Obituary of Leotta L. Belleville

Leotta Lucille Allman de Belleville was born on March 17, 1940 in Modesto, CA to Omar Kline Sr Allman and Lucille L Hammons Allman. She passed away at her Scotts Valley residence on Mothers day (May 12th) after a courageous battle with cancer. She was recently preceded in death by her beloved husband of 53 years Harry Clayton "Skipper" Belleville Jr. Leotta has lived in the Scotts Valley area for over 30 years and was loved by all that knew her. She is known as "Grandma" too many, young and old alike. She loved all babies and always had a smile and a hug whether her family or yours. She belonged to TOPS and The Red Hat Society. Through those organizations she gained many long time friends, forever friends. She is survived by her four children, David, Raymond, Michael, and Jennifer, four sisters, LaVonne Johnstone, Clara Kitchen, Sarah Allman, Marguerite Finger, and one brother, Stephen Allman. She also leaves several grandchildren, numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. She was the first child in a large and troubled family. She became the mother hen taking care of her younger siblings. The family would sometimes leave town in the middle of the night and lived places like an old chicken coop, a mud house, and a storm drain. She used to brag that she had lived in nearly every state, and Mexico. Leotta graduated from Ceres High School in 1958. She attend Modesto Junior College, Secretarial School and also attended John Robert Powers Modeling School in Santa Cruz, CA As a teen she worked as a veterinary assistant and as a soda jerk at the Foster's Freeze. She fell in love and eloped with "Skipper". They married on June 21st 1959 in Reno. They travelled all over the country and finally settled in Midvale, Utah for several years. While there, she and her husband took a vow of poverty and created a nonprofit organization to benefit the underprivileged. It was a massive undertaking but a huge success. Leotta considered herself rich with love and not interested in money. She was a fighter and would stand up for what she believed in. One time, she gathered many of the poor family's children, had them make signs and then called in the news media to protest the appalling medical care they were being provided. Things changed when she got involved. When her kids started to become teenagers, she felt it was time to provide for her family and "Society of Good Neighbors" was handed off to its board members. She hunkered down and studied the new computer skills 10-key punch, Wang 8" word processor, and shorthand. Her determination was amazing and she won a good position working for the Salt Lake City Public Works, as the anchor for the office of Building Department in SLC, Utah. She became the executive secretary for a city council member, Agraz. This enabled her to buy a house in Hunter, Utah and gave the family roots, the children a more stable life. She moved back to Santa Cruz in 1980 and worked for Victor Computers in Scotts Valley, Property Management and SCO in Santa Cruz. She held many positions in accounting, accounts receivable, accounts payable and executive assistant; she was the light of any office. She could routinely collect money from difficult accounts because of her empathy and good nature. Leotta loved to write and was very good at it, enjoyed gardening any and all flowers. She enjoyed an occasional casino trip with beloved cousin Gail where they would splurge ten dollars and get hours of fun and memories from the penny slots. She had a real talent at baking and decorating cakes. There was the time she baked a cake for a bake sale in her son's elementary school in Utah where there were the women prided themselves on their homemaking abilities. We went to the bake sale and couldn't find the cake that Mother made. So she finally asked somebody what happened to her cake, only to find out that the principal picked it out before the sale, bought it and took it home to his family. She was loved by everybody and truly appreciated all of the friends. She drank the cup of life to the bottom. The family is grateful to Jan Neal for taking a year out of her life to accompany and care for Grandma through all the highs and lows and for staying to the end, never abandoning her no matter how rough things got. The family would like to thank Dr. Julie Jaffe for her love, dedication and outstanding care. You and your team are the best. Your talent and affection for your patients is immeasurable. Thanks also go to the wonderful people of Santa Cruz County Hospice for their care and thoughtfulness. You made the final weeks as painless as humanly possible. She will be buried with her husband at Santa Cruz Memorial Park, 1927 Ocean Street, Santa Cruz, CA on May 25, 2013 at 10:00 AM. Family and friends are welcome. Reception will follow at: Yan Flower Chinese Restaurant, 617 Pacific Ave. Santa Cruz, CA 95060