by Andrea Ruse
She was raised as a military brat who moved around a lot, making few close friends during the early years of her life. When she moved to Manhattan Beach in the 1970s, she was anything but a part of the “in” crowd. Even the other moms pushing baby carriages around wouldn’t let her in their clique.
So Julia Tedesco formed her own cliques — ones to which everyone was invited to be a part — that centered around her talents and passions: art, history, and community.
She volunteered to teach art classes at local schools, inspiring thousands of kids to paint, sculpt and be creative.
When the city became increasingly attractive to developers, she joined the Manhattan Beach Historical Society to help preserve the community’s character and ended up helping save one of the city’s most prized treasures — the pier.
When she saw opportunities for improving her community, she took on leadership roles in local organizations and fought to keep traditions that make up the fabric of the city.
“No one in this community has done so much for so many people, and her time was limited,” said her son Jacob Tedesco. “She was completely selfless, but no matter how busy she was, what problems she was trying to fix, or which person’s life that she was trying to make better, she never missed one of mine or my brother’s little league games or didn’t have time to make dinner.”
Tedesco died Monday after a nearly six-month battle with leukemia, well-known by a community that originally wanted nothing to do with an outsider. She was 58.
“One of her legacies is that there are 5,000, maybe 10,000, works of art created by people she taught,” said Jack Tedesco, Julia’s husband of 32 years. “Some are hanging on walls somewhere. Others are in a frame or tucked between the pages of a book. Some are in galleries. Many of her students are still making art from what they learned from her.”
Tedesco was born in 1951 in Lincoln, Nebraska. Her father was in the U.S. Air Force. She moved often during her childhood between Japan, Hawaii, and San Bernardino, attending five high schools before graduating from Warren High in Downey in 1969.
As a child, she became interested in art and began painting in oils, watercolors and pastels. She attended California State University Fullerton, earning her B.A. in Art History in 1973, and moved to Manhattan Beach in 1975.
During high school, she met her future husband and the two reconnected at a friend’s wedding a few years after graduating.
“She was a bridesmaid and I was a groomsman,” Jack said. “We were assigned to each other to walk down the aisle together.”
The two walked down the aisle together again a few years later when they married in 1978 and became assigned to each other for the rest of their lives, building a home in Manhattan Beach and raising two sons — John and Jacob.
“We spent every day and every night together,” Jack said. “We raised our kids together. We did everything together. We did that every day for 32 years and it was always perfect. Always.”
Tedesco was a stay-at-home mom who became deeply entrenched in the community through her art. Her work has been featured on murals around town and at numerous exhibitions — most recently “Lost Visions” at the Manhattan Beach Creative Arts Center in September. In addition to the classes she taught at schools, such as Grand View Elementary, she offered art camps out of her garage. At one point, 900 students attended her camps annually.
“Her whole philosophy was that each student be able to bring home at least one framable piece of art they made in class,” Jack said.
Tedesco served as the moderator at the Manhattan Beach Community Church, president of the Manhattan Beach Badminton Club, and president of the Manhattan Beach Historical Society. She ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 2004.
In 1985, as president of the Historical Society, she and vice president Keith Robinson founded Pier Pressure, an organization whose mission was to save the pier. The City Council had threatened to tear the pier down after a man was injured walking underneath it. Tedesco raised $10,000 and rallied the community to save the landmark. In the end, Pier Pressure was the driving force behind not only saving but restoring the pier.
A small plaque sits at the bottom of the pier flagpole dedicated to the efforts of Tedesco and Robinson.
“She was passionate about stuff,” Robinson said. “She was always asking herself ‘What can I do?’ She always had a sense of humor, was always laughing. But she could get angry about stuff, like the shortsightedness of other people. Think about the pier lighting, the open house, parades and all that we have down at the pier. Those things probably wouldn’t be here without Pier Pressure, which Julia spearheaded.”
“That’s Julia’s pier,” Jack said. “She pretty much saved it.”
Tedesco’s greatest pride as Historical Society president was saving a red beach cottage
on 15th St. built in 1904, according to Robinson. When the homeowners planned to demo the dated house, Tedesco coordinated with the city to have it moved to Polliwog Park, where it now serves as headquarters for the organization.
“Six years we worked together on that,” Robinson said.
Last year, Tedesco authored a children’s book entitled The Legend of Sand Dune Park, a semi-fictional story about Manhattan Beach’s famed park.
In September, Tedesco was diagnosed with leukemia. She underwent several rounds of chemotherapy treatment and a stem cell transplant in recent months.
