Artemio A. Sanchez

Artemio Adolfo “Art” “Tem” Sanchez, surrounded by his loving family and the delicate click-clack of mahjong tiles, peacefully transitioned on his 88th year from this mortal coil on the evening of March 16, 2026, in Austin Texas. Born to father Francisco O. Sanchez and mother Lucia R. Sanchez (Adolfo) on June 7th, 1937 in Mandaue, Cebu, Philippines, Artemio shared his parents’ family home and joyful formative years fishing in local ponds and climbing the property’s numerous fruit trees with his siblings Benjamin “Ben” , Monserrat “Monsie” (Goze), Danilo “Danny”, and Cecelia “Celia” (Paires), amongst which Artemio was the middle child.

In his early adult life in Cebu, Artemio met and married Guia Isabelo of Leyte in 1966, and soon after that started raising children. He also acquired a degree in Electrical Engineering while working for Visayan Electric, which provided him professional qualifications which were in high demand in the United States when he made the painfully difficult decision to leave his ancestral home for better opportunities for his young family. He left Mandaue for Chicago in 1971 to join his adoring sister Monsie, who provided support while he built up the resources to bring his family stateside several months later. After 6 brutal Chicago winters, Art searched out employment in warmer US cities and found engineering opportunities in Houston, where he moved as soon as he could with the assistance and guidance of his dear brother Danny. In Houston, where Art lived for nearly 50 years, he and his wife Guia not only shepherded the growth of their four independent daughters, but also helped build and tend the burgeoning Filipino community in their neighborhood, Alief, through their fellowship in Notre Dame Catholic Church as well as numerous social, dancing, and mahjong clubs. Artemio never forgot how he cried when his ferry boat departed the soft sanded shores of Cebu to start his long lonely journey to the US, nor his trials of isolation in assimilating into a culture and career so far from his native home. But rather than ruminate on those difficulties, he chose to quietly focus that energy into helping everyone he could, Filipino or otherwise, to safely immigrate and find refuge in the loving Alief community he was tirelessly developing. Beyond his family, it is the tight and loving community he helped foster which is his greatest legacy, and of which he remained both infinitely proud and humbled by, to his last days gracing our presence.

In his passing Artemio is welcomed to his blissful beyond by the warm embrace of those he dearly loved who passed before him: his parents, his brothers Ben and Danny, his older sister Monsie, his eldest son Marshall Del Castillo, and his caring wife Guia who no doubt immediately took him dancing after asking him why he took so long to get ready.

Artemio is survived by his sister Celia Paires, his children including four proud daughters Geraldine Sanchez, Guinevere Pettersson, Adele Sanchez, and Ava Sanchez, as well as his youngest son Alan Sanchez, along with his most prized collection of grandchildren in order of age: Sean Sanchez, Neil Sanchez, Dianne Sanchez, Kaja Pettersson, Erik Pettersson, Art Christopher Wojcinski, Monserrat Sanchez, Alyana Sanchez, Richie Wojcinski, and his two great grandsons Sebastian and Bennet Sanchez.

Visitation and Funeral Services will be held separately on separate days, but both will be held in the same location:

Memorial Oaks Funeral Home & Cemetery

13001 Katy Freeway

Houston, TX 77079

March 22, 2026 visitation/viewing from 5-8pm

March 23, 2026 funeral service starting at 10am

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to RAICES (www.raicestexas.org) to continue Artemio’s dedication to deliver on the promise of loving community, peace, and opportunity for all who risk everything to seek it.