Obituary of Berenice Felipe

The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday evening in Santa Cruz for Berenice Felipe, who died earlier this month off of the coast of Santa Barbara while on a scuba diving excursion. Born in Los Angeles, she was 16 years old.
Berenice moved to Santa Cruz with her family at the age of 3. At the time of her death, she was enjoying her senior year at Pacific Collegiate School, where she excelled in art and languages.
Berenice was active in many school and civic activities including  Fusion Dance, volunteering at the SPCA animal shelter, Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), and choral music. She volunteered to assist at new student orientations at the beginning of each school year; her friendliness and easy confidence put people at ease.
Her favorite hobbies were dance, scuba diving, tennis reading, art, music, learning Korean. 
An accomplished traveler, Berenice visited many distant destinations including Denmark, Florida, Mexico, and the Dutch island of Bonaire in the Caribbean, where she worked on coral reef restoration. From an early age, she had a wide variety of interests, which she discussed articulately and with enthusiasm. In particular, she had an enduring love of animals and a gift for interacting with them. She will always be remembered as a wonderfully intelligent and dedicated daughter, sister and friend, whose time here was all too brief, but a true blessing for those she loved. 
She is survived by her mother and step-father; her sister, Renata, and her loving extended family. 
Berenice was preceded in death by her father Federico Felipe in 2010. 
The mass will be held on Friday evening, September 20, 2019, at Holy Cross Catholic Church (210 High Street) in Santa Cruz, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Committal services will be private. An account has been established through zellepay.com with the email address of yadiraynis@gmail.com if you wish to make a charitable donation to her family.