Evelia Urquiza Ibarra

At a young age with her parents Domingo and Elvira Quiñonez Urquiza and her brothers, Evelia Urquiza Ibarra remembers riding in the back of a truck singing, “La Barca de Oro” as they drove over the bridge from Mexico to their new lives in El Paso, Texas where they became proud American Citizens.

She grew up in the San Juan area of El Paso on Frutas Street. She learned English by watching TV and listening to the radio. At times she mentioned the radio show “Big John and Sparky” where she learned our birthday song, “Today is the Birthday” which became one of our many traditions kept in our family. Music became a metaphor for her life. Some of her favorites were Elvis Presley, Simon and Garfunkel, Chicago and Cat Stevens to name just a few. Her eclectic taste in music evolved to include Prince, Journey, Michael Jackson and even rappers Pitbull and Macklemore.

She was a shy child. In the 3rd grade, she met the love of her life Alfredo Ibarra (Fred). She flourished in high school. At her Alma Mater Jefferson High School, she was Military Queen, All Jefferson Girl and a Beauty Queen. At La Jeff she met her life-long friends; Gloria, Margie, Kinner, Carmen and Espy. Together they shared all of life’s celebrations, events and sorrows.

After High School while working several jobs, she waited for Fred to come home from serving in the U.S. Navy. They married on June 16, 1963. This is when she began her favorite and most important job, “Homemaker Extraordinaire.” She was a self-taught cook with a vast collection of cookbooks. Her cookbooks are meticulously dated with a brief description of events that a recipe was made for. Her well-guarded delicious salsa was enjoyed by many, but the recipe was only shared with a few lucky people.

She was a fashion designer/seamstress making sure every celebration had a new matching outfit for her 3 girls and herself. Her innate artistic talent, which was inherited, created life-long cherished décor and heirloom pieces, that will be passed on for generations to come. Traditions were important to her. Her Thanksgiving dinners were epic. One of our favorite cherished heirloom traditions is the signature signing and date on a Thanksgiving tablecloth by guests. The names were then embroidered with different colors by Mom. We now have 2 colorful tablecloths with four generations signatures of family and friends spanning 30 years of Thanksgivings attended for the delicious 2 p.m. dinner. Themed birthday parties, Christmas and all celebrations were memorable because of her vision and flair for the details.

Mom was the keeper of everything, and the collector of all that brought her joy. She collected cookbooks, dishes, purses, perfumes, shoes, clocks and jewelry. She would tell us, “Before you buy it, see if I have it, if you need it.” Nine times out of 10, she had what we needed.

She had three daughters Dolores Marie, Evelyn Dionne, and Melissa Fredilyn. In 1982 Missy lost her battle with her heart condition and Mom mourned her the remainder of her life. Her daughters always came first in her life, but the role she relished and enjoyed the most was being Grandma to Melissa Dionne (Sassa). In the last 14 years she was lucky to have and love her son-in-law Eddie and new grandson Paul.

In 2002 after 20 years of service she retired from Riverside Vocational High School where she was a Teacher’s Aide for students with special needs. Evelia and Fred thoroughly enjoyed 14 years of retirement together. They did everything together from taking care of ailing parents, reveling in watching and sharing their granddaughter grow into a beautiful young lady. Working on the beautiful home they built together, brought them comfort and pride. Their home was always filled with 4 legged pets and their beloved dogs and bale of turtles.

After 53 years of marriage, Evelia lost the love of her life Fred in 2016. She continued living with grace and love for her family. This new chapter in her life came with sangria and margaritas, game nights, movie nights and shopping. The family gatherings were filled with laughter, good food and reminiscing stories of her life that will stay with us forever.

The last big memorable event was watching her granddaughter Melissa, whom she called “My gorgeous, beautiful, love of my life granddaughter,” get married to a wonderful young man Cristian, this past March.

Evelia set an example for her daughters on what a loving and loyal sister is, how to be a life-long friend through listening, caring and laughter. She was also a great sister-in-law, Aunt, and Tia to many, even if not related. If she loved you, you were family.

On June 1,2024 with grace, poise and all her beauty Mom said goodbye to us for now and rejoined the love of her life Fred and her daughter Missy whom she had missed dearly for too long.

She was an optimist who said, “I always felt that no matter what, tomorrow will be a better day.”

We know she is happy in heaven and will continue to watch over us all. Mom has taught us all the tools to succeed and has instilled in us the importance of faith and belief in Gods mercy and goodness.

She will be missed dearly for her love, talents, fun nature, silliness and watching her reaction to a favorite song that touched her heart. She bestowed blessings in abundance upon us all. Thank you Mom, for being the best Mom, we were truly blessed by God to have you as our Mom and Grandma. Until we meet again.