William "Bill/Willie/Moe" Garcia Terrones

William “Bill/Moe/Willie” Garcia Terrones was born on June 25, 1935 in Los Angeles, California to Miguel Terrones of Jalisco, Mexico and Herlinda Garcia of Sonora, Mexico. He passed away on the morning of September 28, 2021 at his home in La Puente, California with his son Garrett at his side. He left knowing that his family loved him and that they would be strong and carry on.

Bill grew up with his brother and parents near the Los Angeles County General Hospital in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights and graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Lincoln Heights. Bill met his wife Clara at the Riverside Rancho and after just a few months of dating, they eloped to Las Vegas and were wed on August 4, 1956. Bill and Clara were married for 63 years. After having their first two sons, Will (1957) and Jon (1958), they moved to La Puente in 1960. Two other sons joined the family after the move, Steve (1962) and Garrett (1968).

Like his dad, mom and brother, Bill worked in the meat packing industry in Vernon for a good part of his adult life. He endured years of working in the cold refrigerators. One thing that a lot of people didn’t know about Bill is that he was a minority owner/operator of a Pioneer Chicken franchise in Orange County in the seventies. He eventually made his way back to the meat packing business before becoming a custodial supervisor with the Bassett Unified School District, eventually retiring in 1998. Bill’s children will always remember their dad as a hard worker. His hard work took a toll on his body, but like men of his generation, he did what he needed to do to support his family.

No matter what, the Terrones clan almost always took a family vacation. Clara always did her best to set aside some money for that summer vacation. Those family vacations created so many family memories. There were trips to San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Rosarito Beach to enjoy some delicious lobster with rice, beans and warm flour tortillas. One trip took the family all the way to Vancouver, British Columbia by motorhome. After retirement, Bill and Clara took a trip to Costa Rica, a couple of trips to Hawaii (one with the grandkids) and several trips to Cancun, Mexico. They absolutely fell in love with the beautiful waters of Cancun. Bill loved vacations, but while at home, he didn’t like going out to eat that often because he absolutely loved his wife’s cooking. Mama (Clara), made the very best enchiladas with red New Mexico chili. The chili was made from scratch and it was hot and tasty. There were also those amazing tacos (hamburger meat with potatoes) with her special thick taco sauce.

Bill loved his family, Clara’s cooking and sports. He watched so much sports that Clara said that the TV must be broken because at times it seemed to only get sports and that was before cable. For many years, Clara did accompany Bill to watch the Lakers, Dodgers, the original Rams and his beloved USC Trojans football. Bill had season tickets for about 50 years. He hated to give them up, but it just became to difficult to walk and sit for so many hours. Bill also traveled to see USC play on the road. He saw them play in South Bend, Berkley, Palo Alto and even Hawaii in 2010. Bill and his son Garrett even went to see Marcus Allen and Trojans in Tempe at the Fiesta Bowl. Besides watching college and pro sports, Bill enjoyed watching local high school football games, but he really loved watching his son’s on the baseball field. Jon was an amazing hitter, Will an awesome catcher, Steve a great hitter and stellar pitcher and Garrett just played because they wanted him too.

In the mid to late eighties, Bill accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He was far from perfect, but he loved God. Bill and Clara were active members of the Calvary Chapel Christian Fellowship in West Covina for many years. They felt at home there and the CCCF family always made them feel welcomed and loved. They would often volunteer and Bill served the church as an usher. Bill stopped attending because of his physical limitations, but CCCF was still his church. Thank you CCCF for being part of our family’s life over the years.

Bill leaves behind his sons, Jon of San Diego, California, Steven of Henderson, Nevada and Garrett of La Puente, California and his daughters-in-law, Tina and Monica. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Crystal, Corey, Justin (Brittany), Steven II (Paloma), Nathan (Jo), Jackie, Jason (Psalm) and Garrett. He is also survived by his nine great-grandchildren, Kaleo, Nikko, Danielle, Stella, Santiago, Noah, Willow, Scarlett and Liam.

Bill is preceded in death by his wife of 63 years, Clara (2019), son William Edward (2010), parents Miguel (1972) and Herlinda (1978), granddaughters, Jessica Marie (1989) and Tiffany Kay (1990) and brother Roberto (2005).