Marina Maria Peery

Marina Maria Peery (Cunial) passed away unexpectedly on Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2010 at Fairchild Medical Center following a series of debilitating health problems. She was born on July 29, 1923 in Hilt to Paolo and Agnese Pastega Cunial, who had emigrated from Passagano and Cavaso, Italy. She was educated at Hilt Elementary School and Yreka High School, where she graduated with honors. During World War II, she worked at the Hilt Hotel and the Hilt General Store. She met her future husband Harold Peery in Hilt while he was home on leave and they were married there, on July 3, 1945. After his discharge from the Army, they lived in various places in California while he pursued work with Standard Stations. They returned to Yreka in the late 1940s and had remained here since. While raising a family, she worked at various times for the county welfare department as a stenographer, for the sheriff’s office, as an office manager for the Siskiyou Golden Fair, and she finished her career with the California Highway Patrol Yreka office in 1984. Marina was also a well-known local musician and is noted for having mastered the piano and accordion without any formal training. She and her two sisters appeared as the Cunial Sisters singing and playing live music on KSYC during it’s inaugural broadcast in the early 1940s. Marina and Harold played for dances all throughout Siskiyou County. Her popular dance band, The Peery Orchestra, entertained at nearly every town in the county over the years. She regularly appeared at Callahan’s Restaurant as a piano player for many years after her retirement. Her parents, her husband Harold, her brother Gino Cunial and sister Stella Eastman predeceased her. She is survived by her sister Gloria DeMeyer of Ashland, Ore.; her sons, Chad (Bonnie) of Paradise, Gary (Jan) of Yreka and Mark (Louann) of Kenai, Alaska; three grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Services will be held at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Yreka with inurnment to follow at St. Joseph’s Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to Madrone Hospice, 225 Collier Cir., Yreka, CA 96097, or to the Fairchild Medical Center Foundation, 444 Bruce St., Yreka, CA 96097.

Marina Maria Peery

July 29, 1923 - August 18, 2010