Elida Moya Reyes

Elida Moya Reyes was born in Falfurrias, Texas in 1933 to Theodoro and Guadalupe Ortiz Moya where she learned the value of family, hard work and sacrifice. She blessed us on this earth for 84 years and lived every minute of it. Elida's mother died when she was very young leaving her to become the matriarch of the family at only 13 years-old. She helped to raise her siblings while her father, a true Texas cowboy, worked the land to provide for them. As a result she dropped out of school in the third grade to assume her role as woman of the house. It was that struggle and joy that helped to mold her into the iron lady she later became. Elida worked as a migrant worker when she met her husband Ernest in the late 1940s and together they were a solid team. She worked a variety of jobs over the years from carhop to housemaid, always doing what she could to help her husband provide for their five boys. It wasn't easy but they never went without. Ernest and Elida did their best to pass that work ethic on to their sons, taking them along early mornings to clean the Centre Theatre and then dropping them off at school after. The couple later invested their energy into a new business and opened The Barn on Agnes. The neighborhood bar could best be described as the Mexican American version of Cheers where it was Elida who greeted you. In all her years she never met a stranger. Later they also opened Elida's on Morgan—her namesake because by then people knew her name and had come to appreciate her sparkling zest for life. It was she that kept them coming back year after year. Education was very important to Elida. The self-made businesswoman went back to school as an adult to learn to read and write. She wanted to be better for herself as well as her children. It was that passion that also spurred her involvement in politics in the late 1960s. Elida worked to rally the neighborhood by spreading information, hosting meetings and getting people involved in the fight for better education and schools for our

After Ernest died she retired to the joys of becoming a full-time grandmother. She loved to pass the time in front of slot machines or to relax at home with any one of her many rescue dogs. Over the years there were many she loved them all. Elida was brought up in a time when women had to be strong willed and hardworking. She tempered that with a great love for all those around her from the smallest of creatures to all those she considered family. She will be greatly missed. Elida is preceded in death by her loving husband Ernest G. Reyes., son Ronnie Reyes, brothers Corando Moya and Theodoro Moya Jr.