn, lives. In Brookings, Ruth became involved in just about every organization and event held in Brookings; she loved volunteering, keeping herself busier than ever. She moved her mother, Lena Tarantino, from Pittsburg to Brookings where she was able to care for her until she passed at 102.   

Ruth is survived by her daughters Carolyn Cavaliere Marilley, of Pacific Grove, and Marilyn Cavaliere Busch (Bob Busch), of Brookings, Oregon; her granddaughter Andrea Jones Kopp, (Wayland Kopp), four great grandchildren Rayne Tyson, Cedar Tyson, Ashton Kopp, and Tanis Kopp, and her great-great grandson Jasper Tyson, all of Carmel Valley. She also has many nieces, nephews, and cousins. She was preceded in death by her loving husband, Frank J. Cavaliere and her beloved grandson, Frank Joseph Cavaliere-Jones, her mother, Lena, father, Pete, and brother, Joe Tarantino.   

“I have been a Catholic my entire life,” Ruth proclaimed. “I thank God for the good life He gave me. I believe when I get to Heaven, all my family will greet me and my beloved grandson, Frankie, will come up to me, hug me, and say, “Hi, Nana Ruth!”

A memorial mass will be said for Ruth at Star of the Sea Catholic Church in Brookings on April 25, 2025, at 10 am. 

A family ceremony and interment will be held at the lovely and historic Monterey Lake El Estero Cemetery at a later date.