PCCHA Member, Ed Vanoni, passed away June 1st

Clement Edward (Ed) Vanoni passed peacefully on June 1, 2026.  He was a life member, past president & served 10 years on the board of PCCHA and was also the 1981 PCCHA President.  He showed for many years from the late 60’s into 2000’s with clients, family and friends in California, Nevada, Oregon and Arizona.

He began life on March 27, 1930 in San Francisco.  Born to Clement and Ann (Rossi) Vanoni, he grew up in Geyserville, CA.  Weekends and summers were spent at their cottage along the Russian River, on property adjacent to his grandfather’s ranch.  Ed’s love of the outdoors, cattle and horses grew quickly.  As a student at Cal Poly, SLO he drove north many weekends to help manage the cattle.  In 1951, he purchased his widowed grandmother’s 1,500 acre ranch.  

A lovely young lady visiting Geyserville, with a love of horses was introduced to him by his father.  That is how he met the love of his life, Johanna Berger.  They soon were married and moved into the weekend house at the Vanoni Ranch.  The Korean war was underway and shortly, Ed was deployed and served maintaining the power generation equipment for the map making division.   He was discharge in August 1954, earning a Korean Service Medal with Bronze Service Star, United Nations Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal and Good Conduct Medal.  

Attending the Grand National, at the Cow Palace, San Francisco, Ed enjoyed the cutting horse competition, sparking a new interest of having his own cutting horse.  This became a reality when he met Carter Arnett and took a young ranch raised mare, Kinka Doll, to be trained by Carter.  That started a second career of raising and training horses, with a focus on cutting horses.  For over 50 years many people and horses were able to enjoy learning good equestrian skills whether at the ranch or taking the Santa Rosa Junior College Horse Husbandry classes that Ed helped start and teach.

He was a life member of National Cutting Horse Association,  Pacific Coast Cutting Horse Association, Redwood Empire Cutting Horse Association (which he helped found in 1972 with several other interested parties), American Quarter Horse Association, Vintage Cutting Horse Assn., Northwest Cutting Horse Assn,  Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Association, the Sonoma Marin Cattlemen’s Association and California Cattlemen’s Assn.  He and Johanna spent many years as Warm Springs 4-H Light Horse Leaders and hosting trail rides, clinics and managing the Redwood Empire Cutting Horse shows.  They raised many Quarter Horses over the 50+ years, with a focus on good using horses that were known for soundness and longevity.

Ed was recognized for his years of promoting and supporting the equestrian community locally and statewide as a recipient of the 2004 Sonoma County Horse Council Hall of Fame Equus Award, the 2004 Dave McGregor Award presented by the Pacific Coast Cutting Horse Association, named Sonoma-Marin Cattleman of the Year in 2007, and awarded the 2016 Sonoma County Fair Award of Excellence in the Horse Industry.  The Vanoni Ranch was recognized in 2009 by the California Agricultural Heritage Club for 100 years of operation.

Ed is survived by his wife, Johanna and four children, Adriane (Ed), Mark(Chris), Yvonne(Rob) and Calvin(Matimba) as well as grandchildren Alina, Monica, Katie, Ashley and Amber, and 4 great grandchildren.