Regina Gamez

Regina F. Gamez passed away peacefully at her home in Tolleson, Arizona on February 8, 2022 at the age of 92 to be with our Lord Jesus Christ in her Heavenly home and join those who have gone before her.

When the doctor recommended hospice for our Mother, she said she wanted to be at home instead of a facility after a short hospital stay due to failing health.

It was difficult to process that the end could be near since she had been in great health for so long, other than not being able to walk because of her knees. That was really the only thing that gave her problems; it was painful for her to get around and her only complaint.

Even when she quit eating and was just drinking horchata or mango juice with protein powder since she didn’t want anything else, she was in great spirits, always smiling and never complained about pain.

Regina was born and raised in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico on August 6, 1929 to Gaspar and Ramon Franco.

When she was young, she spent a lot of time at the local Catholic Church, helping out wherever she could.

It molded her love for the Church and all it offered spiritually.

She married at the age of 17, after a short courtship with our Dad, Guillermo Gamez, who was smitten with her.

Mom wanted a dozen children and came pretty pretty close to her goal when she had 11 of us.

The married couple with child number one in tow, immigrated to the United States at the urging of Guillermo’s Dad (our grandfather). They settled in Tolleson, making the close-knit community home for the rest of their lives.

In keeping with her love of the Catholic religion, she volunteered and belonged to the Guadalupanas, La Hermandad del Santisimio Sacramento, and La Llama de Amor at Blessed Sacrament Parish.

Whenever anyone asked, “Where’s Mom,” she was usually at the Church or doing something church-related such as volunteering at one of the yearly fiesta’s food booths, helping out at Regina Hall, going to give communion to the homebound, to name a few.

At home, she’d cook food to be sold at the fiesta, hand wash, starch, and iron the Church’s linens used during Mass.

The linens were hallowed for our Mom. After washing them, she never ever dumped the water down the drain. She considered the water from the linens blessed and would only pour that water in her yard wherever there were plants or trees. She’d show you how beautiful the rose bushes were and say that was because of the blessed water from the linens. That, if anything else, gives one an insight as to her faith.

Two of our sisters ran for and became the fiesta queens on different years, but, they only won due to our Mom’s diligence in raising money, since the queen candidate who raised the most money for the Church, would become queen.

When we were selling something to raise money for the Church, whether tamales or whatever, there were no freebies for us, even if we were busy shaving ice for the delicious snow cones with homemade syrup. If it was to raise money for the Church, we paid for it, despite our labor. That’s just the way she rolled. There were no gray areas where it concerned the Catholic Church and her beliefs.

We reaped the benefits of her daily prayers for us and others in the community who may be sick.

Our Mom also had some great home remedies for ailments such as coning for an earache. We’d get a little freaked out when she’d light the end of the rolled paper as the flame got closer to our ear. There’d be a puff of air, the flame would blow away from the ear, and voila, the ear pain would disappear. “Tenias aire en el oido,” she’d say.

She did work outside the home for about two years at the E.L. Gruber Underwear Company when her children were older, but for the vast majority of her life, she was a homemaker.

We’d wake up to the sound of the rolling pin and the smell of fresh tortillas in the air. As we made our way into the kitchen, there was our Mom, and a huge pile of warm tortillas, and she’d tell us they were ready.

Besides the usually delicious menudo and tamales for Christmas, there were the crispy bunuelos and we had our choice of sugar or Karo syrup.

During the Lenten season, she made her buttery and much sought after capirotada every Friday. There’s capirotada, then there was Mom’s capirotada. Maybe we’re biased, but once you had hers, even though other capirotadas were good, they just weren’t the same in comparison.

Mom was so proud when she took her oath and became a U.S. citizen, as well as it being an honor to have the ability to vote.

She was beautiful inside and out and we will miss her great sense of humor. If she had an opportunity to poke fun at one of us, she’d take advantage of it and we’d end up with a good laugh.

Regina is preceded in death by her parents, husband Guillermo, son Xavier who passed at birth, daughter Elvia who died as an infant, son Hector, as well as her sisters Juan Alba Hernandez, Carmela Franco, brother Ramon Franco, daughter-in-law Stella Gamez, and granddog Wally.

She is survived by her children: William (Virginia), Alfredo (Nettie), Adolfo (Tina), Imelda (Alex) Alvarez, Irene (Hector) Armendariz, Carlos, Eddie, and Reina (Jaime) Cornejo, daughter-in-law Espy Gamez; sister Lydia (Frank) Kingman of California, sister-in-law Estela Franco; 17 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, three grandpooches, and a boatload of extended family and friends.

Thank you to our brother Carlos for being our Mom’s caretaker for many, many years, our sister Imelda who arrived in October from Maryland and became a great help these last few months, and Hospice of the Valley for their wonderful service.

Services will be held: Wednesday, February 23, 2022 at St. John Vianney Church, 800 W. Loma Linda Boulevard, Goodyear, AZ 85338 • Viewing: 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. • Rosary: 10:30 a.m. • Funeral Mass: 11 a.m. • Interment to follow at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, 9925 W. Thomas Road, Avondale, AZ 85392.

Masks required for all attending, and due to Covid-19, there will be no reception afterwards.