Lucia Cortezzo ’21

Born in Oakland, Lucia Cortezzo was one of 8 children, 4 boys and 4 girls with deep roots and a large extended family in the Italian community in West Oakland where her father was a barber.

She loved her years at Tech where she took business courses like typewriting and stenography. The only memory which she passed down is that she had beautiful handwriting, so lovely that it garnered her an award certificate. She was very proud of that. After graduation, Lucia worked for a brother-in-law who owned a shoe store in Oakland.

Lucia got married at age 21 to Adelbert Sigwart of Sigwart Jewelers on 15th street in Oakland, a popular jewelry store from the teen to the seventies. She stayed at home to raise their two children, a boy Adelbert Jr. and a girl, Marilou. Lucia was active in her church and at her children’s schools, St. Mary’s High School in Berkeley Holy Names High School in Oakland. Marilou describes her mother as a “marvelous woman, a great homemaker, a great mother, and a wonderful grandmother of four and great grandmother of eight.”

Lucia lived to be 100 years old plus 1 day. All her life, she was very proud that she had gone to Oakland Tech and always pointed it out when the family drove by it. She was a lifelong Bulldog, who died in 2003.

(Information from her daughter, Marilou Polito.)