Justita Garcia

Justita Garcia passed away on Friday, September 20, 2024.

Justita's Life Celebration will begin with a visitation on Thursday, October 3, 2024, at 9:00am at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Catholic Church located at 4515 Fortuna Road NE, 87105. Mass will begin at 10:00am. Reception will follow the mass in the parish hall. Justita will be laid to rest on Friday, October 4, 2024 at 11:00am at Mount Calvary Cemetery located at 1900 Edith Blvd NE, 87102.

Eulogy Tom read at Justita's service:

The Heavens are certainly hung in black today, that’s for sure.

These past few weeks and months have certainly altered any fixed thoughts and ideas I ever had about death, about illness, about life, about family, about grief, about memory.  Life ends and nothing is the same again.  Our hearts are full, but we honor her and celebrate the life of Justita Garcia who left us at the ripe young age 102.  Life is about saying good bye.   I’m so glad I knew her.  It was a pleasure.

New Mexico had only been a state for 10 years when my Mother was born in the small village of Puerto de Luna New Mexico.  She was the youngest of 8 children.  She never knew her father, who died one month before she was born.

Her mother, who everybody called MaMa LaLa, was a single mother at a time when there was no government assistance. It was a hard life. The family struggled, but they never gave up and they thrived and flourished.  The dynasty of MaMa LaLa.

She was a member of the Greatest Generation. The generation that came of age during the Great Depression and Second World War and went on to build modern America and the world we have today.

She lived on a small farm.  Never traveled beyond her environment.  The first time she went to Santa Rosa which was 10 miles north of Puerto de de Luna, whose population in the 1930’s was less than 2000, she couldn’t believe how people lived in such a place.

Being the youngest of 8 children, she was always called upon to help out her siblings.  La Pelagia va tender un baby. Your sister is going to have a baby. Her Mother would call out. Go help her. She would babysit her nephews and nieces, who she was very close with since she wasn’t much older than many of them.  She was the teenager who they all rallied around.  She Covered for them when they got into trouble.  So, as an adult they were very close.  Some of them stayed with my parents when they moved to Albuquerque to go to school or were looking for jobs and just starting out.

Along with her sister, Lila, she attended the Civilian Conservation Corps which were known as CCC camps.   A program established by FDR  between 1933 and 1944 as part of the New Deal to help lift the US out of the Great Depression.  She could not believe her luck when her Mother actually said she could attend.  She enjoyed the work and the play, and camaraderie the camps provided.  And, along with her sister said it was one of best times of her life.

She learned to speak English when her Uncle who had a small restaurant in Seligman, Arizona asked her to spend the summer and work for him.  This was during the war.  She told him she would wash dishes.  But, he insisted she wait tables so she could learn English.  It was during that time while sitting on her Uncle’s front porch that she saw Army troops marching in formation.  My Dad was part of those troops.  Mom never knew that until much later when we visited Seligman on our way to California.

Later when she returned to New Mexico she worked as a waitress in a well-known restaurant on Route 66 in Santa Rosa.  One day a black family showed up at the restaurant and her boss told her to tell them they had to order and eat in the kitchen.  She kindly refused.  She would have no part of that.  By then it was the end of the War and she went to work at the Rexall where she met my Dad who returned home a War Hero.  He had seen her before he went away to war and remembered her.  They married in 1946 and left with only $50 in their pocket to begin their life in Albuquerque.

Dad worked for Sears and Mom became a devoted home maker and mother as they navigated their way through the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s raising 4 sons and surviving.  Mom was a friend to all.  Always there when anyone was sick or needed help.  She never asked if you needed something, she just did it.  My neighbor Bessie Collaros remembers a time when her mother was in the hospital and their house was a shambles.  Mom went over, gathered up every piece of laundry, brought it home, washed, folded, ironed, and returned it all neatly stacked.  Bessie said she had never seen the bottom of the hamper.  Mom did things like that. She was a good, strong, caring lady.  She got things done and always with a smile and a wicked sense of humor.

Mom and Dad spent their later years enjoying retirement.  They traveled all over the country.  As a member of the 101st Airborne Dad and mom  Attended the 50th  anniversary of D-Day in Normandy.  Dad passed away in 2005 and Mom survived almost 20 years a widow.  Enjoying her home, her grandchildren and carrying on with her friends and family.

A life well lived.  She loved and was loved.  And what could be better than that.  She had a wonderful marriage, and raised 4 strong sons.  She saw and experienced a lot in all those years.  Some good, some not so good.  But, she smiled through it all.

Life ends

But we are not sad

And we are at peace with letting her go

She was ready.  She enjoyed her life and family.

She fought to the end, and had no regrets.

My Father always said, “todo se Aqaba.”  Everything comes to an end.

And so, Beloved Mother, Beloved wife, Beloved Grandmother, Beloved sister, Beloved Aunt, Beloved friend, we bid you farewell.

There is no end to missing you.