Marie Escobar

March 6, 1922 to July 13, 2013

Marie, 91, was born in Ryde California, grew up in the San Joaquin Valley, and raised her family in Santa Clara. She was preceded in death by her husband Manuel Escobar. She is survived by her children; Frank Escobar of Snelling, Margaret Mendoza of Santa Clara, and Lawrence Escobar of Gilroy as well as her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Marie was a true character whol liked to have fun, help others, tend to her garden and be with her family. She left a lasting impression on anyone who met her and made friends everywhere she went. Visitation will be Sunday, July 21 from 2 to 5:00 p.m. with a Rosary at 4:00 p.m. at Lima Family Santa Clara Mortuary, 466 N Winchester Blvd.; where the Funeral will be Monday, July 22nd at 1:00 p.m. Interment will follow in Santa Clara Mission Catholic Cemetery.

Biography/Eulogy

FAMILY HISTORY

Marie Abrew Escobar was born on March 6, 1922 to Cangie and Antone Abrew in Ryde, California. She was the fourth of their six children. Tony and Cangie were Portuguese immigrants who had migrated to California and were raising their family in and around the San Joaquin Valley.

When Mamie, as she was known to her family, was three years old her father died in a tragic gun accident on the family ranch. Now a widow with five children (her first had died as a baby) Cangie moved her family to Oakland to be closer to her mother and extended family.

While they were there she was courted by Tony Viera Costa a long time family friend. Mamie would often tell stories of him coming to visit her mother. She remembers all of the children yelling “Momma, Momma, here comes Tony Viera walking down the street!” He would always have gum in his shirt pocket for all of the children and would visit with them as much as their mother.

When Tony asked Cangie to marry him she was unsure of what to do. Her mother said to her “What don’t you know? You have five children and this man still wants to marry you? What are you waiting for?” She soon married him and added two more children to the family. All together there were Manuel, Emily, Mamie, Tony, Johnny, Irene, and Larry.

The family settled in Manteca where they had a dairy. Cangie was the disciplinarian while Tony was the fun parent. Often he would play checkers with the kids and on the rare occasion that one of the children won they delighted in shouting “Ha Ha Papa I beat you!!!” He was also known to let then jump on the bed when his wife was not around 

MARIE AS A YOUNGER PERSON

Mamie left school in the sixth grade to work on the dairy and to travel to Milpitas with her family to pick fruit in the orchards. It was in these orchards that she met Manuel Escobar (more on him later!). His family had an apricot orchard in Milpitas and her family would travel there to help harvest the fruit.

As an adult she would also take her children with her to cut and pick apricots – something she was really good at. She could cut and talk at the same speed all day long!

Mamie was in her early twenties when World War II broke out and even though Manteca was a small town they too were affected as they watched their young men (including her own brothers) leave to fight overseas. Always patriotic she regularly attended USO dances to support the troops! She also wrote letters to her brothers and faithfully used her ration books. She would always tell stories about these times and sing the songs of the day to her grandchildren.

When she was in her early twenties, Manuel Escobar (remember him?) began traveling to Manteca to court her. They wrote letters to each other in between visits to stay in touch  (it was during the war and gas was rationed).

In 1945 Manuel and Marie were married and moved to Sunnyvale where they had three children; Frank, Margaret, and Lawrence. Later when the state began to build expressways they would leave Sunnyvale (their house was in the middle of where Lawrence Expressway was going to be built) and move to Santa Clara where they would both live out their days.

MOTHER

Marie was a great mother who loved to play and was always creative in building a fun environment for her children. When her daughter needed a bedside table she took a fruit crate, nailed a piece in the middle to create a shelf, painted it a pretty color and sewed a curtain to hang in the front – done!

She taught them how to build forts and have barbeques using the rack out of the oven. When there was road work being done on their street and a mountain of sand was delivered she talked the workers into letting her fill her wheelbarrow so she could build her children a sand box. She would play hide and go seek even though she was really bad at it – laughing so loud you could hear her and she would always lose!

All of the kids in the neighborhood loved to play at the Escobar house as she welcomed them all to join in the fun.

Once she even initiated a rubber band war with all of the kids and her sister – typically parents discourage their children from shooting rubber bands at each other but not my Grandma, she was leading the fight!

GRANDMA

As great a mother as she was you can only imagine how wonderful a grandmother she was. Going to her house was like going on vacation, there was always strawberry Quick to drink, games to play, places to go, and always something to do!

Not a typical grandmother she taught her grandchildren card games and how to bet using pretzels and peanuts. She taught them to play “spoons” (a very rowdy card game that has since been outlawed across the family) and even made up games like collecting rocks and building forts out of blankets and chairs or large cardboard boxes.

Marie did not drive but she took her grandchildren everywhere on the city bus. We went on trips to the county fair where she would “pitch dimes” and win prizes for everyone including herself. We went shopping when all of her granddaughters were collecting stickers or other toys. We went to parks and of course always to the Portuguese Festas (Holy Ghost Festivals).

Just as with her own children she encouraged play and fun. We ran and screamed and laughed all over her house. She even taught us the “10 little monkeys jumping on the bed” song and let us jump on the bed too 

The one thing she was not good at was being a nurse – don’t get hurt around her! She believed in one remedy: Mercurochrome. It is vile nasty punishment. It burns when you put it on and stains your skin orange. But Marie thought it cured everything, she even put it on one of her cats when it had been in a fight!

**Note – the FDA actually de-regulated Mercurochrome due to its high level of Mercury, you can’t even buy it anymore!

Also if you had a cold she would try to get you to drink honey and eucalyptus – equally gross and disgusting! Ever the farm girl, Marie always believed in her home remedies and the tales of home cures passed down through her family.

MARIE AS A PERSON

What Marie lacked in education she made up for in imagination and ingenuity. She could look at something and figure out how to make it, replicate it, or keep it going. While money was not always plentiful Marie was always creative and crafty with her home. She painted the house dozens of times and sewed whatever she needed to add style.

She embroidered to perfection (the back side looked just like the front) and of course she made her famous pot holders ;-) She could grow flowers, vegetables, you name it. Her yard was always beautiful even though she grew everything in the yard as if it were a crop. Everything in rows with irrigation in between!

Of course if you really wanted to upset her, go into her yard and pick a flower. She would lose her mind! However not because she was selfish but because she thought it was the height of rudeness. She was always more than happy to share her plants and flowers. All over her yard she had jars and pots with her “slips” that she was starting for her friends and neighbors. She could literally take a piece of a plant or flower and grow it all over again in a new pot. Marie loved music and loved to dance. She liked to sing but never really knew all the words to the songs she liked so she would just sing the parts she knew over and over entertaining herself.

Marie lived her life with purpose, if something was broken she would fix it, if it was dirty she would clean it, she would help her neighbors and her friends with whatever they needed – simply because it needed to be done.

She lived her life with passion and she was fearless, nothing made her nervous or was daunting to her. In the same day she would sew something pretty and dainty but then would kill a possum in her yard with a shovel!

Anyone who has ever met Marie for more than ten minutes has a story, about her. In 91 years there aren’t too many people that have crossed her path that were not forever impacted.