Emily Thomas Hunt

Emily was a native Californian, and first generation American born in Emeryville, Ca in 1919 to parents who immigrated from Portugal. She spent her youth and young adulthood in Emeryville, graduating from Emeryville High School and working her first job in a small café. One of the café patrons was the hiring manager for the Dobeckmun cellophane bag manufacturing company in Berkeley, CA and asked her to come work for his company, which she did for several years.
In 1942, she married James E. Hunt. For the next 13 years, Emily and Jim lived in the Richmond Annex and had two children, a son, James E. Hunt II, who passed away in 2022, and daughter Kathleen Hunt. They then moved to Castro Valley in 1955 and were married for 58 years when Jim passed away in 2000. Emily continued to live in Castro Valley until 2019, she then moved to assisted living in San Ramon at the age of 99.
Emily was a long-time parishioner of Our Lady of Grace church and volunteered there for many events and groups. Other parishioners fondly called her the "bag lady" because she aways found herself on the clean-up crew bagging trash. Her pineapple upside-down cake was highly sought at bake sales and remembrance gatherings.
While living in Castro Valley Emily was actively involved in PTA and was the leader of both boys' cub scout and girls' brownie troops. She was employed in the art, lamp and room decor department for Emporium Capwells in Hayward for many years. After retiring from Capwells, she began volunteering at Washington Hospital in Fremont, and volunteered there for 20+ years, first taking pictures of newborn babies and then sewing with the Hankie/Puppet group.
Emilly was an excellent seamstress, knitter, crocheter and baker. At potlucks, there was no question that Emily would be bringing dessert. Over the years she learned many different hand crafts, and enjoyed gardening, particularly raising orchids. Her yard was of great pleasure to her and was the home to a family of deer for many generations.
Emily will be remembered for her sense of humor, her stories of her earlier life, her love for Mexican food and ice cream and her tenacity to live to the age of 104.