Colleen Bergamaschi, a longtime Ceres resident who was instrumental in bringing the “Let Freedom Ring” grove of presidential trees in Smyrna Park in 2013, died Monday, announced good friend Don Cool.

Mrs. Bergamaschi lost her husband of 64 years, Jim on Nov. 11, 2020. In the 1980s and 1990s they were also actively involved in the Ceres Western Art Show. They were also active in the Ceres Garden Club.

Colleen Lamb first came to Ceres in 1936 where her grandparents, the Zelios’s were living at the time. She met Jim when she and her family went to visit Jim’s family in Montana where he had been living after serving in the military. They went out on a Fourth of July outing and two weeks later were planning their wedding

The couple moved to Ceres in 1962 where Jim owned and operated a Fourth Street barber shop.