Born to Tomas Carranza and Paula Gutierrez on August 27th, 1930 in Georgetown, TX, she will be missed and survived by her children: Ana Maria, Connie, Maria Christina, Irma, Leandro Jr., Mike, Paula, twenty-one grandchildren, forty-one great grandchildren, and five great-great grandchildren.
Joaquina was a woman of tremendous faith, tenacity, and an unending and sometimes blush inducing sense of humor. She was always making us laugh.
Her story was the story of all of us. Born in Texas, but raised in Torreon, Mexico, but finally settling in El Paso where she would meet Leandro Gallegos. He would wait for her shift to end every day at the old El Paso Laundry on Santa Fe Street in el Segundo Barrio. That courtship would result in marriage, seven children and after much sacrifice and sheer will, a home outside el Segundo in a quaint house on Jersey Street.
As her life unfolded, she held steadfast to her faith and used every moment she was able to secret away to better herself. Without Leandro’s knowledge she took classes at the community college to earn her GED. She knew she had to lead by example and set a better, easier course for her children and in turn, their children.
To know Joaquina was to know she never held back her opinions. She was a truth teller, even if that truth was sometimes hard to bear. That honesty was rooted in a deep love for us all. Thankfully, she was blessed with a wicked sense of humor that made any barb go down easy—there was always laughter in those tears.
As we remember Joaquina, let us honor her strength, her faith in God and one another, her ability to make us roar with laughter, and her honesty that never wavered.
Visitation will be held from 4:00pm -9:00pm on Monday, May 13, 2019 at Evergreen east Funeral Home with a Prayer Service to begin at 7:00pm. A Funeral Service will be held at 10:00am Tuesday, May 14, 2019 at Evergreen East Funeral Home with Interment to follow at Evergreen Cemetery East.
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