Jenna Cruz

Jenna Rose Cruz, 24, of Tottenville, a paraprofessional who enjoyed working with special-needs children, died Saturday at Tri-Town Regional Hospital, Sidney, N.Y., of pulmonary edema.

Born in New Dorp, she moved with family to Huguenot when she was 2 years old. She settled in Tottenville three years ago.

A graduate of Tottenville High School, she attended the College of Staten Island.

For two years, Ms. Cruz was a paraprofessional at PS 373 in New Brighton.

Working with autistic children was her special gift, said her mother, Jacquelyn Cruz.

Ms. Cruz is remembered as full of energy and having a good sense of humor. She loved cooking, baking and hanging out with her friends.

She was a parishioner of St. Joseph-St. Thomas R.C. Parish, Pleasant Plains.

Surviving, along with her mother, Jacquelyn, are her father, David; her brothers, Danny and Richie; her sisters, Chelsea and Annie, and her grandparents, Maria and Benito Guzman.

The funeral will be Friday from the Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home, Tottenville, with a mass at 9:30 a.m. in St. Thomas the Apostle R.C. Church, Pleasant Plains. Arrangements include cremation at the Rosehill Crematory, Linden, N.J.

Services: St. Thomas the Apostle RC Church Friday, November 23,2012 9:30AM

Visitation: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home Wednesday, November 21,2012 2-4 & 7-9PM

Cemetery: Cremation Will Be Private

Location: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home

Church: St. Thomas The Apostle RC Church