Jean Marie Zambrano (nee Hood) was born July 28 ^th , 1954, in Motsch, near Bitburg, Germany, to Howard (Skip) and Marie Hood. Jean lost her battle to cancer on the morning of October 10 ^, 2019, in Santa Barbara, California.

Jean graduated from Cabrillo high school in 1972; earned at AA at Allan Hancock; and graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 1979, with a BA in anthropology. She started working with the Lompoc Unified School District (LUSD) in 1979 as an Indian Education Coordinator. In 1989, she worked at La Purisima Catholic School as a Religion and Social Studies teacher. In 1996, Jean started working for LUSD as a full-time Elementary School teacher at La Cañada School. She remained there for 23 years.

Jean was passionate about teaching, inspiring her students to always do their best and remain curious of learning about life. She was a loving and caring educator, always helping students who struggled to those who needed challenging. She thought that reading was a key to learning, as evidenced by her large classroom library.

Jean met her husband, Armando Zambrano at the LUSD offices in 1980, and they later married in 1992. She loved her family and friends. She especially enjoyed laughing over great conversations with a good glass of wine. She was involved in the Relay for Life for the past 10 years. She enjoyed music, concerts, plays, and of course, books. And always had a bag of M&M's and a bowl of popcorn nearby.

Jean is survived by her husband Armando Zambrano, her stepdaughters; Chani Zambrano of Lompoc, CA, and Tess Zambrano of Fayetteville, NY., her three grandsons; Aaron (Jennifer) Zambrano, Marcell (Lilliana) Ceaser, Ashad (Clarencia) Payne Zambrano and 5 great-granddaughters, Viviana, Lilliana, Lyric, Alana, and Aliea. Jean is also survived by her sister Kathy Koponick of Vacaville, CA., her niece Christina Steckley, goddaughter Kaitlyn, brother-in-law Tony Testa, nephew Romeo Testa, and numerous cousins on the Hood and Bennett side of the family.

Jean is preceded in death by her parents Howard and Marie Hood, her son Armando Zambrano Jr., and her sister Patricia Hood.

The visitation will be held October 15, 2019, from 4-7 pm at Starbuck-Lind Mortuary. A funeral mass will be held on Wednesday, October 16, 2019, at 2 pm at Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Lompoc, CA.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Jean's name to the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society.