Deceased's name: Nick Ferrari
Age: 94
Date: January 4, 2011

Nick Ferrari, of Santee, turned 94 on Dec. 24. His family operated the Ferrari Dairy in Mission Valley. The yellow farm house is still there amidst tall office buildings, and the single-family home, one of few left in Mission Valley, still has an address sign with a cow above the family name (you can find it at 3154 Camino Del Rio South).

The dairy was still operating when Highway 80, now Interstate 8, was completed in the 50s. The cows had a tunnel in order to get to the north side of Highway 80 to the pasture and feedlot. Mission Valley used to be dominated by dairy farms and cows, but it was this Highway that spelled the end for the Mission Valley dairies. By the 60s, the last hold-out was the Ferrari Dairy, owned and operated by the Italian immigrant Ferrari family.

Some of the last evidence of that time period in Mission Valley includes the Ferrari family home and the Town & Country hotel, which was built in 1953. Nick lived the last years of his life on Ellsworth Court off of Prospect Avenue.

Nick had been suffering from Parkinson's Disease. In November, he broke his pelvis, and on Jan. 2 he broke his hip while climbing out of bed. Due to his condition, the doctors could not operate. He was put into hospice care and his daughter kept watch over him day and night. Nick passed away the early morning of Jan. 4, according to his daughter.