Porfiria Posada Riojas, 94, passed away peacefully on January 20, 2026, just ten days after celebrating her birthday. She was surrounded by the love of her children, who made sure she was never alone in her final days.
Porfiria was born in 1932 in Corpus Christi, Texas, to Gregorio Posada and Porfiria Morales Posada. She grew up in the family bakery on 14th Street, where she learned the value of hard work, faith, and family. A talented seamstress from the age of twelve, she carried on a tradition passed down from her great-grandmother Elmira.
She graduated from Roy Miller High School in May 1951. That August, at a friend's wedding reception at the Galvan Ballroom, she saw a young man in a white suit walk through the door. They danced all night. His name was Cesar Garcia Riojas, and on Easter Sunday, April 13, 1952, they were married at St. Joseph Church in Corpus Christi. Their love story lasted sixty-four years.
In 1955, the couple settled in Brownsville, Texas, where they raised five children and built a home filled with love, faith, and the aroma of home-cooked meals. For more than fifty years, their house on West Levee Street was the gathering place for family—for Christmas tamaladas, for Sunday dinners, for countless moments both ordinary and extraordinary.
Porfiria was a woman of deep faith. She prayed the rosary three times a day and held a lifelong devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lady of Schoenstatt. Her faith, rooted in generations before her, sustained her throughout her life and gave her peace in her final months. She said she was ready to go—she missed Cesar, and after sixty-four years together and nearly a decade apart, she was ready to dance with him again.
She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Cesar Garcia Riojas; her parents, Gregorio and Porfiria Posada; her infant brother, Jose Gregorio; her sisters Maria Rita Flores, Josefina Posada, and Gloria Alvarez; and her grandson, Philip Torrez.
She is survived by her five children and their spouses: Patricia Nielsen and husband Paul, Rose Marie Lehmann and her husband Patrick, Elizabeth Hernandez and her husband Marc, Judy Ann Rubinstein and her husband Carlos, and Cesar Jr. Riojas and his wife Brenda. She is also survived by her brother Gregorio Jr.; eleven grandchildren: Eric Torrez, Cassie Lehmann, Chris Lehmann, Matthew Hernandez, Michael Adam Hernandez, Jennifer Piper, Tiffany Molina, Jackie Ayala, Cesar Riojas III, and Megan Byrne; and fourteen great-grandchildren.
To her grandchildren, she was Grandma Pila—a source of warmth, wisdom, and unconditional love. She was truly loved to the end.
Visitations will be held on January 30, 2026, from 2:00 pm to 9:00 with a rosary at 6:30 pm at the Funeraria Del Angel Buena Vista, Chapel Of Peace, located at 125 Mcdavitt Blvd, Brownsville, TX 78521.
A Mass will be held on January 31, 2026, at 1:00 pm at St Joseph Catholic Church, located at 555 W St Francis St, Brownsville, TX 78520.
