"All of South City" Says Goodbye to Jane

Family, friends, teachers, students and alumni bid goodbye to Jane Porcelli, an campus control supervisor, Thursday night with a Mass at St. Robert's Catholic Church in San Bruno.

"El Camino is a family, and we have lost a family member," said Porcelli's fellow security staff member, Ron Haynes, who worked with Porcelli for over 21 years, in an address to the church. "I, along with you, loved Jane."

Porcelli, 64, , and died two days later in the hospital. Since then, there has been an outpouring of appreciation for Porcelli's tough exterior but  from students, teachers and community members.

Mourners filled all the pews of the church. Former and current teachers, students and administrators came to the memorial service, as did members of the and the .

Porcelli's son Rich Porcelli, 38, is a South San Francisco fire captain. She is also survived by son, Dennis Porcelli, 36, daughter, Nancy Porcelli, 31, and grandson, Dominic, 5.

"All of South City is here," said Michael Zozos, an El Camino history teacher.

Alum Camille Torres, 20, came to the service and left a red Santa hat she used to wear that Porcelli liked on the altar. Even though the hat was against the rules, Porcelli let her wear it.

"She wasn't the beast everyone thought she was," said Torres, a college student at Skyline.

"She would enforce the rules but let you slide, too," said alum Ryan Reddick, 20, now a student at Skyline College.

Laura Janero, the third member of El Camino's security trio who worked with Haynes and Porcelli, said in her remarks that Porcelli had "a twisted sense of humor," and liked to tell people in her native Boston accent that she didn't have a "heaht."

Janero said once Porcelli decided to climb into a tree to bust some kids for drugs. After the students had been taken to the assistant principal's office, Janero started looking for Porcelli, but couldn't find her until she heard someone hissing for her.

Porcelli was still in the tree.

"I had to call maintenance to get her down," Janero said.

"We had quite a journey together," Janero said.