Esperanza "Hope" Barelas

Hope met her husband, Marcos, at a dancehall in Pasadena,Texas, owned by Hope’s uncle, Pedro “Pete” Montoya. Since it was family owned, she would regularly attend. Marcos first noticed Hope sitting in the back of an open air truck with her girlfriends, while he was out driving with his friends. He pulled up behind the truck, and a particular girl caught his eye — a girl with the “trenzas” (braided pig tails) — Hope. He saw her again at the dancehall and was introduced to her by her cousin, who Marcos quickly enlisted as his dating coach for winning Hope over. Marcos would often drive by her house, hoping to get a glimpse of Hope. Hope quickly became smitten by this young, handsome man who was pursuing her, and she was especially proud that he was a soldier! She admired that Marcos was such a gentleman. And so the love story began. Soon after, Marcos asked Hope’s parents for her hand in marriage.

In Hope’s early years of marriage, she worked at a small business, Houston Wire Products, where she made wire basket planters, aided by a machine with a foot pedal. After that, she became a full-time wife and mother.

Hope enjoyed cooking, baking, and entertaining friends and family in her home. She would make fresh flour tortillas, rolling each out by hand. She loved arts and crafts and making gifts from the heart. She enjoyed making flower arrangements, holiday-themed wreaths, designing photo albums, and painting ceramics by hand to gift to friends and family.

She was quite the fashionista in her early days, with her fancy form-fitting dresses, stylish hairdo’s, red lips and red nails. She continued to dress to the nines into her 90s- with bedazzled jewelry, makeup, and fashionable purses. She fondly recalled the “coca-cola bottle” body shape of her youth. With her beautiful smile and boisterous laugh, she loved to engage others in her life stories. One of her favorite pastimes with Marcos and the children was going to the beach. They would pack up and drive to Galveston before sunrise, and barbecue once they were there. She would let her kids playfully bury her in the sand. Hope and Marcos lovingly commemorated their 72 years of marriage by renewing their vows in 2018.

Hope was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt and a friend to many. Hope is preceded in death by her parents; her husband Marcos M. Barelas; sons David and Richard Barelas; grandson Adam Beltran; sisters Margaret Garduno, Tomasa Echavarria and Minerva Sosa; brothers Louis and Julio Gonzales. Left to cherish her memory are her son Gil Barelas and husband Arthur Smith; daughters Belinda Beltran and Elissa Brown and husband Robert Brown; grandchildren Joshua Barelas; Ashley Garcia and husband Victor; Melanie Keil and husband James; David Beltran and wife Almera; April and Brandon Maxey; great-grandchildren Alex and Andrew Barelas, Anneliese and Maximiliano Beltran, Lexington and Lincoln Keil, and Cove Maxey Jones, along with numerous family and friends.

A visitation for Hope will be held Sunday, June 29, 2025 from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Brookside Funeral Home, 13747 Eastex Freeway, Houston, TX 77039. A funeral service will occur Monday, June 30, 2025 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM in the Family Chapel. With a Burial to follow at 1:00 PM at The Houston National Cemetery, 10410 Veterans Memorial Dr, Houston, TX 77038.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in Esperanza "Hope" Barelas memory may be made to Alzheimer’s Association, https://act.alz.org/site/TR/Events/Tributes-AlzheimersChampions?pxfid=970680&fr_id=1060&pg=fund