By Judy Salamacha
Have you ever met someone who seems like the most likable person in the world and then you get to know them and they aren’t so perfect and have flaws just like the rest of us?
Patti Sackmann, co-owner with her husband Steve of La Bella Olives & Gourmet Foods, was a rare find among humans. She was consistently friendly, funny, interesting, positive, loyal, generous and likable, and said things that you remembered.
I couldn’t help but devote some column time to my friend although we met up only occasionally. I knew her other “friends” at area Farmer’s Markets and special events like the Arroyo Grande 
Strawberry Festival or Paso Robles Olive Festival, would be wondering where she was? Shoppers and planners alike would wonder why Patti Sackmann was not there smiling in 2016?
Another product vendor has no doubt already claimed her premier space particularly at Pismo Beach’s Farmer’s Market on Wednesdays and on Saturdays at Morro Bay’s Community Market, but that would be perfectly fine with Patti. She would want everyone to move on because she decided to accept her olive tasting duties in the big beyond she believed was waiting for her.
In fact, her husband found a copy of the poem “I’m Free” written on her “inspiration tablet” near her TV chair right after she passed away suddenly Nov. 29. As if she planned her own good-bye, the poem closes with, “Remember me with smiles and laughter…If you can only remember me with tears then don’t remember me at all.”
We will always remember her response to, “How are you today, Patti?” Her answer? “I’m blessed.’’
I met Patti eons ago when I coordinated the Morro Bay Harbor Festival Seafood and Wine Pavilion. She and Steve always produced the go-to tasting booth with their stuffed olives. She wanted people to taste the product because she knew a tasting served with genuine laugh-a-lot conversation, would become a memory.
Her booth got bigger over the years, as their product lines grew. But the marketing efforts were always the same — taste, talk, buy, enjoy and come back another day for more.
When I moved on to coordinate the Central Coast Writers’ Conference and wanted to showcase the best of Central Coast wines and cuisine to the presenters that visited from all over the world, I knew Patti and her olives were a must at our closing social at Coalesce Book Store and Garden Chapel. Patti would spend the entire afternoon selling at the Morro Bay market and the evening talking and tasting with my guests — even when her feet and bones were aching.
Patti Sackmann was special and that’s why family and friends at her services Dec. 14 packed the Marshall-Spoo Sunset Funeral Chapel in Grover Beach to standing-room-only. There were tears, but as she requested there was plenty of laughter.
Stacey Dozier was one of several girls Patti unofficially adopted. At the service, she told how Patti taught her to ride a pony, then a horse at her Santa Maria ranch. “She was always Mom No. 2. She taught me that It’s not goodbye. It’s see you later.”
Sal DeMauro traded barbs with her at the Pismo Farmer’s Market for 5 years. He admitted to having the messiest booth, while Patti’s was pristine, which didn’t sit well with her when he sweet-talked the female health inspector the same day her wash station didn’t pass muster.
He loved her greeting. “Hello, my brother from another mother” and DeMauro would answer back, “Hello, sister, from a different mister.”
Many didn’t realize she was a cross-country truck driver before she settled in SLO County. She spent time doing deliveries locally, which is how she met the love of her life, Steve, who owns Mesa Trucking Inc., of Arroyo Grande. After she met him, she left a jar of olives to remind him she could be interested.
According to their website (see: www.lbolives.com), La Bella Olives & Gourmet Foods is “…well known for our Sevillano olives, a very firm and meaty type of olive…grown in the California Central San Joaquin Valley.”
The couple started with eight styles of hand-stuffed olives and grew to 22 varieties then added extra virgin olive oil “with a light buttery taste,” six types of marinated garlic cloves, four types of marinated vegetables, four types of marinated peppers, including Atomic Frog Balls, 13 types of jellies, chipotle sauces and a variety of gourmet almonds and pistachios.
Currently, sales are only online or call (805) 343-2310. It might just be the only way to continue to get Patti’s yummy products. Thanks for sharing her with us, Steve. We loved her, too.
Freelance writer, columnist and author, Judy Salamacha’s Then & Now column is a regular feature of Tolosa Press. Contact her at: [email protected] or (805) 801-1422 with story ideas.
