Jo Ann Morettini, 91, of Ventura, California, peacefully passed the morning of November 8, 2024, after a long illness.
Jo Ann was born in San Jose, California, to Jewel Agnes Parr and Joseph Louis Morettini on July 24, 1933. She grew up in San Jose when it was called “The Valley of Hearts Delight” after the beautiful blossoming fruit trees long before it was called Silicon Valley. She had a wonderful childhood; she picked plums and cut apricots that were put out in the sun to dry as all children did. She and her two sisters loved listening to Jack Armstrong and Little Orphan Annie on the radio, and spending time with many friends.
Jo Ann went to Notre Dame High School in San Jose and graduated in 1951. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from Stanford University School of Nursing in 1956 and became a Registered Nurse. She married her college sweetheart Richard Roswell Barnes also in 1956, and moved to Ventura, California, where they raised a family. She practiced nursing for 42 years in Ventura County in a variety of capacities working in hospitals, schools, public health and home health. She worked very hard throughout her career and retired in 1996.
Jo Ann had a full and joyous life, and was dearly loved by all. She had many cherished friends and enjoyed traveling, camping, gardening, growing many varieties of roses, singing in the church choir as she was active in both Sacred Heart Church and Our Lady of The Assumption Churce, she loved cats, and most of all spending time with her children and grandchildren who were the pride of her life. She was a Master Gardener, a member of the American Rose Society and the San Buenaventura Young Ladies Institute. Jo Ann was known for her happy, upbeat, and energetic personality, her laughter, and her quirky and infectious sense of humor. In her later years she wrote in her journal, “I love life! Life is great!”
Jo Ann is survived by her sister Mary Teresa Zanger of Hollister, her six children Richard Barnes (Trudy) of Ojai; Michael Barnes of Ventura; William Peter Barnes (Laura) of Portland, Oregon; Mary Kathleen Barnes-Quirino (Jesse) of Ventura; Janet Marie Barnes of Ventura; Samuel Kramer of Ventura, and her grandchildren Russell Barnes, Melissa Lacy, and Dominic Quirino, also nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents, her sister Martha Ruth Marcipan, and former spouses Richard Roswell Barnes and Tal Kramer.
Family and friends are invited to visiting hours to be held on Friday evening November 22, 2024, from 4 to 8pm in the JOSEPH P. REARDON FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICE, 757 E. Main Street, Ventura, where a Most Holy Rosary will be recited at 7pm. A Funeral Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated by Fr. Leon Hutton on Saturday, November 23, 2024, at 9:00am in Our Lady of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church, 3175 Telegraph Road, Ventura.