Obituary of Alda Mary Wyatt

Alda ("Mimi") Wyatt, born Alda Mary Acquistapace, passed away peacefully on August 3rd, 2024, surrounded by her loving family in Hollister, California. Alda was born on June 4, 1932 in Santa Maria, California to Attilio Acquistapace (Piantedo, Italy) and Ida (Danieli) Acquistapace (Guadalupe, CA). Her ethnic heritage was predominantly Northern Italian, with a small mixture of Swiss and German. Her family moved to Hollister around 1935 after her parents purchased a 200 acre Dairy Ranch in Hollister; several years later her workhorse younger brothers Gene and Bobby arrived, and they all tended to hundreds of dairy cows, crops, walnuts, chickens and more. She was close to her family her whole life, always keeping in touch and visiting often. She was raised Catholic, something she always valued, embodied, and lived out in her everyday life interactions with people she knew from friends to strangers as well as donating to causes that served her community and to struggling families. Alda had many nicknames depending on the context, Alda for basics, Mimi or Meme to family and close friends, Aldine to her Italian girlfriends, Mrs. Wyatt to students and her son's friends and Alda Mary at church. Alda attended Ausaymas Elementary school in Hollister (walking a few miles) when it was so small they combined grade levels. At grammar school, she did not respond when they called her name, Alda, and her Mama had to come to school to figure it out since she thought her name was Mimi! She then went to Hollister High School (Go Haybailers!) where she was active in the school band (cornet and piano) and a member of 4H and multiple clubs; she got outstanding grades and was usually the teachers favorite given her gregarious friendly nature. After high school, Alda attended Community College in Hollister before transferring to San Jose State University where she lived with friends from Hollister. She graduated with a BA in Education (1955) and obtained her teaching credential. From there, she taught 4th grade in Menlo Park while living in Palo Alto. Upon entering college, she began dating fellow Hollister local, Yancy J. Wyatt, but cooled it down when Yancy went to Germany during the Korean War. While away in Germany Yancy kept in contact by writing letters back and forth with Alda to keep the communication ongoing. Upon his return they became close again and married in 1957 in Reno, Nevada accompanied by Yancy's sister Katie Garcia and her husband Tom Garcia. Later they had a big wedding reception back at the Acquistapace Dairy Farm with family and friends. Yancy was a CPA accountant/auditor, athlete (top tennis player at Hartnell/San Jose State) and she was a very extroverted expressive Italian American, teacher, mom and farm girl; they loved each other and learned from their differences.   Their first son, Richard Michael, was born in 1958 in San Jose. Yancy got a job in San Francisco with the Government Accounting Office (GAO) and they moved to Daly City, though she initially protested since she was worried about the Daly City fog, to no avail. She came to love Daly City and the diverse people in the budding suburbs of SF, and she birthed Randall Craig and Russell Scott during the next 4 years. She was an amazing Mom, ruling with iron fist on important matters and offering maximal freedom to be themselves as they played on baseball, football, and basketball teams, and played with friends all day long along with studying when she insisted. She always got along well with their friends and girlfriends as she welcomed everyone with open arms and Italian cooking; no dramas. Alda was a master teacher and educator, first as a 4th grade teacher, then leading the boy's cub scout dens for 6 consecutive years and later as a preschool teacher in Daly City. She was the ultimate organizer and had a gift for getting everyone involved in learning and social events for family and friends. In her later years, she volunteered at Hazel Hawkins Hospital for over 10 years as the front desk to support people visiting the hospital and it was a way to keep current with everything Hollister. Alda was an active member of Beta Signa Phi a female non-collegiate, non-sectarian Sorority in Daly City that supported local community charities and was dedicated to cultural and educational enrichment. She was the consummate Italian cook with a favorite lasagna dish everyone loved. She loved talking on the phone to friends and family, gabbing it up with the best of them. Alda was also remarkably close to Yancy's family, the Wyatts, becoming a valued member of the large family in no time. At their house in Daly City, she and Yancy hosted a yearly a January 1st New Years Day party with most of the Wyatt family attending. After moving back to Hollister in 1993, they hosted the yearly Wyatt Reunion day “after party” at their house in Hollister. She was loved and did love all her extended family members on both sides, which counts in the hundreds. Alda and the family loved family vacations, doing yearly camping trips (with the Storman Family who had three daughters!), Yosemite, Donner Lake, Big Basin, Oregon, Disneyland and more. Later Alda and Yancy along with Tom and Katie visited the Wyatt roots in Arkansas and Missouri where Yancy was born and raised. Her Acquistapace family had roots in Piantedo, Italy near Lake Como, from which her father and his brothers came to America around the early 1900s. She learned Italian as a child and was able to communicate with the Italian relatives. She loved holidays, decorating with a fervor for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter as well as making everyone's birthday a big celebration tradition. She loved singing the Happy Birthday Song to others and herself, often multiple times just for the fun of it! Alda's personality was super curious about everyone, positive about life, resilient to stress and pressures, engaged with current events, respectful of other people's opinions even when they were opposite of her own, a lover of sports and a true American patriot. She was clear in her boundaries but did not judge others for the way they lived. She had friends from all different walks of life and cultures and thought everyone had an interesting story to tell. She was a voracious reader of the daily SF Chronicle, historical biographies, People Magazine, and of course, the National Enquirer! She loved TV serials too, like Days of Our Lives, All in the Family, the Jeffersons and more! When the pandemic hit, her kitchen area also had huge plumbing leak and she had to get a whole new kitchen, but she just rolled with it and said, "oh well, what's the big deal, just get a new kitchen." Her favorite everyday phrases were "what are you going to do, that is the way it is", "just walk away if you don't like it", "hey, they live the way you want and you can do the same", "wait, stop, say that again so I can understand", "that's between me and God", and she could debate on any issue and 10 minutes later be on to what's next. Alda is deeply missed by her devoted family: her sons Richard Wyatt, Randall Wyatt, and Russell Wyatt, her nephews, Michael Acquistapace, Mark Acquistapace, and Marty Acquistapace, and niece, Audra Acquistapace; her sister-in-law Lois Acquistapace in addition to over 29 nephews and nieces from the Wyatt side; as well as many great-nieces and great-nephews, cousins, extended family, and friends. Alda was proceeded in death by her husband, Yancy Wyatt, brothers Eugene “Gene” Acquistapace and Robert "Bobby" Acquistapace and her parents Attilio and Ida Acquistapace. She never flew in a plane, not for fear of heights, but not wanting to be closed in, and not having freedom to get out. Now she flies like an eagle, 92 years young, wild and free, just like she lived and loved. Per the family's request, donations can be made to the local Hollister Community Foodbank https://www.communityfoodbankofsbc.org/ or Hollister 4H Club for kids to learn about farming and animals https://cesanbenito.ucanr.edu/4-H_Program/Get_Involved/.