Isabelle “Belle” Margarita Mattos Faria was born December 30, 1921 at Merced General Hospital to Mateus and Martha Ferreira Mattos. She lived in a home built by her father and Uncle Alfred until age 3 before she moved to Livingston on D.K. Stoddard Ranch across from Blueberry Hill. In 1932, the family moved to the Brenason ranch on Thorne Avenue in Hilmar and she went to Riverside Grammar School.
Isabelle graduated from Hilmar High School in 1940 and while in school, she took classes in photography, arts and crafts, and homemaking, which she carried on through life through oil painting and cooking. She catered weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and funerals free for her friends. She took pictures of these events as well as parades, ball games, and Portuguese festas—particularly Our Lady of Fatima for 15 years starting in 1992 in Hilmar and the Santo Antão celebration in Stevinson. She loved taking pictures of people and friends with "Our Lady" and on bus trips. She has thousands of pictures and memories from throughout her long life.
She met her husband Manuel in the spring of 1936 at tersão in the home of Antonio and Maria Machado, parents of Angie and Mary Vierra. Together, she and Manuel had three children: Manuel “Bud” Domingos (March 5, 1943), Rosalyn Marie Faria Fantazia (March 5, 1944), and Theresa Angelina Faria (June 22. 1945; they were dairy farmers. On July 1, 1954, she went to work at Patterson Frozen Foods and worked there for 33 years until July 18, 1987.
Belle was a dedicated parishioner of Holy Rosary Catholic Church as well as a member of Hilmar Holy Rosary Altar Society, Y.L.I. 223, S.P.R.S.I. 151, P.F.S.A. Co. 26 Stevinson/Turlock/Hilmar and Co. 11 Turlock, Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima in Hilmar and Los Banos, and the Our Lady of Miracles Festa in Gustine.
Isabelle "Belle" Margarita Mattos Faria, "The Picture Lady", passed away surrounded by family at age 96 on Tuesday, October 2, 2018 after a long life of faith and love, leaving behind her daughters Theresa A. Faria and Rosalyn M. Fantazia of Hilmar as well as four grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and six great-great-grandchildren to honor her memory. She was also survived by her sister Marie Faria of Merced, who passed later only six and a half hours after her sister Belle.
She was preceded in death by: her husband Manuel Faria; son Manuel “Bud” Faria; great-grandson Steve L. Cozzitorto; and her parents Mateus and Martha Ferreira Mattos.
A visitation for Mrs. Isabelle "Belle" Margarita Faria, "The Picture Lady", will be held from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM on Thursday, October 11, 2018 at Whitehurst-Norton-Dias Funeral Service: 286 W. Main Street, Turlock, California. There will be a recitation of the rosary later the same day at 7:00 PM at Holy Rosary Catholic Church: 8471 Cypress Street, Hilmar, California.
A funeral service will occur at 10:00 AM on Friday, October 12, 2018 at Holy Rosary Catholic Church: 8471 Cypress Street, Hilmar, California. She will be laid to rest at N. Hilmar Cemetery District: 8710 N. Tegner Road, Hilmar, California.
Contributions may be made in Belle's memory to Alzheimer/Dementia Support Center, Inc.: 700 McHenry Avenue, Suite B, Modesto, California, ww.adsc-modesto.org.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/funeral-homes/turlock-ca/whitehurst-norton-dias-funeral-service/7044 for the Faria family.
