Ernestina Avila

3/11/1962-3/29/2019

Ernestina Avila de Casas was born late on Sunday, March 11, 1962 to cattle ranchers in Valle Nuevo, Mexico. As a baby, she always liked her food on time and cried a lot to get attention from her family, indeed much of her early life was spent out in the fields picking flowers and playing with her dolls. She liked climbing trees and riding horses and sampling fresh grown corn and sugar cane whenever she worked the fields of her home town. She preferred working outside with her father and her brothers as opposed to staying indoors and doing more traditionally feminine jobs in the home. This was a good indication of her character, as she was drawn to fun and danger. For example, she would find the bulls with the worst attitudes to wave red flags in front of them to get them to charge and she would fearlessly dodge them. In school, she had few friends but no one messed with her and she always looked out for her younger sisters. She preferred spicy and boldly flavored foods and loved finding candy that was stashed away. Her early life was that of fun and adventure in the mountains of Zacatecas but she was always up for the next challenge.

That challenge came in 1980, where she and her grandfather along with her sister, Alicia, struck out in their journey north to America. She arrived in Fontana, CA where she found a job as a seamstress in a curtain factory. A year later in 1981 she moved with my grandfather to Compton where she found another job at a baby garment factory. Her family was always devoutly Catholic, and she became a part of the church community at Our Lady of Victory Catholic church. Soon afterward in April of 1982, she met my father, a young Simon Avila, at a wedding. Much to her father’s chagrin, they began dating and she would always make time for this new person in her life. Their relationship blossomed and in August 30, 1986, Ernestina and Simon were married and she then left to live with her husband in Paramount. Her first son, Simon Jr. Was born in May 16, 1987, and her second son Joel was born in August 26, 1988. The small family lived together in Paramount until 1993 when their youngest son was born on May 16 of that year. She quit her job to take care of her young family and moved to a small house in Long Beach, CA. She settled into life as a working parent for the next 13 years until January of 2006 where she moved to Corona, CA for work and other reasons. Far away from her family but still resolute, she watched her sons grow up and go to school and join the US Army and Marine corps, in order to find their own paths in life. Through struggles in finance and family, she held on and made the best of her situation. She was diagnosed with colon cancer in February of 2018 and fought with everything she had with the help of her family and friends until 29 March, 2019. She held on through the pain and suffering brought on by the stage IV cancer all the way to her last moments, surrounded by her family. She was always so proud of us; everyone who knew her always spoke highly of her strong character and no B.S. attitude towards life. Everyone who knew her spoke well of her strong work ethic and endless devotion to her family. Everyone who knew her loved her as the pillar of strength she was for us. For you your family is grateful; for having had the chance to know you, your friends were lucky; and for being born by you, your sons are blessed.

Rest in peace, Ernestina Avila de Casas.