“For two months, she was in remission and was healthy,” Jack said. “But we knew with the mutation she had, it was probably going to come back. We spent our last anniversary, which was in February, in the hospital.”
Even during illness, Tedesco was still making plans.
“The last time I talked to her she was excited about the city’s 2012 Centennial celebration and was trying to talk me into being on the committee with her to help plan it,” Robinson said.
Tedesco is survived by her husband Jack, 59, and two sons John, 28, and Jacob, 31.
Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. Mar. 27 at Manhattan Beach Community Church at 303 South Peck Ave.
Jack plans to respect her final wishes.
“What she really wanted was for us to throw a party. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do.” ER
julia taught me art when i was young and i worked for her last summer help in her summer camp. its so sad to hear how she passes. i am 17 and i want to peruse a career in art all thanks to julia, she was the reason i found art. i wish i had more time to thank her, she was the most amazing art teacher in the world, i will miss her so much, and im so sorry she had to leave. but here memory lives on everywhere in my life and my family’s.
Julia was a great influence on me and my two daughters who are now 15 and 17 at Redondo High. The started taking art classes from Julia when they were 4 and 6 respectively. They worked for the past 3 summers at her art camp. My 17 year old says if it weren’t for Julia she wouldn’t be the artist she is now, which is very good. Julia’s “Wolf” project was done recently in the Redondo Hands on Art Program. My 17 year old was a docent for the high school for this project. It gave her a warm feeling to know that Julia had taught this to her many years ago when she was 6 years old. Julia has been supportive, enthusiastic, caring, and just a wonderful passionate person. We were lucky to have her as a friend and art teacher. Our prayers go to Jack, John and Jacob and the other family members who are feeling their loss.
Julia was my mentor and shining example of how one should lead their life. She was a stand-in mother, a best friend, and just plain fun. She helped my dreams come true and made an impact on my life that will last forever.
My children loved taking art classes from Julia. Their art from her classes is still decorating our walls in our dining room and living room. We used some of this art to create thank you notes for legislators in our advocacy efforts. With kindness, understanding, concern and caring, she taught our children about art and lead them to create their own art utilizing different media and different techniques. She was an exceptional woman, educator and artist. We will all miss Julia. Her husband and sons have our deepest sympathy.
Julia Tedesco was a very talented woman who touched many childrens’ lives. My children Kristina and Matthew were two of the many students that were so lucky to take art classes with her. I too feel privileged to have known her and I always enjoyed our chats. She will always be remembered and we have many art projects framed.
Today I attended the AAYF class at the PV Art Center that was Julia Tedesco’s last project, taught by her son in his mother’s place… What an incredible young man to step up at this time of personal loss, and to share this last gift that his mother created for us… it was of course another amazing project, so clearly taught, step-by-step, with everyone’s artwork different, yet all beautiful in the end!
I had been looking forward to this project all year as Julia is one of the few artists that I could recognize at AAYF, as I have been very fortunate to have learned and taught all four projects she created for our program. And I thoroughly enjoyed her wonderful directed drawing projects as they were always so user friendly to students and docents alike. She was indeed my favorite artist in the program.
I did not know her personally, but only as a very fortunate docent who was always inspired by what she taught. I just needed say how much she touched my life with her wonderful gifts of art and her warm and caring personality. Reading about her life and her many generous contributions to her community and the art world, only made her loss seem even greater.
My deepest sympathy to her family at this time. Thank you for sharing this wonderful lady with us. And thank you to her son for continuing her work in such a special way today. What an amazing family you are! Please know her memory lives on in many hearts.
Julia was a person I saw once a year or so. Each time she had something wonderful going on in her life and recently things not wonderful at all. She always shared those things as an afterthought. She was a wonderful role model on how to live each moment to the fullest. My heart goes out to those she leaves behind. She’s a hard act to follow.
I met Julia for the first time, a few years ago, at one of EASY READER Cartoonist Keith Robinson’s famous “Making It” backyard anniversary parties. She was a very warm, jovial and vibrant lady. I had just embarked on authoring my first children’s book (a manuscript I’m now submitting to publishers) and she was very generous with offering me advice. We laughed a lot. Later, I discovered that we shared the same hairdresser and salon. So, we heard about and kept up with each other, back and forth, through the grapevine and even exchanged a few pleasant emails.
I’m very saddened to learn of this lovely lady’s passing. For the little time and in the happenstance way that I knew her, she touched me deeply. My heart goes out to her family, friends and the many others whose lives were brightened by her smile and warmth.