Mary Ann Mohar Silveira

Nov. 30--Mary Ann Mohar Silveira, a longtime Santa Rosa insurance underwriter whose family founded and still runs the local chain of Pacific Market grocery stores, died Nov. 22 at home.

The cause was emphysema, according to a son. She was 87.

From her early years, she cut her own professional path apart from the grocery business her parents Stanley and Mary Mohar started in 1929 when they moved from San Francisco to Petaluma.

A graduate of St. Vincent de Paul High School and a student at Santa Rosa Junior College, she first worked as an office assistant at the downtown Santa Rosa car dealership of Talmadge "Babe" Wood.

Years later, as a working mother, she began a career in insurance with AAA in Santa Rosa that would span 30 years.

Her son Ken Silveira called her an "exception" in an era of stay-at-home moms.

"She worked hard all of her life," said Gary Silveira, her other son.

In the 1950s, her brother Stanley Jr., known as "Moe," took over the family business and expanded it to include Fiesta Market in Sebastopol and Food City Market in Roseland. Ken and Gary Silveira and cousin Brad Mohar took over the business in 1985 before selling the remaining two stores, in Sebastopol and Santa Rosa, last year. The families still have a hand in operating the outlets, now both carrying the Pacific Market name.

"She was probably the smart one, she kept out of it," Gary Silveira said of his mother.

Born Jan. 31, 1926 in San Francisco, Mary Ann Mohar graduated from St. Vincent's in 1944.

She was active in local shows of the United Service Organizations, dancing in performances for stateside troops around the time of World War II.

She had a fondness for men in uniform, Ken Silveira said, and the affection was probably mutual for she was a striking beauty and one-time model devoted to fashion.

"She was a gorgeous woman," Ken Silveira said.

"She always dressed nicely," Gary Silveira said. "Even when she was just at home. That was important to her."

Her marriage to Eugene Silveira of Petaluma lasted about 20 years before their divorce in 1968. Later, she and her longtime companion Richard Hess, a local auto parts store owner, traveled extensively in the United States and in Europe, including her father's homeland in Slovenia.

A art enthusiast, she enjoyed museums and cathedrals encountered on her trips abroad and had a taste for the colorful work of the American Southwest.

She was active in a Santa Rosa unit of the Druids, the nondenominational fraternal order.

After retiring, she devoted herself to being a grandmother, attending her grandchildren's various functions and opening up her Santa Rosa home to family.

"She had a nice, warm house to come to," said Gary Silveira.

In addition to her sons Ken, of Sebastopol, and Gary, of Larkfield, she is survived by four grandchildren: Kaitlyn and Lauren Silveira, Austen Miller and Shawn Souza.

A celebration of her life is set for 11 a.m. Tuesday at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Santa Rosa. Donations can be made to Memorial Hospice of Santa Rosa.

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