Elvira Altagracia Montes

Elvira was born December 21st, 1927 in Lemon Grove, CA to her parents Julio and Maria (Altagracia) Avina. She had 6 siblings; Jose Avina, Pedro Avina, Julio Avina Jr., Ray Lopez, Juan Avina, and Connie Halcon. Following the death of her mom at 3 months old, she went with her Nina (Josefa Lopez) in Tuscan, Arizona.

She would move on later in life to San Francisco where she met Joaquin Montes at the Big Band dances. They fell in love, got married, and started a family. They had 5 children, Irene Montes (d. 2012), Virginia Porras (d. 1997), Patricia Zamora, Richard Montes, and Yvonne Montes (d. 2024). They created their home in Santa Clara, CA. Elvira worked at Fairchild Semiconductor for 25 years. She worked her way up to supervisor and showed her leadership qualities. After she retired, she spent her days looking after her grandchildren. She was often seen and respected as the foundational center piece of her family, she was the matriarch.

Elvira was a proud grandmother of 5 grandchildren, Yolanda Garcia, Cynthia Jaimes, Eddie Porras, Stephanie Guerrero, and Priscilla Porras. She would later be blessed with 13 great grandchildren, and carried on long enough to be part of the lives of her 22 great great grandchildren.

She was always hand in hand with her youngest daughter, Yvonne Montes (Auntie Bunny). Auntie Bunny always took her the glass pumpkin patch in Palo Alto as a fall tradition. She would drive her around town, and kept Elvira’s hobby of shopping thriving at 100%!

The sound of Mexican music would hit your ears the moment you walked into Elvira’s house. For every birthday, Auntie Bunny made sure her mom had her mariachis, singing along to all her favorite songs.

Lastly, Elvira loved her dogs. She was always with her puppies Suki, Kiki, Sasha, and Keisha. She would always have Suki on her lap and making sure that she was around her. Grandma would sneak her dogs a treat from the table any chance she got. No matter what anyone else thought, the dogs knew they could depend on her for treats!

She started a beautiful family and instilled the value of family traditions that live on. Christmas time will always remind us of cookie day and Grandma’s birthday.

Grandma will be sincerely missed, but her memory and spirit will reside within the family forever. That’s why she was and always will be a true matriarch, and her spirit is forever bonded to the lives she touched!

Her funeral services will be scheduled on June 30th, visitation and rosary at Lima Mortuary on Winchester from 5-8pm. On July 1st, church service will be held at 12:30pm at St. Justin Church in Santa Clara, CA. She will then be laid to rest at Santa Clara Mission Cemetery.