Julia "Jay" Mora Navarro

A beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, sister, friend and the matriarch of our family, Julia Navarro quietly passed away on June 5, 2024 in her home in El Dorado Hills, California. She was 97 1/2 years young.

Julia was born to Sara and Ventura Mora as their sixth child on December 20, 1926 in Los Angeles. The family moved to Powell, Wyoming where the times and the climate were difficult for the family of 11. The family decided to move back to California and relocated to the Sacramento area, Julia's father worked hard as a migrant farm worker to provide for his growing family and later worked for the railroad.

Julia attended McClatchy High School and met her future husband Frank V. Navarro at a church dance at the Sacramento Catholic cathedral's downstairs basement, well known as the "catacombs." The couple fell in love and married on June 24, 1945.

During the late 1940s and early 1950s Julia worked as an elevator operator in the Oshner Building in downtown Sacramento. Later she worked for the Department of Motor Vehicles, while her husband Frank worked many years for the sausage company, Made Rite, before taking a job as a meat inspector with the state of California.

This position took the young Navarro family to San Jose, California, where Julia worked for a technology company called Signetics. She later moved on to IBM, where she built a deeply satisfying career lasting over 24 years. Julia excelled at her work and was repeatedly recognized by her coworkers and her managers for her outstanding role as the go-to personas well as her wide and deep knowledge of internal IBM operations. She made sure that project teams across IBM's many offices received their equipment and were happy. In recognition of her experience, she was promoted to operations analyst, even though she did not possess a college degree that the position ordinarily required. She took great and understandable pride in being an IBMer. She blazed trails in the professional world at a time when few women worked outside of the home. It was difficult at times, but she would always persevere through hard work and quiet determination.

Retirement provided Julia and Frank much more freedom to visit and stay connected to family, to travel across the United States, to take cruises to far off places, and to just plain enjoy life. Her most relaxing hobby was gardening and she had the green thumb to prove it.

After Frank's passing in November 1998, Julia continue as an active member at the Holy Trinity Catholic church in Cameron Park. She became a catechism teacher, preparing the church's young children for their First Holy Communion. She thoroughly enjoyed teaching these little kids and had a kind, patient, loving way to connect with them. In 2005, Julia moved to the Four Seasons, an active senior’s community in El Dorado Hills, where she joined the garden club and enjoyed making new friends and seeing new places.

Julia is survived by her children, Yolanda Navarro Courtney, Frank D. Navarro and David V. Navarro, her grandchildren, Christopher Courtney, Cindy Navarro, Steve Navarro, David A. Navarro, and Anne Moore-Navarro, and her great grandsons, Myles C. Courtney, Isaac C. Courtney and Adam C. Courtney. Two of her grandchildren, Camaron M. Courtney and Frank G. Navarro preceded her in death.

Mom, you are surely missed and our hearts are heavy with sadness but you will never ever be forgotten. You touched our lives in so many ways that we are still discovering how you shaped us to be strong, honorable, and caring people. We will forever love you.

Your three gifts - Yolanda, Frank, and David