Valerie Jane Aragon

With her family by her side, Valerie Jane Aragon, age 63, passed away on Wednesday, December 2, 2020, in San Antonio, Texas, after a 167-day battle with health complications due to COVID-19. Valerie was born on September 10, 1957, in San Antonio, Texas, to parents Eloise T. Quiroga and Ramiro Valdez.

Valerie graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1975, and received an associate’s degree in public administration. She worked in the insurance industry as a commercial rater for most of her career before switching to customer service, where she handled debit card disputes. She was a devoted mother to her three sons, getting them involved in cub scouts, baseball, football and basketball. You may have heard her yelling “you’re killing me blue!” at her sons’ baseball games. She carried on that spirit at her twin grandsons’ and youngest grandson’s games, whistling and cheering for them.

Valerie was a natural caregiver, taking in anyone who needed a place to stay or feeding anyone who was hungry. She had a hard time saying no whenever asked for help. She took care of our grandmother after our grandfather’s death – and they were a pair! Valerie became the parent and our grandmother became the child, telling anyone who would listen that Valerie deprived her of foods her doctor prescribed for her – bananas, empanadas and M&M’s. They were more alike than she cared to admit.

Valerie hated driving and was often relegated to the back seat when she was a passenger in a car (she knows why). She was an excellent cook and made the best carne guisada in town. To know Valerie was to know how much she loved her plants. Wherever she lived, she always had a porch or balcony full of all kinds of plants. With a great green thumb, Valerie became the plant rescuer – if she noticed that your plant was suffering, she’d take it home and bring it back to life.

Valerie was a friend to everyone she met. She was a character who always had a story or joke for you. And she knew how to tell a story. She would command the room, and everyone just listened. People were just drawn to Valerie’s natural charm. She also loved all kinds of music, but her favorite bands were the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Chicago (with Three Dog Night and Billy Joel close behind). The last concert she attended was the Eagles Hotel California Tour in Houston, singing every song at the top of her lungs. This was just before Covid-19 hit the United States.

Four months later, Valerie contracted the virus and remained hospitalized for 167 days. She fought valiantly throughout her illness. We always told the doctors that as long as Valerie was still fighting, we all needed to keep fighting to get her well. And she was almost there, having come off the ventilator and starting to speak again. But the virus had caused too much damage to her body, and it became harder and harder for her to keep fighting. The day she passed, Valerie said “I want to go home,” and that’s exactly what she did – she went home to be with God.

We are so proud of her for not giving up when it would have been easy to do so. We spent every single day with Valerie once she was able to have visitors. We were so happy to see her laugh again – the nurses loved her, even checking on her when they moved to other patients. She was known to throw a middle finger at us when we got on her nerves, but then let out a smile to let us know she was joking. We were lucky in that we were able to tell her how much we loved her every day, and every night, we prayed with her. We are thankful to Valerie’s prayer warriors who stood by the family every single day. We read her every single message you wrote, showed her your videos and played your voice mails for her. We are so thankful for everything you have done to support Valerie and her family.

Valerie was preceded in death by her mother, Eloise T. Quiroga; father, Ramiro Valdez; step-father, Jose Gomez; brother, Joe James Gomez Jr.; and maternal grandparents, Juanita and Guadalupe Sifuentes. Valerie is survived by her sons: Jimmy John Aragon, Jr., Jason Kenneth Aragon and Austin Cisneros; her sister, Diane M. Gomez: her brothers, Kenneth Valdez and Jesse Valdez; her grandchildren, Jimmy John Valle, Anthony Thomas Valle, Jaxson Alyzander Aragon, Savannah Janae Aragon and Bella Skye Aragon; her nieces, Amanda Gomez and Melyssa Gomez; and numerous other nieces, nephews, cousins, family and friends.

The family will receive friends beginning at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 22, at Porter Loring Mortuary.

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Rosary

7 p.m.

Porter Loring Mortuary Chapel

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

A procession will leave from the funeral home at 9:00 a.m.

Mass

10 a.m.

Holy Rosary Catholic Church

Father John will officiate.