Argentina Maria Bittancourt

1927 - 2025

Argentina Maria
Bittancourt
10/16/1927 - 09/01/2025
Born in Managua Nicaragua on October 16,1927 to Genaro Perez and Mara Luisa Salvo. She spent her childhood and early adult years in Managua and Bluefields, a town on the Caribbean coast.
In 1946, as a young woman, she emigrated to the United States to find more opportunities in San Francisco. She initially found a job at Schmitt Lithograph, where she did quality control for printed labels. A few years later, she met Gary Schoofs, a German immigrant, at a big-band dance at the El Patio Ballroom in San Francisco. Love blossomed and they married on August 5,1950. A son, Gary Jr, soon followed in 1951, and 5 years later, a daughter, Jane, was added to the family.
About that time, Argentina had found work at The Emporium store on Market St, performing sales data entry on a comptometer machine, the ancestor of the modern calculator. The family settled in the Portola District of SF, where she got her kids ready for school at St Elizabeths' and then took the bus to her job at the Emporium. A hard-working mother, to say the least. Her marriage to Gary ended in 1976, but she persevered. She found love twice more in marriages to Edward Bittancourt (1984) and Patrick Fernan (1990). Ed unfortunately passed away suddenly and left her widowed in 1986. Her later marriage to Patrick ended in divorce.
After her retirement from the Emporium, she sold her San Francisco home in 1998 and moved down the Peninsula, where she owned property in various locations. Her happiest residence was in the Woodlake community in San Mateo, where she had many tennis and dancing friends. She loved to dance. She visited the San Bruno Senior Center countless times to trip the light fantastic. She was the oldest participant in her Zumba class. She loved her dog Sheena, who was a happy and patient companion. Despite being afflicted with mental illness most of her adult life, Argentina was able to negotiate with the reality around her, raise two wonderful children, have deep relationships, earn an honest living, laugh, sing and dance.
In 2020, she moved into assisted living at the San Carlos Elms, but soon transitioned to memory care at Cadence Millbrae, and later at Burlingame Senior Living. Diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2021; her downward progression was gradual until she fell and broke ribs this year. She passed away on Labor Day, September 1, 2025.
She is predeceased by her parents, a half-sister Auxiliadora Salvo, and her three husbands - Gary, Edward, and Patrick. She is survived by her children, Gary Schoofs (Susan Bracker) and Jane Schoofs, her half-siblings - Yilda Griffith, Alfonso Salvo, and Maria Mercedes Mendieta - and many other relatives in California, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
The family is grateful for the wonderful care given by San Carlos Elms, enABLE Care, Cadence Millbrae, Burlingame Senior Living, and Suncrest Hospice at the close of Argentina's years.
There will be a Celebration of Life held on Sunday, October 19th in San Francisco . If you wish to be apprised of this, email Gary at gms6126@gmail.com.
Donations in memory of Argentina may be made to the SPCA or the Alzheimer's Association.