On Saturday, June 13 Louie Parreira celebrated his 100th birthday.
Louie and his wife, Barbara spent the afternoon at their son Paul Parreira’s Los Banos home along with about 50 friends and family members. Joining them were Parreira’s seven children.
Everyone enjoyed the spread of food and drinks along with a birthday cake.
Louie received birthday proclamations from many elected officials including Congressman Adam Gray, Senator Adam Schiff and California Senator Anna Caballero. Presenting recognition in person were Merced County Supervisor Scott Silveira and Los Banos Mayor Michael Amabile.
Louie was born and raised on a Los Banos family dairy. When the dairy was sold, Louie went to work as a truck driver for a gravel company.
He married Barbara on July 31, 1949 and has been married for 77 years. After marriage, Louie went to work for Barbara’s father, Jack Lopes, as a farmer.
Together, in the mid-50’s, they planted the first almond trees in Los Banos. In 1973 Parreira Almond Processing Company was started as a hulling and shelling operation.
In 1986, Ned Ryan, known as the Global Almond Ambassador, joined Louie’s sons David and Paul to form Ryan Parreira Almond Company, also known as RPAC.
Louie and Barbara are active members of St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and Knights of Columbus as well as the Los Banos Golden Agers.
Every year they can be seen roaming around the Merced County Spring Fair in Los Banos as they devoted years of their lives to the development and progress of the annual fair.
Together, along with their seven children, Kathleen, Mark, Robert, David, Paul, Mary and Tom, they have 14 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren.
Louie drives Barbara to Mass every morning and according to their son Paul, they make sure they are home every day at 5 p.m. to enjoy a glass of wine together.
That could be their secret to a long life.
