Community Corner

Giacomini Remembered as "Man's Man" by Family, Friends

Died when car overturned Wednesday afternoon just outside Petaluma

The nephew of the man who died in a solo vehicle car crash Wednesday afternoon remembered his uncle as an outgoing, loving and positive man, a former dairy owner and truck driver, whose family had deep roots in both Marin and Sonoma counties.

Ralph Giocomini, 84, of Olema, died in a car accident in Petaluma Wednesday afternoon after the car he was riding in swerved off the road, turned over and landed in a seasonal drainage ditch.

"He was just a man's man," said Toby Giacomini, owner of in Petaluma, and the victim's nephew.  "He had a set of hands that were unbelievable."

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Ralph Giocomini was born and raised in Petaluma and attended St. Vincent de Paul High School. He later moved to Pt. Reyes with his family. He opened a trucking company, and transported hay across the region.

But after losing his license, he went to work for his brother Toby, who previously owned Toby's Trucking, before opening a dairy and later a beef cattle operation in Pt. Reyes. He was also involved in the community, organizing youth baseball teams.

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"He was just a vivacious person, an uncut diamond, so to speak," said Don Ramatici, a longtime friend. 

Giacomini was an active member of the Nicasio Native Sons, to which he had belonged for 50 years.

Wednesday's crash occurred when Giacomini's daughter, 57-year-old Ann Phillips of Petaluma, was driving from Olema to Petaluma for lunch with her father. According to CHP, she fell asleep and lost control of her 2005 Nissan Altima, ending up in a ditch near Windsor Avenue and D Street.

The car overturned onto its roof and became wedged between both sides of the narrow ditch, trapping Phillips and her father inside, according to the CHP. The ditch was dry except for the 20-by-12-foot pool of water where the Nissan landed.

Phillips managed to free her arm from her seatbelt and keep her head above the water in the car, but Giacomini was under three feet of water for at least 15 minutes and drowned, the CHP said.

"The way this accident happened, there was hardly any water there, it's like God wanted it," Ramatici said.

Visitation has been scheduled for Sunday 11-4 at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary & Crematory, followed by a rosary at St. Vincent's Church at 6pm. There will also be a mass said in Giacomini's memory on Monday at 1:30pm at St. Vincent's.

-Bay City News contributed to this report.


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