Herminia Quintanilla Zavala

On December 5th, 2023, Herminia Quintanilla Zavala went to be with Jesus from her home in Las Vegas, NV. A loving and cherished mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, she is survived by 5 children, 17 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren.

She was born in 1934 in her family’s ancestral home of San Juan, TX as one of 9 children to a family of Mexican American migrant farmworkers. Her early life was spent traveling on the migrant routes from South Texas to the nation’s fields. In the 1960s, Herminia settled in Southwestern Idaho where she continued to work in agriculture and raised her 6 children.

A person of immense strength, she was an inspiration to many in the way she conquered adversity. She was a breast cancer survivor, and, after a suspected case of scarlet fever as a young child left her with a heart condition, she had a heart valve replaced at age 55. She went on to live another 38 years with a mechanical valve, astonishing her doctors and enabling her to be loved and treasured by 3 generations. Her strength and incredible optimism led her grandchildren to affectionately refer to her as “unbreakable.” This also applied to her indomitable spirit and faith. A devout Christian, she led the family as the spiritual matriarch.

Loving and supremely creative, Herminia showed her affection to her loved ones through food. Her cooking was renowned and longed-for within the family. To eat her food was truly a gift, and to ensure the family recipes lived on, she wrote and self-published a cookbook with her daughters.

As a gifted speaker, storyteller, and keeper of history, Herminia advocated later in life for changing the working and living conditions for migrant farmworkers. Her life and voice will live on through oral histories in which she shared her experiences as a Mexican American migrant farmworker soon to found within the oral history archives of the University of Texas at Austin.

The river of her love was wide and brimming. Whether through an encouraging word, an act of prayer, a healing touch, or a comforting meal she cared for her family in numerous and immeasurable ways. She will be remembered for generations and missed beyond measure.