Cecelia Josephine Basilius

She graduated from Salinas High in 1962.

Cece was a single mom who raised 2 children since they were 2 & 4 years old. Her family was so important to her, and she tried to be there for every baton twirling parade or dance event Tina was in & every baseball game Richard had. When her only grandchild was born, she enjoyed watching Raquel grow up playing soccer & share the love of animals too. To Cece, God, family and friends were the most important in her life & she held all closely to her heart.

While raising her young children, she went to beauty school to be a hair stylist while also working a fulltime job. She worked her last 19 years of employment as a switchboard operator for the Salinas Juvenile Probation Department—where she also made a lot of lifetime friends too!

She was actively involved with the Sherwood Mobile Home Park recreation club & was part of the board of directors up until about 6 years ago. She was also a member of Compass Church. Over the many years, she was extremely crafty with making jewelry, sweatshirts, dry flower arrangements & so many other crafts she made by hand-including creating many Halloween costumes for herself & her granddaughter over the years!

Cece was from the Salinan Indian Tribe where some of her past relative’s photos are even exhibited at the San Antonio Mission. Her living room décor reflected all her many Indian framed art, Indian dishes with lots of Indian dolls, dream catchers, etc.

She is preceded in death by her father Gilbert Digges & Mother Josephine Barioni.

She is survived by her brother Mike Digges & sister-in-law Leslie Digges, her son Richard Basilius, her daughter Tina Daniel & son in law Rick Daniel, her only grandchild Raquel Daniel, and her niece Shannon O’Neal and her nephew Mike Digges, along with many cousins.

Cece loved staying busy—Crafts shows, Tea gatherings at the churches, baking for various bunko gatherings & others’ BBQs, etc. – She had a wide range of friends over the years that she loved to visit with/talk on the phone with. She also enjoyed many years with long time friends at the local Salinas American Legion Post #31

Cece had a lot of physical health issues over the years, but she was a strong lady & tried her hardest not to let any of this slow her down. You would see her often driving her motorized wheelchair over to the clubhouse for a meeting or to play bunko along with getting rides to church where she used her other wheelchair to get into the services.

The family would like to give a huge thank you to Elena Chairez & Caty Rodriguez, her care givers, who provided both care and compassion over this last year.

Family and friends are invited to attend Services & Celebration of Life at Compass Church, 830 Padre Drive, Salinas, CA 93901 on Saturday, May 30th at 10:00 am. The Celebration of Life will be right after church service in the Gym, there at Compass until 1pm. In honor of our mother, we ask that everyone wear something purple (if you have it), it was always our mom’s favorite color.