The Brownsville native was 16 when she and Lopez, a distant relative by marriage, met in 1930.
The two were married in 1942, about a month after Pearl Harbor and before he enlisted in the Army.
Lopez was awarded the Medal of Honor in April 1945 for single-handedly killing 100 German soldiers in December 1944 and keeping his company from being overrun by the enemy.
The couple moved to San Antonio in 1946.
'Emilia was a very traditional wife and mother,' son-in-law Guy Wickwire said. 'She never even had a driver's license. She cooked, cleaned and worked hard and went everywhere with her husband, but always with a wink and a smile.'
In addition to her husband, she is survived by five children, John Lopez and Maggie Wickwire of San Antonio, Candida 'Marie' Pierati of Mahopac, NY, Virginia Rogers of Ogden, Utah, and Beatrice Pedraza of Lima, Peru; 19 grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren; and a stepbrother, Abel Flores of Weslaco.
