Adriana Contreras Torres

On September 15, 2025, Adriana left this world to be with her Lord. She was born to Jesus and Lucinda Contreras on September 13, 1969 in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, the third of four children. With a brief period in Houston she spent most of her childhood in Monterrey, where she enjoyed spending time with family, taking trips to the mountains, and to the Gulf of Mexico, which led to a lifelong love of the beach. With her father’s encouragement, Adriana completed a vocational nursing program earning certification as a nurse in Monterrey. She married Pablo Torres in 1988 and they moved to San Antonio, Texas about 1992, where her three children were born and the family rejoined her parents and siblings.

After working in food service and various other jobs, Adriana worked for several years as a Teacher Assistant in the A.L.E./Life Skills program at Madison High School (where her kids would later graduate) while she continued her general education at San Antonio College. At Madison, she met Tom (Tomas) Williams and began a friendship that would grow into a deep love after her divorce, and last for the rest of her days.

She was accepted to the nursing program at SAC, and upon graduation with an Associate’s degree as a Registered Nurse she was hired to work in the Neo-Natal ICU at Methodist Hospital Metropolitan. When she was offered an opportunity to work as a contract nurse at SAMMC/BAMC, she moved to the NICU there, and after three years, she was hired as a Civil Service nurse at BAMC. When she was offered and accepted a 3-year assignment to the Army hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, she moved to Gris, Germany, away from her family and friends for the first time in her life. While working in Germany, during the COVID years, she took the opportunity to earn her BA in Nursing.

She enjoyed her time working and living in Germany, and took many opportunities to travel around Europe alone, with Tomas, and often with fellow nurse and friend Sheila Edwards with whom she would remain close and share an apartment when they both transferred to Maryland to work at Walter Reed Hospital. The traveling and adventures continued to the end.

Adriana valued education, new experiences and working. In her youth, she tried beauty and fashion school, and learned to sew and cook. For most of the last twenty-five years, Adriana worked second jobs, including phone sales, sewing and altering dresses, and cooking, selling, and teaching others to make tamales. Besides nursing, she earned her real estate license, so she could work as a realtor with her sister Judy. In that role she presented a sincerity and compassion to her clients. The sale she was most pleased about was finding a home for her eldest son and daughter-in-law. She owned two other houses and was happy to have her daughter and younger son and his wife make those houses their homes.

From an early age, Adriana was full of life and had an independent spirit, enjoying adventures big and small, and spending time with her immediate family, primos, tias, and tios. Later, she tried to instill that same sense of adventure in her kids. As a family, they would go where the water was: fishing and swimming at the coast, lakes and rivers, and of course, the swimming pool.

Adriana had a lifelong love of dancing and music. She would often get up and sing with mariachis, was usually happy to dance – at venues or in the living room, and encouraged those passions in her kids. She was a talented and graceful dancer, and would frequently go dancing with Tomas with whom she shared that passion.

Adriana had a tender heart. She was adept at feeling and identifying other’s emotions and worries- especially with those that she held close. The thing she loved most about being a NICU nurse was getting to hold and comfort the babies she worked with; they brought her much joy (and sometimes great sadness when they didn’t make it). When there was conflict in her relationships, she felt it deeply, but her love was always strong and sincere.

Adriana held many people - both family and friends – in her heart, and is dearly missed. She is survived by her parents - Lucinda and Jesus Contreras, siblings – Edilberto Contreras, Elizabeth Contreras and Judy Contreras, children – Linda Torres, Pablo Torres, Jr. and Ricardo Torres and their father Pablo Torres, Sr., grandchildren – Azalea Torres and Oliver Torres, and longtime love and fiance Tom Williams.

There will be a Visitation on Sunday, September 28, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. at Porter Loring Mortuary West, 1710 W Loop 1604 N, San Antonio, TX 78251. Immediately following there will be a Chapel Service beginning at 12:00 p.m.