John K. Benedetti, a longtime Sonoma County resident, died March 21 after
suffering a brain aneurysm. He was 61.
Born March 24, 1947, Benedetti was one of two children born to Margaret
”Tiny” Debella Benedetti and Harold Benedetti in Oakland.
Benedetti’s father died when he was five years old, but his mother’s roots
in Sonoma County were deep, and the family spent summers and other vacations
north of their Bay Area home. Benedetti attended Hanna Boys Center as a teen
and later graduated from St. Joseph Notre Dame High School in Alameda.
The friendships Benedetti made in high school were lifelong, according to
his ex-wife, Sandy Benedetti of Kirtland, Wash.
”They are all still very close. They are spread all over the state but are
very close,” she said. ”He was a loyal friend. He would be there for them in
any kind of need and vice versa. He just enjoyed spending time with friends.”
After graduation from high school, he joined the U.S. Air Force. He would
have headed to Vietnam but contracted Valley Fever and was confined to a
hospital for more than a year, Sandy Benedetti said.
After he left the Air Force, he started taking classes at College of San
Mateo. He also started shopping at a particular local grocery store.
”(Michelle) was a grocery clerk. She said he kept asking her out until she
said yes,” Benedetti said. Benedetti and Michelle Baynes were married in
April 1971 and moved to Rohnert Park in 1974.
A group of St. Joseph’s grads moved into some of the first houses in the
town’s C section.
Benedetti and Baynes divorced in 1979 but remained friends. Benedetti
married Sandy in 1981, and they were married 17 years before amicably
splitting.
The Benedettis moved north to Santa Rosa as Benedetti worked as an
electrical design engineer for PG&E. He loved the Oakland A’s and Raiders and
took his kids to NASCAR races. He golfed every chance he got and was a member
of the Healdsburg men’s golf club, Sandy Benedetti said.
He doted on his only grandchild, 3-year-old Gabriel.
In addition to Sandy and his grandson, Benedetti is survived by his son,
John Benedetti of Wichita, Kan.; daughters Sara Benedetti and Emily Benedetti,
both of Santa Rosa; and his former wife Michelle Baynes of Petaluma.
Friends are invited to a Funeral Mass at 1 p.m. Saturday at Hanna Boys
Center, 17000 Arnold Dr., Sonoma. Private interment will be held at Calvary
Catholic Cemetery.
Donations may be made in Benedetti’s name to Hanna Boys Center, P.O. Box
100, Sonoma, 95476-9989.
— Kerry Benefield
