Jeanette Ida Camera

Jeanette I. Camera died peacefully in sleep, in her Spreckels home on Sunday, November 29, 2020. She was 93. Born in Comanche, Texas to Andrew and Ida Pate, she was one of seven siblings, and moved with her family to California when she was 16 years-old. After graduating from Paso Robles High School, Jeanette came to Salinas, where she worked at the Vogue Theatre. It was there that she ran the ticket counter, pinned the corsage on a promising young actress named Marilyn Monroe, and met the love of her life: Johnny Camera. After marriage, Jeanette and Johnny raised their three children in the close-knit community of Spreckels, where she also drove a school bus for 17 years before her retirement. In 1976, Jeanette was baptized in the name of Jesus, and received the gift of Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. She remained a faithful member of the First United Pentecostal Church in Salinas for more than thirty years, serving as a church hostess and Sunday School bus driver. She and Johnny opened their home to host countless prayer meetings, Bible studies, bridal and baby showers. In addition to her parents and five of her siblings, Jeanette was preceded in death by her husband Johnny, with whom she shared 59 years of marriage. She is survived by her children and their respective spouses, all of Spreckels: Ann and Rick Meyer, Steve and Janice Camera, Pam and Gary Camera Ketchum, six grandchildren and their spouses, twelve great-grandchildren, a sister, Peggy Martin of Fresno, her sweet nieces, nephews, and their families. The family has held a private service. To honor Jeanette’s memory, we encourage you to read the book of Acts. For in her final weeks, when dementia had cruelly stolen memories, names, and faces, it could not touch the words that her Sovereign had written on her heart: Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, Oh what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of his Spirit, washed in His blood. This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long, This is my story, this is my song, I’m praising my Savior all the day long!