Josephine Cugini, the last of the pioneering Cugini family of Auburn, died March 12 from complications after falling at her home. She was 98.

Jo was a devoted wife, mother, aunt and friend. With her warm smile and natural elegance, she left an indelible mark on the vast network she cultivated and the community she loved. Jo and her husband of 72 years, Dario, owned and operated Cugini Florists and Gifts in downtown Auburn since 1954, where they worked side by side and were stalwarts of the community. In 1972 a store in Renton was added, which still operates today under the same name, new ownership.

Advertisement

Jo was active in many organizations and charities with her husband — Auburn’s Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce. They were involved in the creation of the White River Valley Museum in Auburn and were regular contributors to the Green River Foundation fund. In 2007, they established the Dario and Jo Cugini scholarship at Green River Community College. Both were honored as Auburn Hometown Heroes at City Hall in 2003 for their lifetime commitment to the community.

Jo was long active in Soroptimist International: Auburn, and she served as president from 1962 to 1963 and again in 1970 to 1971. She was also a member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood (Philanthropic Educational Organization for Women) and was active in both groups until her death.

The passing of Jo is the end of an era for those who were lucky enough to have known and loved her. She had an uncanny ability to make those around her feel comfortable and welcomed, regardless of who they were or where they came from.

That generosity of heart was cultivated in her humble beginnings in the Baker Hill area of Seattle, where she grew up with her parents, Paul and Carmella Patinelli, and sister, Mary. There, she always said, her mother taught her to treat everyone as equals and as you would want to be treated — with kindness and respect.

Advertisement

It was a simple lesson that Jo embraced and demonstrated to her neighbors and acquaintances alike, to customers and workers, and to her cadre of caregivers toward the end of her life.

To be invited into Jo’s world was a privilege. She was a gracious hostess, who could make a room of strangers seamlessly harmonize. She was a prodigious cook, whose Italian meals were unrivaled. She was a wise confidant, who listened with care and shared sage advice. And, with her gentle kindness, she was the perfect complement to her entertaining and raconteur husband.

Jo was charming and seemingly invincible. She had learned to soldier on with dignity and grace despite the tragic loss of two young children and her own bouts of cancer and broken bones over the years.

Advertisement

She also had a practical and pragmatic head on her shoulders and worked tirelessly behind the scenes to run a thriving business with Dario. It was hard to imagine one of them without the other.

Holidays for Jo meant flowers. Thousands of them. Christmas arrangements and poinsettia, bouquets of red roses on Valentine’s Day, bright daisies and tulips for Mother’s Day and orchid corsages for proms, which she tediously handcrafted in what she considered to be a labor of love.

Jo was born May 30, 1927, in Seattle and graduated from Franklin High. She was a striking beauty, tall and lithe, with a lush mane of dark hair. She met Dario while working at Pacific National Bank in Seattle, and they married in 1947.

Upon arriving in Auburn, she quickly blended into her new family and worked in Cugini SureFine Grocery, which transitioned to Cugini Florists and Garden Supplies in 1954. In 1962, they relocated to a new storefront on Auburn Way South, where the business prospered until the pair retired in the 1980s.

They both stayed physically fit and active well into their 90s, walking daily, swimming and playing tennis. They continued to volunteer, traveled widely and wintered in Palm Desert, Calif., where they cultivated new friends and expanded their vast social network of admirers. Dario died in 2019.

Jo stayed busy in the ensuing years, rising early come rain or shine to rid her yard of fallen leaves, continuing to winter in the desert and keeping a full social calendar with friends old and new. She savored an occasional Grey Goose on the rocks and never turned down a plate of pasta, a slice of flaky Napoleon or a morsel of chocolate. She even learned to Zoom in her later years, converse on FaceTime and telephone via her smart watch.

At 98, Jo was satisfied with the life she had led and her adventures with Dario. In her kitchen, she kept an enlarged photo of Dario, beaming with his contagious smile. It made her grin too. She never lost sight of who she was, where she came from, those she loved and the simple principles on which she based her long, rich life. She only concentrated on the good times, she said. Like Dario’s smile, they filled her heart.

She is survived by seven nephews. She is preceded in death by her husband, parents, children Dina and Paul, and sister, Mary McCreery.

A private service will be held.