Joyce Ann Bullentini

Joyce’s life spanned over eight decades, rooted deeply in love for family, friends and 1000’s of young people that she influenced as a teacher in the San Francisco Unified School District (many of those years at Alamo Elementary School in San Francisco, CA). She was a proud graduate of Florida State University where she matriculated and earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Elementary Education. She was proceeded in death by her Mother Doris Zittrower and her Father Cecil Zittrower along with her beloved Mother and Father In Law Frank and Louise Bullentini. She is survived by her husband of nearly 63 years Frank L Bullentini, her son Scott Bullentini, Daughter In-Law Dana Bullentini and Grandson Samuel Bullentini, her Sister Noreen Creech as well as many nieces and nephews. She will always be lovingly remembered by many friends and colleagues from her nearly 42-year career as a teacher. She truly loved teaching and never thought of it as a job but rather she believed that teaching was / is a vocation -a true labor of love.

She never wavered in her quiet courage, southern genteel and spirit of perseverance. She lived her life in the spirit of the Roman Catholic Faith and as expected in the spirit of Jesus Christ. Family was her touchstone, and she seemed to always make time for the spirit of said, never losing sight of her roots or the future of her legacy (Samuel). She laughed hard and lived each day happy for the moments it gave her.

She and Frank were a true team, a long-standing loyalty rooted in a passionate love for one another. They were never too far from one another’s side and seemed to always choose togetherness over independence. A bit of a desperado she left her home state of Florida as a young woman to teach military dependents in Germany which is where she met my father in 1961 while he was serving as a Lieutenant in the United States Army as a Platoon Leader in an Armor Division. In fact, their 1st date included a ride in a Patton Tank. She worked hard to raise her only son, Scott, to have her sense of propriety and respect for the experiences that life gives you. She certainly was sad but happy at the same time when he left to move to Louisiana to pursue his career dreams almost as though he was repeating something she had done so many decades prior herself. She adopted her Daughter In – Law Dana as her own and nourished her beloved Samuel with the same care she did her son.

As she grew into her new life as a retired educator and warmed up to the freedom it gave her, she became an active member of her community in Pacheco Valley as loyal lover of the common ground landscape committee while also creating an oasis on her own patio. She played Bunko with her friends and enjoyed that brief gathering regularly to spend time with friends and revel in the fun of a mind challenging game. Up until her final moments she exhibited a grace and beauty that embodied her life – you wouldn’t think it, but she was a fighter, and she indeed battled until the end to stay with us but like all things there is a time to live and a time to die.

She is in God’s hands now and there is no doubt heaven bound as we live the Feast of Divine Mercy “Jesus I Trust In You”.