Elena Xóchitl Guadalupe Snedden – Dancer and athlete with a zest for life

Elena Xóchitl Guadalupe Snedden was born February 23, 1986 in
Healdsburg. She died suddenly on June 29, 2007 near Healdsburg at
21 years of age. &#8220Xochie” attended Fitch Mountain and Foss
Creek Elementary Schools’ Dual Language Immersion Program,
Healdsburg Junior High and graduated from Healdsburg High School in
2004. During this time she was an athletic whirlwind participating
in soccer, basketball, baseball, swimming, cross country, track and
field, downhill skiing, snowboarding and powderpuff football, as
well as performing dance routines with the Greyhound Girls at HHS
athletic events. She dedicated 10 years to the study of ballet
(attaining her goal of dancing in the Waltz of the Flowers and
Snowflakes corps in The Nutcracker with Ballet California); worked
at Anstead’s Market in Healdsburg and the American Eagle store in
Santa Rosa. After graduating from Healdsburg High, she enrolled at
Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO and completed three
years of study. She quickly fell in love with the Colorado sunsets
over the Rocky Mountains and came to consider Colorado as her
second home. She leaves many, many friends there. &#8220Xochie”
had a dazzling smile, a mischievous twinkle in her eye, a penchant
for creative and zany spontaneous antics, a unique love and
appreciation of animals and nature, and a special zest for life
that attracted many friends throughout North America and Europe
where she loved to travel. She was a member of Our Lady of
Guadalupe Church in Windsor where she had been an altar server as a
young girl. She lived with joy and intense passion, and
accomplished much in her brief time with us. A brilliant star has
joined the Heavens. Xóchitl is survived by her loving mother Elisa
Snedden of Healdsburg, her adoring sister and brother-in-law Adela
and Sébastien Castelain and their baby on the way of Lille, France,
her beloved aunt &#8220Tía” Stephanie Snedden of Mayhill, NM,
her special cousin, who she considered &#8220the brother I
never had” Scott Mitchell of Laguna Hills, CA, her revered
great-Aunt Betty S. Allen of Salt Lake City, UT, her cherished
&#8220smitten kittens” her rescued cats Callie and Cleo, and by
numerous cousins and extended family members including her
Godparents Argelio and Yolanda Girón, and Manuel and Graciela
Flores all of Healdsburg. She was preceded in death by her beloved
Gramps and Nanny, Robert and Ester S. Snedden. A Rosary will be
held on Thursday, July 5 at 8 p.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church,
8400 Old Redwood Highway, Windsor, CA with a quiet hour-viewing
beginning one hour prior. Her funeral mass will be celebrated on
Friday, July 6 at 2 p.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, with
burial immediately following at Oak Mound Cemetery in Healdsburg.
If desired, donations in her memory may be made to the Healdsburg
Animal Shelter.