Page 128 - South Mississippi Living - November, 2018

GOLDEN YEARS many activities ahead
For many years, diners entering Catfish Charlie have been greeted by Marian Sinopoli, a congenial lady who knows the complete
history of this Gulfport restaurant that’s celebrating 38 years of service this month. Now this 89-year-old Biloxi native, who looks
nowhere near that age, is leaving her hostess duties for retirement. The restaurant was started by Charles and Gary Sinopoli. All
four of the Sinopoli brothers were involved at one time in different restaurants on the coast. Gary Sinopoli came up with the idea of a
catfish place after traveling in the Mississippi Delta where catfish is raised. Gary insisted on naming it Catfish Charlie’s, saying Catfish
Gary didn’t have the same ring. The restaurant built by the Dedeaux family opened on Canal Rd and Orange Grove.
“Some friends thought we were crazy going way out there, but it took off right from the start,” Marian Sinopoli recalls. “There
was nothing else like it, and people knew the family from other restaurants we had owned. We even got our retired cook from the
Popps Ferry restaurant to come back to work.”
She had been a stay-at-home mom with her children, Charles III,
Michael and Jon, until Charlie died in 1992. “Gary talked me into working at the restaurant and it was a life saver,” she says. “I was
the front person. I like being around people and have had great relationships with our customers. It’s been hard watching some of
our regulars pass on.”
Now, she thinks it’s time for her to retire from her three-night-
a-week job where four generations of the Sinopoli family are working. “My son and daughter-in-law, grandchildren and great
grandchildren are so capable, and they’re hard workers,” she says. Daughter-in-law Karen Sinopoli adds, “She’ll have to learn
how to relax.”
The daughter of the late Virginia and Anthony Tiblier,
Marian met Charles Sinopoli through a mutual friend while she was a student at Ole Miss. She was majoring in
education and involved in campus activities, including being crowned queen of the ROTC in 1947. However,
love came calling. “I was immediately attracted to Charles with his good looks and personality,”
she remembers. “He was personable and always smiling.”
This lively lady will not be sitting on the sidelines. She is a member of two clubs,
enjoys gardening, does Tai Chi with her niece Patti, and has lots of friends.
Most of all are the happy times with family, including two grandchildren,
Sinopoli Family
Matriarch
Danielle Sinopoli Miller and Charles Sinopoli IV, great grandsons
and many nieces and nephews. Additionally, she visits her
story by Lynn Lofton photo by Kathy Woods
RETIRES
98-year-old friend James Tootle every day at the
Armed Forces Retirement Home.
128 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • November 2018
FOR MORE REFLECTIONS OF THE GULF COAST >> www.smliving.net