Lucia Gaye Fracchia

 It is with hearts overflowing with love and sorrow that we announce the passing of Lucia Gaye Fracchia. Cia passed after a characteristically gracious and courageous battle with dementia on October 28, 2026. Born on March 17, 1950, the second child to Hank and Genevieve Tollini, she spent nearly her entire life in Ukiah. She married the love of her life, Tom Fracchia, and they built a home south of town and raised their two girls, Katie and Emily. Tom and Cia were married 56 years, and their love and devotion served as model, anchor, and center for so many who gladly found themselves caught in their orbit. Their marriage was a masterclass in living out your vows.

    Cia taught as an aide at schools in town and would often be stopped by those children years later with a hug. Every now and then she would dig her accordion out and play like she expected everyone to break into a chorus of some old Italian song, the words lost but the melody still there. She loved to travel around the country and especially to Italy and Hawaii. She often began a meal with a warm, unaffected, “Salute!” and she meant it. On their first trip to Hawaii as a family, Cia successfully extorted a promise for return trips after planting herself where the ocean met the sand while the sun sank behind the sea, insisting as only she could – unyielding and kind and kindly unyielding – that she wasn’t moving an inch until Tom promised to bring her back. Katie and Em were co-conspirators, and Tom, knowing it already, didn’t stand a chance. They returned many, many times.

    Those fortunate to find themselves in the gravity of Cia’s love lived in a spasm of unfiltered light and unconditional support. Her husband and daughters were the very air she breathed – just as she breathed life into them, giving them the courage and confidence to live their lives fully and true. Her sons-in-law might as well have sprung from her own womb and could do no wrong though they sure tried. Her four grandchildren, Cole, Jordyn, Walker, and Annalucia, were pieces of her heart made manifest and whose lives we are confident will bear witness to the enduring grace flowing from a woman who loved them fiercely and without qualification or hesitation. Lucia is survived by all these, and also by her brother Louie and sister Kathy, by her many nephews and nieces and cousins, by her countless friends, by the family at Oak Bottom Campground, by the children she taught, and by every soul fortunate enough to come into contact with a woman who was, in a word, Light.

There will be a Celebration of Life from 1:00 to 4:00 pm on Sunday, November 22nd , at Gather Events, 4800 Burke Hill Road. In lieu of flowers please send donations to Hospice of Ukiah.