Julia was born on Woodrow Street in Santa Cruz on the Westside on June 14, 1932. She attended Louden Nelson elementary, Mission Hill Jr. High, and Santa Cruz High. Julia had two siblings, Rose and Bob. Her family eventually moved to Jose Avenue.
Eventually Julia met her husband, Tony Cardoza, and started a family – Ralph the oldest, next Debbie, Bill, Valerie, and then Emily. Well to say the least she had her hands full. The family lived in Felton until her husband built the house next door to their parents, John and Cordelia, on Jose Avenue. Her husband was always up for a challenge and kept the family quite entertained with all his go carts, motorcycle rides, collecting pets, etc.
The family had lots of adventures going to the beach (clamming), camping, luaus, lots of poker games and parties in the neighborhood. Julia attended Beauty School when her children were young. Valerie and Debbie were her guinea pigs. She also had many talents from knitting and crocheting to painting and singing. She was also very close to her siblings and would travel a lot together.
Julia was a stay-at-home mom until her husband was injured. It was then that she began work at the Post Office in Aptos. In 1974, the family moved to Redding where she worked at the fish hatchery, tagging salmon, and eventually creating her own tagging business. She was quite the entrepreneur. She also loved watching sports games on TV – her favorites were the SF Giants and any bowling tournaments she could find. Julia loved cats and would watch cat videos for fun with Brooke her great granddaughter. She also loved to play cards. Julia and her husband would play cards with their friends frequently, and it became a tradition to play with their grand and great-grandchildren.
Julia’s biggest love was her bowling. The family has fond memories of going to various bowling alleys around Santa Cruz – Felton, Santa Cruz, Capitola, and Watsonville. She and Rose took so many trips around the US as well. Julia was an extreme competitor when it came to her game, and she was very good. Bowling, her husband, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and her cats were Julia’s biggest passions in life.
Over the last years of her life, Julia went through many struggles with her health. Open heart surgery, hip and knee replacements, dialysis. However, through it all, she always came back and fought hard. On May 31, 2021, though, the Lord came and took her home where she is now out of pain and in Heaven with her beloved husband.
