Smith: Funeral for St. Francis Winery CEO Christopher Silva draws a huge crowd

It was no surprise that so many hundreds of Chris Silva’s best friends showed up for his funeral at the 500-seat St. Rose Catholic Church that they were cheek to jowl clear out the door.

Stories flowed about Chris, the St. Francis Winery CEO and huge-hearted human comet who confided to his brother, Jeff, not long after he was diagnosed with brain cancer short of his 53rd birthday that he was OK, that his life was so extremely good he figured it couldn’t last too long.

Jeff’s wife, Stacy, recalled to the great crowd the first time she met Chris. She and Jeff were a new item when they picked up Chris at LAX.

Chris hopped in the car and gave Stacy a hug and kiss after declaring to his brother, “How nice of you to bring me a date!”

Some of the pictures on display in the church showed Chris not in simple photo opps but in meaningful encounters he made happen with the likes of Margaret Thatcher, Pope John Paul II, Luciano Pavarotti, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, George W. and Laura Bush, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Following Friday’s funeral, Chris was buried at Petaluma’s Cypress Hill Memorial Park, near the graves of his maternal grandparents, William and Leah Cassina, and his mother, Dorothy Silva, who was just 73 when she lost her life to cancer seven months to the day before Chris received his diagnosis.

The final resting place of the extraordinary lawyer turned world-class vintner is shaded by a tree. What kind of tree?

A cork.

HHHHHH

ONE MORE TAIL: Mary Testorelli has lived in Santa Rosa’s Flamingo Hotel district long enough to remember Chris Silva as a kid in the ‘hood.

“He was always outstanding,” she recalls. “His charisma was omnipresent.”

Mary smiles at memories of running into Chris at the former Petrini’s Market, where he famously finagled himself a job as a 15-year-old by concluding a job interview with manager Charlie Dooyes by handing him a personalized business card.

Chris also worked a checkstand the day Mary spotted something alarming, then told him, “Chris, there’s a rat running down Aisle 1!”

He responded instantly, “Shush, Mary, not so loud. Everyone will want one!”

HHHHHH

RACE FOR ROYALTY: Barbara Banke and three other members of Sonoma County’s Jackson Family Wines clan ride high still from a regal day at England’s Ascot Racecourse.

Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family were present when, on opening day, June 20, American filly Lady Aurelia won the featured race of the Royal Ascot - for the second year in a row.

Banke and her family are co-owners of the horse, which was bred and lives at Kentucky’s Stonestreet Stables, created by Banke’s late husband, Kendall-Jackson founder Jess Stonestreet Jackson.

Following Lady Aurelia’s victory, quite the Kodak Moment occurred in the Winner’s Circle.

Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, presented a trophy to Banke, her daughter Julia Jackson, her son and daughter-in-law Christopher and Ariel Jackson, jockey John Velasquez and trainer Wesley Ward.

You’ve seen the Ascot Racecourse. Built in 1711 six miles from Windsor Castle, it appears in scenes in “My Fair Lady” and two James Bond films, “A View to a Kill” and “Skyfall.”

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