Joellyn Louise Spencer

Joellyn Louise Spencer, “Jody”, of Los Angeles, California, and formerly of Santa Paula, California, passed away on Sunday, January 14th, 2024, at the age of 87. She was born on January 21, 1936, in Long Beach, California. Her family eventually moved to Santa Paula, California where she grew up with her parents, Carl and Charlotte, and older brother, Stanton.

She graduated from Santa Paula High School in 1954, and went on to attend Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California.

She worked as an Administrative manager/Executive assistant to CEO, at Daleco Resource Corporation, Century City, Los Angeles, California for 40 years.

Because of her love of winter downhill skiing, she was a founding member of the Century City Ski Club that started in 1972, and was involved as the club’s newsletter editor and organizing great trips to Mammoth Ski Resort, and other western US ski areas during her days with the club. She especially loved trips to Santa Paula to visit her Mother and Father, and the family of her brother Stanton and sister-in-law Maureen, and their five children Kevin, Suzie, Sandie, Mary Ellen, and Michelle, all of whom thought that their Aunt Jody was the best aunt ever.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Carl and Charlotte, her brother Stanton, and two nieces: Suzie Marin and Michelle Hall, and her friends Marilyn and Ed Duzik.

She was still in close touch, with daily calls with her sister-in-law Maureen Spencer, and Kevin and (Carol) Spencer, Sandie and (Dale) Clendon and Mary Ellen and ()Stephen Brown, up until the time of her passing. Jody loved hearing about and getting visits from her 12 Great Nieces and Nephews: Danielle, Andrew, Erin, Bryan, Megan, Katie, Christopher, Sean, Bridget, Savannah, Spencer, and William. Jody had eleven Great-Great Nieces and Nephews: Dominic, Kaylee and Ally, Joseph, Ava, Wesley, Nikko, Kennedy, Bodhi, Londyn, and Marco. Jody kept in touch with her “Bodine” side of the family. Charles and Eloise Bodine, and Mary Lou and Ron Schmidt, and Doug (passed June 2023) and Barbara Bodine were special cousins. Jody was always grateful for her close friends: Bea, Gerry, Pat, Paul, and Erick.

Her fun-loving spirit really got going when she went around the United States with her great friend Marilyn, in a VW Bug! On many summers, Jody went to Lake Tahoe with the Spencer Family for a two week July vacation, sometimes camping, and many times at a cabin, but always returned with a golden tan.

Jody attributed her achy knees later in life to possibly her time as goalie in her Broom-hockey league, where she may have taken one for the team. She told of her time on the ice at half-time in a Kings Hockey game, during a half-time scrimmage. She may have taken some spills during her fun Century City Ski Club ski trips that might have contributed to her painful knees. She was quite active in high school and college in tennis. She did inspire others to take up the game of tennis which she loved. She had a passion for reading with an incredible list of books read, especially after her retirement. And, anyone who visited her probably has a story of going out to a restaurant and seeing some famous person, sometimes with the paparazzi in-tow. She also told of the time she was on-board a sailboat that capsized out in frigid San Francisco Bay, with all six on board rescued out of the water without their life jackets. She lost her purse and its contents and it was a harrowing experience that she never forgot. She had an appreciation for the arts, and loved the nights when award shows were on television, going to the Getty Art Museum, or visiting West Los Angeles and Beverly Hills establishments with finer décor. She always made an effort to make herself look fabulous, and her gifts that she gave showed that she was thoughtful and tasteful. Her laugh was great, and especially when she found humor in herself. That’s where her humility showed. She would never boast about herself, and would praise others ten-fold.

Jody was not much for drawing attention to herself and insisted that there would not be any funeral. Instead the family urges you to contribute to something of your own choosing in her honor. Her family wants you to know that she always appreciated the times that she had with you all. We will miss her kind spirit.

Family and friends are invited to attend a gathering at Jody’s apartment. It will be on February 17th, from 11 am to 3 pm. If you are interested in coming to the gathering at her apartment where we can share thoughts and memories of times that we had with Jody, please contact Kevin Spencer, at email address: [email protected]

The banner choice would be Mountains for her love of skiing, Tahoe, and Mammoth.