Eustolia Flores

Eustolia Flores, age 84, of Kennesaw, GA and long-time resident of Chino Hills, CA, passed away on November 3, 2022. Eustolia was born in San Bernardino, CA on June 16, 1938 to Pedro Jimenez and Benita Tovar Jimenez. She was married to Felix G. Flores (deceased) for 42 years and is survived by her children: Felix, Michelle, Janene, Derrick; their spouses: Rick, Clinton, and Melissa; her grandchildren: Felix, Ericka, Alexis, Orion, James, Carissa, Tristan, Briar, Cassandra, Ethan, Camryn, and Chloe; and her siblings: Trino, Kiko, Rudy, Richard, Robert, Arturo, Esther, Frank, and Johnny.

Eustolia was the third child and oldest daughter in her family having been raised with twelve brothers and two sisters. She stated she always felt like she was the ugly duckling having “chicken” legs and very curly dark brown hair, but in reality, she was a beautiful woman often said to look like Sofia Loren with her luscious locks, beautiful smile, and hat with sunglasses never very far away.

Eustolia worked as an assistant cook in a diner, a customer service representative at a credit union, and a seamstress in a sewing factory before moving into her longtime career as a para-professional bi-lingual aide with elementary school students where English was not their primary language. After working several years at various schools within Azusa Unified School District, Eustolia decided to pursue her lifelong dream of becoming a fully certified teacher and joined a teacher preparation program supported by the school district in an effort to obtain highly qualified educators. Eustolia was unable to complete the program due to unforeseen circumstances, however she was able to complete four years of college at California State University Los Angeles.

Eustolia was married to the love of her life, Felix, on July 3, 1965, at Our Lady of Guadalupe in San Bernardino, California. She lived most of the first half of her early married life to Felix in Azusa, California where she and Felix raised their four children. In 1988 Eustolia convinced Felix to move to Chino Hills, California where she continued to live after his passing in 2007. After some time, Eustolia decided to move to Georgia in 2010 to live with her daughter Michelle, son-in-law Rick, and their family, where she lived out the remainder of her life.

Eustolia served as Vice President of the Parent-Teacher Organization for her children’s school for several years at St. Frances of Rome School, an Assistant Troop leader for a Girl Scout Troop, Team Mom, parent chaperone and parent volunteer for many of the sports activities her children played in throughout the years. She attended many football, baseball, softball, and volleyball games proudly cheering on her children and grandchildren.

Eustolia was a free spirit and would often wake her children up on a summer vacation day telling them to get dressed because they would be leaving in 30 minutes. When they would ask where they were going, she would tell them to get dressed so they could leave and find out. She took them on many summertime adventures around Southern California taking them to places like Balboa Island, Puddingstone water park, Santa Barbara, the Los Angeles Zoo, and many other places too.

Eustolia loved the water but was deathly afraid of drowning. The beach was one of her favorite places to go and spend the day and night. She loved to get there early in the day and pick a spot that allowed for use of a fire pit because she wanted to enjoy the sounds of the ocean waves crashing on the sand along with the crackling of a good fire at night. She also spent many hours on the water when they would take their boat “For the Good Times” out to Lake Perris, Lake Havasu, or another of their favorite spots along the Colorado River. In an attempt to conquer her fear of drowning she took swimming

lessons at the local YMCA, and while she did in fact learn to swim, she never went out on the boat without her life jacket. She also wouldn’t set foot in water above her waist if she could at all avoid it.

Family was very important to Eustolia, so she made sure her family was never very far away from her. She would make sure that all her family (on both hers and Felix’s) were able to experience the same things she did whether it was a family gathering at her home or one of her many siblings, a weekend get-away to the mountains in Running Springs, dayLake Perris, Big Bear Lake, camping in the Sierras, the river, the coast, and more. She made sure her children had many happy memories spending time with their many aunts, uncles, cousins, and close family friends.

Eustolia loved to travel and see new places. While she didn’t leave the North American continent, she visited many of its beautiful places. She traveled up and down the west coast, took a few road trips from California to New York to visit extended family and friends along the way. She visited many state parks, experienced the roar of Niagara Falls, and an Illinois winter.

After moving to Georgia, she continued to travel with her daughter’s family taking trips to Illinois, Wisconsin, Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach, SC. She has also visited many places along the way from California to Georgia and back to California on several cross-country drives with Michelle or her sister Estella. She also took several trips on her own to go back and see family in California and Arizona as often as she could.

Eustolia passed away quietly in her sleep at home surrounded by family on November 3, 2022, of natural causes. She is survived by a very large and loving family. Her services will be held in California, and she will be laid to rest next to her beloved husband Felix at Forest Lawn in Covina Hills, California.

Eustolia was the best wife, mother, and friend to all. She will always be remembered for her kindness, love of family, and joy of life. She leaves behind many, many warm and fond memories to all who knew her. She will forever be remembered in the hearts and minds of those whose lives she touched and cared for.