Bruno and Jonell Tosi

Bruno Tosi 2/26/1941 to 7/12/2024 Jonell Tosi 12/8/1941 to 7/20/2024 Bruno was born in Ceppato, Italy on the 26th of February 1941, to Cesare Tosi and Maria Irene Giometti. Bruno immigrated to the United States in 1965 and became a naturalized citizen of the US in 1972. Bruno promised to bring his mother to the United States when he left Italy in 1965 and made good on that promise in 1971. Jo was born in Uvalde, Texas on the 8th of December 1941, to Archie B. Miller and Thelma Enomia Johnson. The Miller family moved from Uvalde to Maxwell, California when Jo was a young girl. She loved to share fond memories of summers with her brothers at the fire lookout towers in the surrounding hillsides of northern California. It was during those long summer days that she perfected her apple pie baking technique under the direction of her mother. Bruno lived in the San Francisco Bay area when he arrived in the US and came to Bend, Oregon in 1977 where he purchased Buy Rite Grocery on the corner of 6th and Revere. Jo worked at the telephone company or as she liked to say, “Ma Bell”, in Pendleton for many years. She was offered a position as a manager at the phone company in Bend and moved there with her four children in 1977. Bruno and Jo met in 1978. At that time the “little store” was a neighborhood pit stop for pop, beer, candy, cigarettes and groceries. Eventually the store became Bruno’s Grocery, serving deli sandwiches and selling U-Bake Pizzas. More importantly Bruno’s Grocery was a place where friends became family, a place many people visited every day, checking in on Bruno and Jo and knowing they would be greeted with a joke and a smile and often leave with a jar of Jo’s canned salsa, jam or a handful of fresh picked garden vegetables. Bruno and Jo retired and sold the store in 2016 leaving behind a legacy of love and support to many members of the Bend community. Bruno and Jo were preceded in death by Jim (James Harold) Turnbull and leave behind their children Diane, John (Lisa) and Dave (Susan) Turnbull, Steve Tosi and their grandchildren Hanna, Noah, Jake, Asha, Jamey, Chase, Luke, Lindsey and one great grandchild, Kason. In lieu of flowers the family invites you to send contributions to Partners In Care (https://www.partnersbend.org/donate/) or Upward Bound Camp (https://www.upwardboundcamp.org/donate) which serves Teens and Adults with Developmental and Physical Disabilities in Gates, OR and where Jo and Bruno’s daughter serves as the executive director.)

Tributes

Bruno and Jonell Tosi

December 8, 1941 - July 20, 2024