Cristina Marie Padilla

February 15, 1980 - November 17, 2023

Cristina Marie Cecilia Padilla (formerly Barrie, before Blanco) passed away in the presence of family on November 17, 2023 at the age of 43, in Fullerton, California. She was born in the same hospital, St Jude’s on February 15, 1980, that she would later pass away in. At the time of her birth, her mother Suzanne was a dance instructor, and her father Arturo was an engineer.

While living in Anaheim, CA, Cristina began her formal ballet training at the age of 3. Over the years she would successfully advance on to prestigious dance companies such as the Aspen Ballet, the San Francisco Ballet, and the Kirov Ballet of Washington D.C. Through it all she kept in constant contact with her lifelong mentor and confidant, ballet legend Lois Elyn, at the Nouveau Chamber Ballet in Fullerton, CA, whom she would send postcards to weekly, and in later years often refer to as her other grandmother.

Upon retiring from dance as a star performer, Cristina took over the reins of the studio that her mother had not only helmed for multiple decades, but had created to her own specifications, at the City of La Mirada, CA. There she would go on to teach all age levels, from preschoolers to adults, in the nuances and mastery of ballet for 18 years.

In 1999 Cristina fell in love with a young man named Riley Barrie while they both attended Marymount College, in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. They married that same year. Their son George Ashton Barrie was born in January, 2000. He would be her only child. And over the course of her life she always made it clear that her greatest joy in life was being the mother of her, “Baby Doll”. And that love was reflected in kind by her son.

In 2015 Cristina chose to take on two major life changes. She became a professional Funeral Director at Dignity Memorial, at Dimond and Shannon Mortuary. On top of that, she fell in love again and remarried to Joseph Padilla, in Fullerton, CA. They would move to Georgia together in 2019 for his career. But it was there that her career as a funeral director would advance by leaps and bounds before they moved back to California to be closer to family in 2020, in the peak of the covid pandemic.

Cristina loved to travel. As a child her family took many trips. Some to Mexico, and some across the United States to many locations. When she recounted them it always brought to mind Beatles cassette tapes being played by her father, no matter where they were going.

In her first marriage she traveled to Thailand, Japan, and Idaho. In her marriage to Joseph they road tripped across the country together from the west to the east coast, stopping to visit family along the way. And then up and back across the entire eastern seaboard, mainly for the purpose of taking her Aunt and Uncle to a Gypsy Kings concert. They also explored much of California, spending time in Lake Tahoe, Monterey Bay, San Luis Obispo, and Catalina Island, among other places.

Over the course of her life Cristina touched the lives of countless people with love, beauty, joy, and solace, in ways that most people could never do. Whether it was the high level mastery and beauty of her dance; or the nurturing and personable touch of her teaching children, teens and adults; or her earnest loving and empathetic presence at the graveside of families. Without question, she brought beauty to the world every day that she lived.

She is remembered with deep love and admiration by her son George Ashton and the Barrie family, her husband Joseph and his family, her parents Arturo and Suzanne alongside their Parker and Blanco families, her best friend Jenny and her family, as well as countless legions of ballerinas, and untold numbers of families that she consoled in their moment of greatest need.

A visitation for Cristina will be held Friday, December 8, 2023 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Dimond & Shannon Mortuary, 10630 Chapman Ave, Garden Grove, CA 92840.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.dimondshannonmortuary.com for the Padilla and Blanco families.