Smith: Oh, Henry, it was so good to see you

This was the facet of Henry Trione’s jewel of a life that burst into laughter and plotted revenge when his buddies in the Trail Blazers set before him a birthday cake of nicely frosted cow pie.

Everybody knows about Henry’s boggling success in business and his heroic gifts to Sonoma County. So Tuesday’s affectionate and frequently hysterical memorial celebration focused much on our friend’s love of life, his boyish and irrepressible glee.

Eyes everywhere in the Wells Fargo Center moistened mostly from laughter as some of the people closest to Henry recounted him showing up for trail rides dressed in a tux, dancing with his beloved Eileen in their kitchen, approaching a stranger of approximately his same physical-stature deficit and dead-panning, “You’re not very tall, are you?”

The take-away from Tuesday’s celebration, I think, was the absolute glee that this truly extraordinary man derived from his work, his philanthropy, his friends and, above all else, his family.

Son Mark Trione repeated his dad’s farewell to folks who’d been to the house for dinner or a party or visit: “Thanks for coming by. I’m glad you had a chance to see me.”

Mark concluded, mostly aptly, “Henry, we’re all glad we had a chance to see you.”

ONE HUGE REASON to consider visiting the Mare Island Museum this month, Black History Month, happens to be docked practically next door.

The Navy’s massive, 3-year-old Montford Point is at Mare Island for maintenance and repairs. She is 765 feet long and designed to carry and launch, at sea, as many as three military hovercraft.

The coincidental significance of the ship’s local presence during Black History Month is that she was named in honor of the first African-Americans trained to become Marines at a World War II camp on Montford Point in North Carolina.

In 2012, the same year the ship was built, Congress authorized the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to each of the 20,000 Montford Point Marines who served and sacrificed for their country.

The ship is expected to be docked near the Mare Island Museum for another four or five weeks. You can’t go aboard, but she’s something to behold.

PROUDLY BOTH: Now at the Sonoma County Museum is a moving, fascinating exhibition that explores the lives and yearnings of those whose heritage is both African- and Native-American.

“IndiVisible,” on loan from the Smithsonian, features people who’ve long perceived that the experience of the “Black Indian” has been willfully ignored, but that they themselves cannot and will not.

The museum has done a wonderful job of adding local stories and graphics, including the video presence of Ras K’Dee, the African-American and Dry Creek Pomo singer.

“IndiVisible” will remain at the museum through April 6. See it on or after Friday and you’ll feel the impact also of sculptor Alison Saar, who has described her Africa-inspired work as “refined savagery.”

SOMETHING BLUE: Everything about the Valentine’s Day wedding in Santa Rosa was dreamy until Matt and Stacey O’Donnell woke up the following morn.

They realized they didn’t have the box of cards and gifts of cash and checks. Amid all the post-nuptial activity, it evidently was left at the curb on Spencer Street in the JC neighborhood.

Anyone with knowledge of the box’s whereabouts can make the bride’s day by emailing her at stacsk8@yahoo.com.

Chris Smith is at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CJSPD