Joan Green Scibetta

Joan Green Scibetta died peacefully on March 12, 2026, at the age of 90. Joan was born in DuBois, Pennsylvania, on April 14, 1935, the oldest of five children born to Eugenia and John Green. She had a very happy childhood with her parents and four siblings, and she learned from a young age to value her Catholic faith, community, and family.

Joan attended St Catherine’s High School, graduating in 1952 as valedictorian. She went on to study nursing at D’Youville College in Buffalo, New York, where she met the love of her life, Charles James Scibetta. After graduating, Joan began her nursing career at Dubois hospital in Pennsylvania and later at Highland hospital in Rochester, NY. She excelled in her work and was soon chosen to begin training other nurses. 

Joan married Charles Scibetta on August 16, 1958, in her hometown of DuBois, and they had five children together, living in several states and cities before moving to Santa Cruz, CA, in 1970. 

Joan was a loving and loyal wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. She enjoyed the outdoors and appreciated simple pleasures in life, often commenting on a beautiful sky or the delight of an early morning kayak ride on a quiet lake. Even with a young family and five children, she seemed to effortlessly organize camping and backpacking trips to explore nature and national and state parks. She raised her children to have the confidence and joy to belt out campfire songs and to introduce themselves to park rangers.

Throughout her life, Joan stayed close with her extended family which included uncles and aunts who served as priests and nuns, and she enjoyed attending family reunions and keeping in touch with relatives throughout the US as well as in England and Ireland.

She was a woman of deep Catholic faith and served many charitable organizations, including volunteer roles to support her children’s schools and the Children’s Home Society as well as St. Joseph’s and Resurrection parishes.

She was married to her husband for 64 years until his death in 2022, and is survived by her five children, Sue (Luther) Hegland, Jim Scibetta, Jean (Pascal) Renouil, Joan (Dan) Fenwick, Charlie (Kelly) Scibetta, and her ten grandchildren, Thor (Akasha), Shannon (Alexander), Jacob (Jamie), Jimmy, Francesca, Nicolas, David, Marc, Ryan, and Leah. She is survived by her siblings Genie (Chuck) Bassett and Michael (Marilyn) Green, and her sister-in-law Leah Green. She is predeceased by her parents Eugenia and John Green, her sister Pat, brother Jack, and daughter-in-law Fiorella.

Joan was a friend to many, and she will be greatly missed as a trusted friend and sister and a cherished mother and grandmother who loved travel, reading, cooking, and playing board games with her treasured family. 

The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, July 11th at 10:30 AM, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church (435 Monterey Ave) in Capitola.

Donations in her honor may be made to St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Capitola, Resurrection Catholic Parish in Aptos, or to Hospice of Santa Cruz County.