Natalie Schreiber Marino's Obituary
Believe in laughter, she always said. Now we laugh a little less. Natalie Schreiber Marino, daughter of two cultures, loving wife, family matriarch and friend to everyone she met, left us on Sept. 17. Another of her favorite sayings was “life is too short.” Hers wasn’t: She was 94. Her many smiles and laughs were as numerous as the pins she wore, uniquely, on the back of her right shoulder. (“You meet the nicest people that way.”) A pioneer from before birth, she was conceived in the Peruvian Andes yet born at Mrs. Tennant’s Home in Alameda on Feb. 20, 1920. She achieved that logistical feat as the daughter of Florence Locke of Alameda and Jorge Schreiber of Huaras, Peru, the son of a three-time prime minister, who had met in Berkeley. Wanting to give birth in the U.S., her mother rode down the Andes on horseback while pregnant, which Natalie said led to her quirky personality. They returned to Peru and remained for 12 years before leaving for California. Raised by her grandparents, Natalie graduated in 1938 from Alameda High, where she was senior vice president and starred in the senior play. After a freshman year at Cal, Natalie used her family connections to land jobs at the Peruvian consulate and later the pavilion at the 1939 World’s Fair. At that time engaged to be married, Natalie left for a trip to Peru in the fall. At a theater, she spied a handsome man in the box seats who, as it turned out, also was engaged. Undaunted, she and Guillermo Marino started dating and, despite a scandal on two continents, began their 60-year marriage on Dec. 8, 1940. A year later, after Pearl Harbor, Natalie created another semi-scandal when she decided to do what few wives in Peru did — work. Presenting herself at the U.S. Embassy, she offered to translate and began spying on the correspondence of Peruvians of German and Japanese ancestry. Soon after, Guillermo — a doctor of law — was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship to study international law at Cal and they moved for what they thought would be one year in America. They never left. When Guillermo was in Hollywood to coordinate war bonds broadcasts to Latin America, Natalie began frequenting the Warner Brothers lot and was spotted by studio executives who thought she’d make a great Latin leading lady. Given a screen test alongside Sidney Greenstreet and Eve Arden, she was unable to “laugh with her eyes” and didn’t get the job. (She was, however, made up by studio legend Perc Westmore.) After Guillermo joined the new international chemical division of Standard Oil, they settled in Oakland and began establishing the rich network of dear friends that would last the rest of their lives. They moved to Piedmont in 1956 and later, when Guillermo won the Mexican lottery, built their Highland Avenue dream home, with its lavish Japanese garden and equally lavish parties big and small during nearly 40 years there. Friends were Natalie’s richest resource and included classmates, neighbors and fellow volunteers during two wars as a Gray Lady at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital. She also volunteered from its inception at the Oakland Museum: with the food service, on the Women’s Board and as the co-chairwoman of the White Elephant sale. There she was known for wearing wildly eccentric headwear; now a Natalie tribute hat is passed between sale chairwomen and their successors. She was also head of the “At Your Service” volunteers group for the Oakland Zoo. Natalie and Guillermo were international travelers, including an around-the-world trip in 1950. In still-scarred post-war Japan, Natalie startled Guillermo by driving a coal-fueled jalopy through Tokyo to pick him up at the airport. Later, in Pakistan, they shared a hotel’s top floor with the Aga Khan. They traveled abroad throughout their lives, often with friends. Trips to Hawaii were their favorite. Among the most memorable: adrift for three days in the Caribbean after the Crystal Harmony caught fire on its maiden voyage. (“We had to sleep on deck chairs but the drinks were free.”) Cruise veterans, they once won the onboard version of “The Newlywed Game.” (The winning question: “What did you wear on your wedding night?” Natalie’s answer: “A smile” … Guillermo got it right.) They were longtime members of St. Theresa Catholic Church in Oakland, where late in life Natalie made many new and dear friends in the WINGS group. Natalie also loved her Fridays with the Oakland Senior Center’s Current Events class.
She is survived by her son, Guillermo Michael, and his wife, Anne-Marie, of Oakland; her two grandchildren, Christopher, of San Francisco, and Lally, of Washington, D.C.; many loving family members and friends; and her beloved cat, Birdie.
A memorial Mass will be held Tuesday, Oct. 14, at 11 a.m., at St. Theresa Catholic Church, 30 Mandalay Rd., Oakland. In lieu of flowers or donations, tell someone you love a good joke, or just share a laugh. Natalie would want it that way.
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