Leontine ‘Tweedy’ Colla; Longtime Resident

Leontine “Tweedy” Colla, a Ventura County resident for more than 50 years, died of heart failure Sunday at a Ventura nursing home. She was 79.

She was born March 1, 1917, in Hollywood to Robert and Leontine Phelen, who were both employed in the movie industry. A seventh-generation Californian, Colla was also a direct descendant on her mother’s side of the family of Santa Barbara Presidio Commandant Jose Francisco Ortega.

She received her unusual nickname as a child, said her daughter-in-law, Susan Colla of Ventura.

“A family friend called her ‘sweetie,’ but she couldn’t pronounce it and it came out ‘Tweedy’ so she was known as ‘Tweedy’ her entire life,” she said.

She was raised in Santa Barbara, where her parents worked at the Flying A film studio. Her mother was believed to be the last surviving former employee of the defunct studio when she died in 1994 in her historic Santa Barbara home, the Rochin Adobe, at the age of 101.

Colla graduated from Santa Barbara High School and moved to Ventura after her marriage in the late 1930s. She was a homemaker until she moved to a local nursing home in 1990.

She loved sports and cats.

“She was known for her cat collection at the nursing home,” Susan Colla said. “She had stuffed cats, her blankets had cats on them, her pillowcases had cats on them and her calendars had cats.”

In addition to her daughter-in-law, Colla is survived by her son, Robert Colla Sr., daughter Janet Johnston of Sacramento, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Graveside services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at Calvary Cemetery, 199 N. Hope Ave., Santa Barbara.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Joseph Reardon Funeral Home in Ventura.