The Lord needed a brave angel and called home Elsie Villa Romano, 105, on August 30, 2016. Elsie, known as "Nanny" to her many grandchildren and great grandchildren, was born in Guadalupe, California to hard-working Italian immigrant parents. After completing high school, Elsie attended Heads Business School and studied bookkeeping, a skill she would practice virtually all of her life, professionally and as a volunteer for various religious organizations. She started working for Bank of America in Santa Barbara and stayed until she married.

While living in Santa Barbara, Elsie met an ambitious young man, Remo "Ray" Carlo Romano, at the weekly full-orchestra Italian community dances. Elsie and Ray were married in March of 1931. Ray eventually went to work for the Vinnell Construction Company, which required the family to move to Mexico City, where they stayed for 9 joyful years. After Ray's untimely death in 1955, Elsie moved to San Antonio to be near her son, a graduate of Texas Military Institute, and remained here for the rest of her life. During her years in San Antonio, Elsie was active in the Catholic Church and served as a volunteer for several religious organizations in San Antonio.

Elsie was an accomplished cook, having mastered Italian recipes handed down from her mother who had attended culinary school in Milan, and recipes she learned while living in Mexico City. Her family always looked forward to holidays at Elsie's home, with her beautifully set table and delicious meals. Everyone especially enjoyed Elsie's famous chicken tacos.

Elsie enjoyed needlework and quilting and had a beautiful rose garden. She was an avid reader and had a special interest in world history, which she enthusiastically shared with her grandchildren.

The accomplishment of which Elise was most proud, however, was playing an instrumental role in raising her six grandchildren, and later her numerous great grandchildren. Elsie was tremendously dedicated to her grandchildren and spent countless hours over the years picking them up from school, babysitting, hosting sleepovers, reading to them, and sharing with them inspiring stories of her upbringing.

Elsie was preceded in death by her parents, Gaetana Annetta Moro Villa and Placido Villa, her husband, Ray C. Romano, and her son, Louis C. Romano.

She is survived by her daughter, Jeannette Romano Snell; daughter-in-law, Carole Sale Romano; her grandchildren, Louis C. Romano, Jr., Elizabeth Romano Sames and husband Hank Sames, Ray W. Romano and wife Lady, Todd Romano, John W. Snell and wife Christina, and David Clay Snell and wife Jeannette; her great grandchildren, Landon Romano and wife Karien, Caroline Romano Patterson and husband Eddy Patterson, Elizabeth Romano Ezer and husband Jason Ezer, Alexandra Romano Wagner and husband Thomas Wagner, Victoria Romano Jaimes and husband Feliciano Jaimes, Louis C. Romano, II, Lees Romano, Caroline Snell, Andrew Snell, Patrick Snell, and John Christian Snell; and her great-great grandchildren, Amalie Romano, Morgan Olson, Travis Olson, Pierce Patterson, Isabella Ezer, London Ezer, Emily Ezer, Feliciano Jaimes, Ava Wagner, Mary Wagner, and Emma Wagner.

FUNERAL SERVICES

A memorial mass will be held at St. Anthony de Padua Catholic Church, 102 Lorenz, San Antonio, Texas on Tuesday, September 6, 2016 at 10:30 a.m.

Elsie's remains will be interred at the Calvary Catholic Cemetery, Santa Barbara, California, on September 7, 2016 at 10:00 a.m.