Louis B Cella

On November 3rd, 1925 Lou Cella was born in the small town of Canale, Italy which is in the hills just East of Genoa. Lou lived in Italy until he was two years old when his family immigrated to America and eventually arrived in Seattle, Washington. Lou, and his sister Madeline, were raised on Queen Anne hill and attended school at Queen Anne High. Lou always had an affinity for sports, with a focus on baseball, but at a young age shifted his focus from sports and was sent overseas to fight in the US Army in, as he would say, “WWII the Big One”.

Lou marched all through Europe fighting on the front lines, freeing Concentration Camps, and many other incredible stories fighting for his country. At the conclusion of WWII, Lou spent a year in Japan as an MP, again serving his country.

Upon return from the Army, he quickly met and married the love of his life, Dolores Simone, and were married for 66 years. Closely entwined in their Italian heritage and love for family, they welcomed their first daughter Valerie to their Beacon Hill home in 1949 and their second daughter Linda in 1951. Valerie and Linda were the light of his life. Second only to family, Lou spent 35 years working hard for the telephone company and successfully retired at the young age of 58 to spend even more time with his family and moved to his home on the South End of Mercer Island in 1983.

Lou Cella learned to make zinfandel wine as a young boy from his father and carried on the tradition throughout the course of his life, although he continued to make wine 50 years with the same equipment his dad used! Lou learned to garden and grow vegetables, with an emphasis on his tomatoes, from his mother and also carried that tradition throughout the course of his life. Whether it was his passion for Mariner’s baseball, Seahawk’s football, playing the game of golf with the Jefferson crew every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or most importantly coming home to a perfectly cooked homemade meal from the one he cared for the most, his wife, Lou truly lived an incredible life. Through his life, he defined what it means to be not just a good, but a great person, for his friends and family.

In addition to his wife and kids, Lou is survived by his three granddaughters, two grandsons, and four great grandchildren…with two more on the way. His grandchildren have taken keen interest in all of Papa Louie and Grandma Dede’s incredible teachings and look forward to this spring bringing yet another plentiful garden and a couple barrels of wine.