“Florence Quatararo” in the 1941 Franciscan” yearbook, page 76 (bottom row, center)

Hidden among members of Alpha Mu Gamma (International Honorary Language Fraternity established in 1936, San Francisco State Colleges’s megawatt diva Florence Quartararo (1922-1994) is pictured. Alpha Mu Gamma attended the opera “Samson and Delilah,” among other activities. Quartararo was born in the San Francisco Bay area. Through friends, was discovered by Bing Crosby, who auditioned her and put her on his Kraft Music Hall program, under the stage name of Florence Alba, and she appeared on the program four times in 1945. Quatararo returned to San Francisco State as a celebrity fundraiser. Quatararo retired from a promising career at the Metropolitan Opera in 1951 to marry famous Italian opera singer Italo Tajo.