San Juana Ibarra

San Juanita Mata Martinez Ibarra was born on January 18th, 1949 in Cameron County near San Benito, TX. She took her last journey on Sunday, April 3, 2011 in Odessa, TX. She was 62 years old. San Juanita was second child in her family and they traveled with them extensively during her childhood as migrant workers before her parents settled down in Loraine, TX. She helped her mother and father raise her younger siblings during this period of her young life. Then tragedy struck her during her late teen years and early twenties when her brother Pedro, and later her father, died early in their lives. She proudly sacrificed her schooling to work and help her mother take care of her younger siblings. Then nearly a decade later she met her husband Jesus Vasquez Vasquez Ibarra at a dance in Sweetwater, TX. They fell in love and were married on May 17th, 1978 in Colorado City, TX. She then supported her husband as a proud housewife as they spent the next decades traveling from Loraine, TX to Odessa, TX, then from Odessa, TX to Corpus Christi, TX and then finally back to Odessa, TX in the summer in 1997. During this period of her life, she always stayed close to her siblings and her mother. She would always visit them every moment she had to spare. When her children came, they brought her joy. She was a proud mother and eventually, a proud grandmother. All she ever wished from her children was to be successful in whatever they chose to do, but most importantly, be happy. She is preceded in death by her older sister Hilaria Martinez; younger brother, Pedro Martinez; her father, Donato Sanchez Martinez and her younger sister Ester Martinez Luevanos. She is survived by her mother Valentina Roque Mata Martinez; her husband, Jesus Vazquez Ibarra; her sons, Jesse Varquez Ibarra; Benjamin Ibarra, Jaime Ibarra, Javier Ibarra; and daughters Angelita Ibarra Rivera and Angelica Ibarra Ponce. The brothers and sisters she leaves behind are Lorenza Martinez , Rachel Martinez Tarin, Joe Martinez, Nieves Martinez, Frank Martinez, Delores Martinez Pando, Donato Martinez JR, and Carlos Martinez. She is also survived and remembered by numerous grandchildren, nephews and nieces. A Rosary will be recited at 7 pm on Tuesday April 5, 2011 at Odessa Funeral Home Chapel. Mass will be celebrated at 11 am on Wednesday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church with the Reverend Santiago Udayar officiating. Burial will follow at Ector County Cemetery ( Los Angles Section). The pallbearers are Jesse Ibarra, Esequiel Luevanos, Pedro Luevanos, Benjamin Ibarra, Jaime Ibarra and Javier Ibarra.