Aurora Elias Guevara

At the age of 92, Aurora Elias Guevara passed away peacefully in her family’s home on June 4, 2024, in Oakland, California. The daughter of Adolfo and Consuelo Elias, Aurora was born in El Paso, Texas. She grew up enamored with her father’s ingenuity and craft as a builder, and she showed a similar ingenuity in many aspects of her life.

Aurora was a proud graduate of Ysleta High School Class of 1949, in El Paso, Texas. Soon after graduation, she met and married Fernando Guevara. Married for 74 years, Aurora took excellent care of her family, including her husband who recently celebrated his 100th birthday thanks in no small part to her loving attention. Once her children were school age, Aurora worked in El Paso as a bookkeeper and office manager. She later quit her job to care for her sister Junie for many years. In 2008, when she was 76 years young, Aurora and Fernando moved to Alameda, California, to be closer to their children. She enjoyed the cooler weather, being closer to the ocean, and no matter how cold the day, she always delighted in getting in the water. In Alameda, she enjoyed walking to the beach, learning to play the piano, and making new friends at her senior housing complex. Aurora helped manage the annual rummage sale for several years at the senior complex, and (harkening back to her Ysleta days as President of the Girls Recreation Association) she was the model for the senior yoga class.

Aurora is survived by her husband, Fernando Guevara; and her children, Victoria & Doyle Morris, Catalina (Katy) & Stevan Alvarado, Ruben Guevara & Barbara Lemus; and her beloved grandson, Javier Alvarado & Topher Smart. She is also survived by two sisters, Carmen and Emma and brother, Larry; and many nieces, nephews and cousins from the Elias, Bejarano and Guevara families.

Although she was a member of the National Honor Society at Ysleta High School, Aurora didn’t get the opportunity to attend college. But she was a life-long learner, encouraged education for others, and hated use of the word ‘stupid,’ which implied one was not smart. In his college applications, her grandson wrote about how his grandmother instilled a true love of learning; one school wrote back a personal note of how proud she must have been of him. And she was!

Throughout life’s ups and downs, Aurora blessed everyone around her with her kindness and love. Even in her last days, she was concerned about how Fernie was doing. In her absence, we are still learning of the many big and small ways that she shared her thoughtfulness with others.

In lieu of flowers, you may instead choose to make a donation to your favorite charity, or to La Clínica de la Raza (www.laclinica.org). La Clínica is a community health clinic based in Oakland, California, where both her son-in-law and grandson worked at one time, and whose executive director has a close El Paso/Glenwood Street connection with Aurora.