Diane Rucci

Diane Rucci was born in June 1953 in San Francisco, Calif., and succumbed to breast cancer after a six month battle on Friday, Feb. 21, 2014. Diane, along with her parents, moved to Atascadero in 1956 where she attended St. Rose Elementary School. She graduated from Marymount High School in Santa Barbara in l971 and then attended and graduated from Santa Clara University in l975. Her junior year was spent in Salamanca, Spain. She loved her European experience and traveled there again in later years. She worked in the computer industry in the silicon valley for several years. Later she started her own Product Marketing Services Company. The Santa Cruz mountains became her home and were the ideal location for her independent spirit and love of the philosophy of Henry Thoreau. Her favorite thing was to walk and jog the various trails among the redwoods. Diane is survived by her mother, Marge Rucci; sisters Kathy Morrison (Steve), Susan Zimmer (Kevin), Nancy Rucci (Geof Land) and Janet Rucci; brother, Bill; and six nieces and nephews Marina Stiefvater (Ryan), Tina, Anthony and Julian Zephier and Maya and Seamus Land. She was preceded by her father, Al Rucci in 2010. The funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Thursday, March 6, 2014, at St. William's Catholic Church, 6410 Santa Lucia in Atascadero, with a reception to follow at the church hall.