Fiona Genevive Bayliss was the kind of shop owner who people popped in to see, regardless whether they made a purchase, local residents said.
Almost 50 years after opening Fiona's Antiques and Gifts on Verdugo Road, Bayliss has died, at the age of 93. An obituary in the Crescenta Valley Weekly stated Bayliss passed away from natural causes.
Larry Moss, a friend of Bayliss' for more than 50 years, told the La Cañada Valley Sun, “There isn't anything negative to say about her. She was a very positive, caring, generous person who was full of life.
"She wasn't your typical older person who goes to the rest home and sits in her rocking chair,” added Moss, whom the paper identified as co-owner of Penelope's Café, Books and Gallery in La Cañada and owner of the landscape design firm Moss & Associates.
For Susan Colosimo, who posted condolences on the Montrose Patch Facebook page, it was Bayliss' congeniality that kept her coming back to the gift store.
"Just wanted to say how much Fiona will be missed. I loved to go in and talk with her, shop and enjoyed the ever-present tea/hot cider and cookies she would offer to all who came into her shop. Montrose will never be the same, but I am so glad that I had the opportunity to know her. She will be greatly missed,'' Colosimo wrote.
