Mario came to America with his mother and stepfather on March 19, 1921. The Ellis Island records show that he was a female child named Maria. He was adopted by Gastone Vanoni.

Mario Vanoni was a farmer in Imperial County California. In his heyday Mario made the local newspaper by shipping the first melons (cantaloupe) from the Imperial Valley. In the winter Mario grew lettuce, celery, carrots, cabbage and the like. In the spring and fall he grew melons, tomatoes. In his 70s he was pioneering drip irrigation in Imperial County and grew several hundred acres of watermelons and tomatoes using a drip system developed in Israel. (Info supplied by Dennis Vanoni, adopted son of Mario)