Patricia Felipe-Ortega Parra

Patricia, known to her friends as La Maestra Paty and church family as Hermana Paty, was born in the capital city of Chilpancingo in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero. The youngest of a family of six, her curiosity and academic interests were encouraged by her father Antonio, the Accountant General of the state of Guerrero, and nurtured in an intensely intellectual household by her mother, Maria de Jesus.

Her own childhood was a joyful one that allowed her to pursue her own interests confidently and learn eagerly from the diverse guests that often stopped by her father’s home. This sense of intellectual freedom and curiosity is something that she often shared with her family and friends.

At 17, she joined the economics department at the prestigious Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, which was very competitive and mostly male. Following her graduation, she worked for the Federal Finance Ministry in Mexico City as an economist and shortly thereafter met her future husband, Sergio Gallardo-Ordaz, a young lawyer.

In time, Patricia set about visiting and then migrating to the United States, becoming the first woman in her family to do so. Thus, she began the second act of her life, accompanied by her charming daughter, Maria del Sol, her partner, and soon their son, Sergio - the first of her extended family born on American soil.

Re-discovering her academic love and finding the work immensely satisfying, she studied and dedicated herself as an elementary school teacher in Houston, where she retired after 23 years of teaching. She found the work energizing and loved the ability to nurture other young minds with a sense of optimism and hope. It is this personal nature, along with her deep reservoir of spiritual faith and emotional growth, that she is most well-known for. She believed that our souls were capable of great individual action and that with a strong education, we could collectively address the great injustices that she saw throughout her life. Her morals were rooted firmly in Christ and a closer understanding of God, for which she was always striving.

Patricia lived as a leader, a mother, a teacher, and child of God. She learned from her mistakes and though she constantly strove to improve the lives of her family and friends, she remained deeply grateful for having touched them.

- Written by her son, Sergio Gallardo Felipe-Ortega