Elizabeth and Louise were sent to live with friends in Tomales so that they could attend high school. They fell in with the party crowd. There were parties at Dillon’s Beach and drinking. When the party gang got caught, Elizabeth refused to testify that the boys were drinking. The Principal of Tomales High School expelled the girls, and Joe Morelli had to come to Tomales to pick them up. He said he was proud of them for not snitching on their friends. They returned to the ranch near Occidental, and Elizabeth went on to Sweet’s Business College in Santa Rosa. Louise went to work in Occidental and, after about a year, she became one of the youngest postmasters in California at the age of 19.

Joe was born on the Perry family farm located several miles north of Sebastopol on Gravenstein Highway. He was an apple farmer and a founder of the Sebastopol Cooperative Cannery. He attended school in Sebastopol, then went to Sweets Business College in Santa Rosa. It was there that he met Elizabeth Morelli.