In spite of her slender, 5’ 1” stature, Carolina was a physically strong, hard worker since her youth. She had fond memories of working alongside her father and older sister, Cristina, picking fruits, vegetables and cotton. Her husband, Hector, took pride in telling everyone that in her heyday she would pick up to 1,000 lbs. of cotton in one day.
Carolina’s husband, Hector, and girls, Linda and Lety meant the world to her. She did so much for them. Carolina always cooked a hearty lunch for her husband every morning he went to work. On cold days, Carolina would put her girls’ socks on while they were in bed, warm up their petticoats and dresses by the wall heater and ask them to run out of bed to put them on.
She was a stay at home mom until the girls entered junior high, Carolina learned to drive, obtained a driver license and began working as a school cafeteria employee at a local elementary. She also learned how to sew. Carolina would take her girls downtown to the fabric stores and let them select patterns of current fashion clothes, buy the fabric and sew for them. She was also their taxi driver, Carolina and Hector encouraged their girls to participate in all the school activities they wanted. She would drive them, along with their classmates, to all those activities. After her girls married, Carolina would prepare a Sunday meal for her husband, her girls, their husbands and her precious grandchildren. She made sure there were plenty of tortillas to go around. She loved to cook an entire Thanksgiving meal for her family, parents, siblings and their families for many years.
After her husband’s death, Carolina took over the duties of taxi driver for her precious grandchildren, Daniel and Eleni. There wasn't anything she wouldn't do for them. Carolina also began volunteering at Corpus Christi Medical Center Doctor’s Regional Hospital. She along with her friends, Tina, Connie, Mrs. B and Cathy sewed neck pillows for cancer patients, knitted caps for premature babies and sewed quilts to be raffled. Carolina loved to spend time outdoors tending to the garden, peach and lime trees and who could forget her rose bushes. On any given day, you would see her mowing the lawn or exercising on her treadmill in the garage.
Her obituary would not be complete without mentioning her “Natural Beauty.” Even in her advance stages of dementia she would always go to the mirror after getting up from bed and make sure her hair was combed and she wouldn’t leave the house without applying lipstick. The moment she got into a vehicle she would pull down the sun visor and check her appearance in the mirror.
As the dementia took complete control of her life, it was comforting to know she had lived a full and wonderful life with her reliving such beautiful memories of her attending family events and baseball games.
Carolina was preceded in death by her parents, Cristino and Librada Garza, her husband, Hector and son-in-law, Fernando Rincon.
She is survived by her daughters, Rosa Linda Copado Rincon and Leticia (Edward) Salazar, two grandchildren, Edward Daniel and Eleni Cristina Salazar, and Desiree Perez and Patrick Hernandez who she considered as her grandchildren as well. Carolina is also survived by her sisters, Cristina Garza, Margarita (Ovidio) Elizondo and Alma (Javier) Peña, brother, Angel Garza and sister-law, Guadalupe Garza. Numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and close friends. A special thank you to Imelda Cantu and Rosie Villarreal, her former co-workers who always kept in touch.
Family will receive friends from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 14, 2021 at Memory Gardens Funeral Home with a rosary to be recited at 2:30 p.m.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, March 15, 2021 at St. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church. Interment will follow at Memory Gardens Cemetery.
Livestream of recitation of the Holy Rosary and Funeral Mass will be available at the time of services.
All guests will be required to wear masks.
