Lloyd Raffetto also known as Lloyd A. Raffetto, Lloyd Alexander Raffetto, and "Raff" (1897-1988), was a noted

Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

Irish-American Irish Americans () are Irish ethnics who live within in the United States, whether immigrants from Ireland or Americans with full or partial Irish ancestry. Irish immigration to the United States From the 17th century to the mid-19th c ...

co-inventor of an ice cream manufacturing process, entrepreneur, and banker who owned the Raffles Hotel (now Carey House) and co-founded the Mother Lode Bank, both of

Placerville, California Placerville (, ; ''placer'', Spanish for "sand deposit", representing the placer mining that was predominant in the town's development, and ''ville'', French for "town") is a city in and the county seat of El Dorado County, California, United S ...

Background

Lloyd Alexander Raffetto was born on December 27, 1897, in Placerville, California. His parents were John Augustus Raffetto Sr. and Adela Creighton Raffetto. He was the eldest of four surviving children, followed by

Michael Raffetto Michael Raffetto (born Elwyn Creighton Raffetto; December 31, 1899 – May 31, 1990) was an American radio actor who starred as Paul Barbour (1932–1956) in the NBC Radio series '' One Man's Family'' and as Jack Packard in '' I Love a ...

, John Augustus Raffetto Jr., and Isadeen Adela Raffetto (future wife of Alexander Howison Murray Jr. He attended El Dorado High School and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where he was a member of the

Pi Kappa Alpha Pi Kappa Alpha (), commonly known as Pike is a college fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1868. The fraternity has over 225 chapters and provisional chapters across the United States and abroad with over 15,500 undergraduate mem ...

fraternity and manager of the agricultural journal.

Career

Raffles Hotel

In 1908, Raffetto's father bought the Cary House. In 1915, he demolished and rebuilt it with three stories that had fifty-four rooms (fifteen with baths), coffee shop, and dining room. Raffetto renamed it the Raffles Hotel. It is now again the Cary House.

Historical figures known to have stayed at the hotel include
Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...
(who used to write for the Mountain Democrat in Placerville), President
Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...
and
John Studebaker John Mohler Studebaker (10 October 1833 – 16 March 1917) was the Pennsylvania Dutch co-founder and later executive of what would become the Studebaker, Studebaker Corporation automobile company. He was the third son of the founding Studebaker fa ...
. Hollywood figures, such as actress
Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...
, have graced the hotel. Most recently,
Brooke Shields Brooke Christa Shields (born May 31, 1965) is an American actress. A child model starting at the age of 11 months, Shields gained widespread notoriety at age 12 for her leading role in Louis Malle's film ''Pretty Baby (1978 film), Pretty Baby ...
and
Lou Diamond Phillips Louis Diamond Phillips (né Upchurch; born February 17, 1962) is an American actor, director, and writer. His breakthrough came when he starred as Ritchie Valens in the biographical drama film '' La Bamba'' (1987). For his performance as Angel ...
filmed a movie at the hotel.

In 1928, Raffetto co-authored a book on the manufacture ice cream that substituted

powdered milk Powdered milk, also called milk powder, dried milk, or dry milk, is a manufactured dairy product made by evaporating milk to dryness. One purpose of drying milk is to preserve it; milk powder has a far longer shelf life than liquid milk and do ...

for real milk. In 1935, Raffetto became president of the El Dorado County Chamber of Commerce, based in Placerville.

Mother Lode Bank

In February 1952, Raffetto was one of several applicants for

FDIC The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a State-owned enterprises of the United States, United States government corporation supplying deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was cr ...

membership. In 1953, Raffetto became one of the organizers and long time directors of the Mother Lode Bank (1953-1975), headquartered at 447 Main Street, Placerville. California state senator Swift Berry served as its first president from 1953 to 1962. In 1963, Raffetto was elected president. In 1957, the bank applied to open a branch in

Grass Valley, California Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County, California, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 14,016. Situated at roughly in elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this norther ...

. The bank continued to expand into the 1970s. On September 19, 1970, it opened another branch in

Roseville, California Roseville is the most populous city in Placer County, California, located within the Sacramento metropolitan area. As of 2019, the United States Census Bureau, US Census Bureau estimated the city's population to be 141,500, making it the third-l ...

with a ceremony attended by Roseville Mayor Baron Reed, bank branch manager Jerry Zak, assistant branch manager Robert Easter, local employees, and Raffetto. The bank's name appeared often in the local ''

Mountain Democrat The ''Placerville Mountain Democrat'' (known locally as the ''Mountain Democrat'' or simply the ''Democrat'') is the newspaper of El Dorado County, California, based in Placerville and is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the State o ...

'' newspaper, either for dividend announcements, its business condition, employee news, or sponsorship. The bank became inactive on June 29, 1975, as part of its sale to

Security Pacific National Bank Security Pacific National Bank (SPNB) was a large U.S. bank headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was acquired by Bank of America in 1992. History On September 1, 1868, Hellman, Temple and Co. opened their first bank branch in Los ...

(after further acquisitions most recently belonging to FIA Card Services as of 2014).

Community

In 1938, as a member of the El Dorado Chamber of Commerce's historical committee, Raffetto helped found the El Dorado Historical Society, based in Placerville. In July, the committee asked two score organization to meet the following month to "form a county historical society and... county museum." Other committee members included: Ernest Van Harlingen, Henry Lyon, M. T. Kelly, Joseph Quigley, Don Goodrich, and L. J. Anderson. As a prominent businessman, in June 1949 Raffetto joined the publisher of the local newspaper and others in a

Pacific Gas & Electric The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered at Kaiser Center, in Oakland, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 million households in the norther ...

tour of the Feather River Project and received special birthday wishes from the newspaper for his 90th birthday. As a member of the

Lions Club Lions Clubs International, is an international service organization, currently headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. , it had over 46,000 local clubs and more than 1.4 million members (including the youth wing Leo clubs, Leo) in more than 200 ge ...

, Raffetto helped the local community deal with issues such as water management.

Personal life and death

Raffetto married Ethel Quigley. They had one son and grandson. Raffetto was a member of

E Clampus Vitus The Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus (ECV) is a fraternal organization dedicated to the preservation of the heritage of the Western United States, especially the history of the Mother Lode#California Mother Lode, Mother Lode and gold ...

. Raffetto died age 90 on April 5, 1988.

Legacy

Raffetto was noted for his contributions to the State of California, including the California Legislature Assembly. Raffetto donated to the El Dorado County Library of Placerville. Raffetto, known to have "masterminded cooking" at local events, also kept track of local lore, including the origins and recipe for the Placerville recipe for "

Hangtown Fry Hangtown fry is a type of omelette made famous during the California Gold Rush in the 1850s. The most common version includes bacon and oysters combined with eggs, and fried together. History The dish was invented in Placerville, California, ...

" (see quote box).

Works

* ''Ice cream; a textbook for student and manufacturer'' (1928) ** The ice cream industry (1947) ** The ice cream industry (1956)

References

External sources

Recording of Lloyd Raffetto

Mother Lode Bank v. General Motors Acceptance Corporation {{DEFAULTSORT:Raffetto, Lloyd 1897 births 1988 deaths