Jody Celestine Croce

Jody Celestine Croce, 68, of Santa Cruz, passed away unexpectedly at her home Monday, September 26, from complications of Parkinson's Disease.Jody and her siblings were born in southern California; their parents moved to the San Jose area when Jody was around four years old, and later bought a home in Ben Lomond where she grew up from the age of six. Jody attended San Lorenzo Valley public schools, graduating from SLV High School in 1971. She attended UC Santa Cruz and majored in Psychology, graduating in 1975. Jody loved international travel and photography. When she was 24 she visited her Italian cousins, rekindling long-lost familial ties (her grandparents came to the U.S. in the 1920s), and had kept in touch with them since. She traveled elsewhere in Europe several times as well as to Mexico, Bali, and Singapore. In 1986 she spent a month trekking the Annapurna Loop in Nepal, followed by a month traveling throughout India.She worked as the manager of the College Eight Café at UCSC for 36 years, retiring in 2015. Her employees often remarked that working for her was the best job they'd had, due to her warm, caring and friendly management style. Jody met her husband, Ted, when he started hanging out at the café and she hired him. They married in 1989, and raised their two children in Santa Cruz.She is predeceased by her parents, Joyce and Dominick Croce, and is survived by her husband Ted Altenberg, her siblings Mark Croce and Micah Langton, and her children Kevin and Zoe "Nik" Altenberg. She was loved and admired and will be greatly missed by many, remembered as a caring friend, a loving mother, and a radiant soul.A celebration of life will be held in January; contact Ted for more information.