JANUARY 9, 1926 – JANUARY 7, 2021
Blazita Guevara Flores passed away peacefully on January 7th, 2021; two days shy of her 95th birthday. Born in Stockdale, Texas and raised in Benavides, Texas, she lived a full and memorable life.
She once shared that in her early days her ambition was to be an airplane pilot. She graduated from Texas A&I in Kingsville, Texas in 1950 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics. While in college, she met her husband, Sisto, and they married soon after. They moved to Ben Bolt, Texas where Blazita became the home economics teacher at Ben Bolt High School. She often told the story of taking her home economics class to Dallas for the State convention. As a treat for the girls, she bought them tickets to attend a concert in Dallas for a then little-known musician named Elvis Presley. She enjoyed teaching and living near her extended family but in 1964 moved with Sisto and her children when he was offered a government job in Washington, DC.
She loved living in the Washington, DC suburbs of Alexandria, Virginia and eventually Mount Vernon, Virginia. She enjoyed going to the Kennedy Center for shows and out for dinner at the Flagship for seafood. In Alexandria, she taught 3rd and 4th grade elementary at Rose Hill, Wilton Woods, Mount Vernon Woods, and Riverside Elementary schools. She retired as a Fairfax County teacher in 1985 after teaching for over 35 years. During her teaching career, while working during the day and raising a young family, she found time to earn her Master’s degree in Education from George Mason University in 1975.
One of Blazita’s favorite activities was travelling. Throughout their marriage, she and Sisto would jump in the car and travel to explore new places at moment’s notice. Each summer break from school, the family would travel back to Texas to spend time with her extended family. She also travelled to England to visit one brother and to Malaysia to see another brother, as well as travelling with Sisto to Spain. One summer, her family took the train from Nuevo Laredo to Mexico City and then to Guadalajara. She and Sisto also travelled across Canada by train and they visited many US states during her lifetime.
In her later years, Blazita became an avid San Antonio Spurs’ fan and enjoyed watching them play. Throughout her life, she enjoyed spending endless hours working in her garden. She will be well remembered for her beautiful azaleas in Alexandria and her backyard garden in San Antonio. Her favorite flowering bush was the gardenia and she raised one for 20 years that travelled inside during the winter and out during the spring and summer. She and Sisto were also fond of going out dancing as they did during their courtship, often joining their friends for a night of music, food, and fun.
For those that knew her, she was either Mom, Blazita, Tia Blazita or Mrs. Flores, but her favorite name was Grandma. Blazita is preceded in death by her loving and dedicated husband of 63 years, Sisto M. Flores. She leaves behind her devoted daughter, Sandee, her son Julian and his wife, Lisa and their children, Molly and Julian Jr.
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