Ursula Vera, a grand lady of the community who lived her life equally in the service and in the shadow of others, died on Thursday night. She was 74 years old.
Suffering for more than five years from chronic kidney disease, Mrs. Vera survived her husband, the noted Albert Vera, by 11 months, almost to the day. He died last year on May 31.
Mrs. Vera’s funeral Mass will be Friday morning at 10 at St. Augustine Catholic Church, at the intersection of Washington Boulevard and Jasmine Ave. Interment will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery, 5835 W. Slauson Ave.
Viewing will be Thursday afternoon at Holy Cross Cemetery, from 4 until 5. At 6:30, there will be a rosary service.
Until the most recent years, everyone in Culver City knew where to find two favorite personalities, Ursula and Albert Vera, seven days a week, at practically any waking hour, their beloved Sorrento Italian Market.
When her husband was alive, their names never were formulated in that order because he was high gloss and that was not her style.
For the nearly half century of their marriage, the market — which infused visitors’ nostrils with a memorable fragrance that would last until your next visit — was their life.
No off days, no vacations, although friends remember that she returned a couple of times to her native Germany for brief holidays.
The Veras were a team, and their roles at Sorrento were established early. He was the entrepreneur, only comfortable out front, and she was deliberately the less visible bookkeeper, the familiar stately lady with the pastry-pleasing accent behind the counter.
After working from early morning to end of the afternoon at the market, Mrs. Vera would slip away to their longtime Sunkist Park home a few blocks away where she cooked, expertly and prodigiously, friends said, while resuming her off-site bookkeeping and supervising the raising of their two sons.
When they were young, the boys, Ralph and Albert Jr., known almost forever as Junior, were as much fixtures at Sorrento as their parents.
Mrs. Vera is survived by her son Junior, now proprietor of the family market, and a granddaughter Alessandra. Ralph Vera, her son by a previous marriage, preceded her in death.
