Gretchen Gene Alvarado

Gretchen Gene Alvarado died after a long, brave battle with breast cancer. She passed with her family by her side on Saturday May 7, 2016, at her home in Lubbock, Texas. She was born to Eugene and Eleanore Smith on May 8, 1948. Following graduation from St. Monica’s High School, she graduated from Holy Names College in Oakland with a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish, and a minor in French.

After receiving her teaching credential from Cal. State, Los Angeles, she moved with her children to the Coachella Valley where she began her teaching tenure at C.V.H.S. that lasted for 33 years. Over those years, she taught Latin, Spanish, French, E.S.L., and English. In addition to the myriad students’ lives she touched as a classroom teacher, she enriched countless others as a class advisor and mentor teacher. She was a lovely, devoted mother and wife who will be sadly missed by all who knew her.

She is preceded in death by her son, Gene and survived by her husband, John, her daughters, Erica (Scott), Ruth (Kanaly), step-daughter Melissa (May), and grandchildren, Cameron, Eleanore, Angelo, and Glenn. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to MD Anderson Cancer Center of America at https://gifts.mdanderson.org in her memory. Online remembrances may be offered at www.resthavenfuneralhome.com.Arrangements under the direction of Resthaven Funeral Home & Memorial Park, Lubbock, TX.