Eulalia Rivas Valtierra

Eulalia Rivas Valtierra, age 77, passed away at her home on Tuesday, March 29, 2016, in Grand Prairie, TX. Preceded in death by her husband of 55 years, Catarino ‘Bill’ Valtierra, and survived by her children, Carolina Valtierra, Christina V. Garza, Christina ‘Mary Lou’ Valtierra (deceased), Ruben Valtierra, Mario Valtierra, and Simona Olage. She had 14 grandchildren (Symon Garza, LeAna Hernandez, Julian Garza, Alex Garza, Mercedes Valtierra, Romero Valtierra, Penelope Valtierra, Matthew Valtierra, Steven Valtierra, Michelle Valtierra, Anastasia Escudero, Sonia Vasquez, Apollinaris Vasquez, Sophia Valtierra), 9 great-grandchildren, and 7 sisters (Carmen Rodriguez, Irene Bernal, Mary Rico, Josie Perez, Janie Martinez, Lupe Ramirez, Hopie Rivera) and one brother, Antonio Rodriguez Jr. (deceased). She was born in Crandall, Texas, on February 18, 1939, to Manuel Rivas and Guadalupe Perez. Eulalia dedicated her life to her family and to teaching students and adults, even after retirement. She worked for over 25 years as a bilingual teacher, most of those years at Maple Lawn Elementary School. She was also the Catechism Director at Santa Teresita for many years. After she retired, she made beautiful quilts for her loved ones, worked on her yard, made crafts for every holiday you could imagine, and watched the news. She choose her favorite political candidate based on how nice looking they were. Yes, that was my mom, most of the time surrounded by her beloved cats, blaring her radio, listening to Elvis Presley, Billy Idol, Neil Diamond, David Bowie, and Bruno Mars (she said he reminded her of Elvis, dancing moves and all). Eulalia was known for her amazing strength and beauty, inside and out. She was always willing to help others in any way that she could. Those who knew her remember her as being creative, witty, outgoing, fun-loving, and full of spirit. We will miss her amazing cooking, her laugher, the twinkle in her eyes, and the smirk when she smiled. She will be forever missed and loved. Her favorite book to read to me as I cried, was Love You Forever. Her favorite lines in the book read, “I will love you forever, I will like you for always, as long as your living, my baby you’ll be”. Mom, grandmother, sister, “We will love you forever, we will like you for always, as long as your living, our baby you’ll be”.