Corinne Centeno's Obituary
Corinne Centeno December 3, 1954 ' June 13, 2012 Corinne Centeno passed away peacefully at her home on June 13, 2012, following a brave battle with cancer. Corinne was born in San Francisco to Charles and Margery Becker. She is survived by her son Diego Centeno (Mikaela), brothers Craig Becker and Marc Becker (Sharon) and nephews Brad and Matthew. Corinne called Redwood City home for 45 years. She established deep roots in the community through her many friendships and her career in public service. She loved to be with family and friends whether it was a backyard barbeque, a community celebration or a more serious public meeting where issues of local importance were being discussed. While deeply committed to the local community, she was adventurous and enjoyed her frequent travels, with Italy being one of her favorite destinations. She began her public service career in 1976 at the Fair Oaks Community Center, and advanced to become Manager of that Center serving with great compassion and respect the people most in need throughout our community, providing shelter, food, clothing, and other basic human services. Her commitment to the community continued when she was appointed as the first Assistant to the City Manager where for nearly four years she used her renowned skills in facilitation, diplomacy, and civic engagement to build a better community. Corinne's devotion to creating great places and programs as a means of ensuring a better quality of life for the people of Redwood City brought her back to the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department where she served as Superintendent, and then for an extraordinary ten years as Director. Corinne's devotion to the community transcended her work with Redwood City. As an active volunteer she served on the boards of Shelter Network and the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center, and was a champion for the fight against cancer working tirelessly with the American Cancer Society to organize the community's annual Relay for Life event. Through her creativity and courage she accomplished great things for the community, demonstrating commitment and passion for service, always showing great integrity and unfailingly doing the right thing no matter the challenges. Corinne's list of achievements on behalf of the community are immense, it is however the woman behind all of these great accomplishments that her family and many dear friends remember with such deep affection. The faith that Corinne had in each of us, helped us aspire to be the best that we can be. She held each of us to a high standard, while all the while providing gentle guidance, a measure of wit, and rock solid support as we reached to fulfill our goals and dreams. She combined a depth of caring, with her wonderful sense of humor, to bring joy and laughter to all that she did. Her family, friends and colleagues will miss her hard work and leadership, her smile, her laughter, her energy, her compassion, her sense of adventure and her positive attitude that so often buoyed our spirits and those of the entire community. A Celebration of Life Memorial will be held on Saturday, July 14th at the Veterans Memorial Senior Center, 1455 Madison Avenue, Redwood City from 1 to 4 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to Redwood City Parks and Arts Foundation, 1400 Roosevelt, Ave, Redwood City, CA 94061.
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