Mokelumne Hill, CA…Stanford “Stan” C. Dell’Orto May 29, 1954 ~ August 9, 2025 (age 71).  Stanford “Stan” Carl Dell’Orto, 71, of Mokelumne Hill, passed away on August 9, 2025, while riding his horse in the Stanislaus National Forest on his summer grazing allotment, moving cattle alongside his son.

Born on May 29, 1954, in San Andreas, California, to Robert Glenn and Jacquelin Dell’Orto. He attended Mokelumne Hill Elementary and later Calaveras High School alongside his older brother Wayne and lifelong friends. Stan was part of a proud, multi-generational cattle ranching family. The ranch was not just his livelihood, but his life’s calling, and he devoted himself to improving the land, caring for cattle, and the cowboy way.

In 1980, he married Robin Cuneo, and together they built a life rooted in love, hard work, and deep family ties. To his children and grandchildren, Stan was both a teacher and a steady leader, always showing by example what it meant to live with integrity, grit, and devotion.

He was the heart and leader of the ranch when it came to cattle. There seemed to be nothing he couldn’t do—how to bring the herd safely out of the mountains for fall calving season, bottle feeding an orphaned calf, doctoring a sick animal, milling lumber, fixing fence, training dogs, driving a cattle truck, brushing landscape, knowing where every salt block was placed, or how to track a single cow for miles through the forest until he found her. Through careful breeding and a sharp eye for quality, he dedicated himself to raising the genetic bar in his herd, ensuring that the cattle operation would remain strong and excellent. He especially loved his summer grazing allotment in the Stanislaus National Forest, where he spent countless seasons in the high country watching over the herd with the same dedication his family had shown for generations.

Stan passed down to his children and grandchildren the skills, patience and determination it takes to run cattle and keep the ranch strong. Even so, he left them with so much more to learn and a never-ending to do list. His wisdom was deep, his knowledge hard-earned, and his lessons came not from books but from years in the saddle and a life on the land. Though the work ahead will be harder without him, his teachings will guide the family forward, and they hope to make him proud by continuing the ranching legacy he built and cherished. He was a true steward of the land and guardian of the herd.

Stan is survived by his wife Robin Dell’Orto, his mother Jacquelin Dell’Orto, his son Joshua Wayne Dell’Orto (Anne Dell’Orto), his daughter Terese Dell’Orto (Kyle Eltringham), his son Mattley Dell’Orto (Lindsey Dell’Orto) and his five grandchildren Waylon, Knox, Coney, Ketchum, and Lincoln Dell’Orto and predeceased by his father Robert Glenn Dell’Orto and his brother Wayne Dell’Orto.

A celebration of life will be held on November 1, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at Laughton Ranch, Jackson, California. Friends and family are welcome to attend. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Simmons Scholarship Fund which benefits graduates of Calaveras High School pursuing a career in agriculture. Donations can be mailed to:

CUSD
Attn: Simmons Scholarship
P.O. Box 788
San Andreas, CA 95249

“Some cowboys are born, some are made, but the best leave behind trails for others to follow.”

Online condolences can be made at https://www.dieboldfuneral.com/. Funeral arrangements were trusted to San Andreas Memorial Chapel, 254 West St. Charles PO Box 328 San Andreas, CA 95249, (209) 754-3361.

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