Gloria Banuelos Martinez

Gloria Banuelos Martinez, 83, of Missouri City, Texas, passed away on August 4, 2013, at Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital in Sugar Land, Texas, after a courageous battle with cancer. Gloria was born and raised in Houston, Texas by her parents, the late Mariano and Maria del Rosario Ortega de Banuelos. Gloria was married in 1954 to Pedro Pablo (Paul) Martinez and began her family in Galveston, Texas. They moved to Houston and several years later were divorced in 1964. Gloria began her career at NASA in 1963, as one of the first women pioneers of the space program, and worked there for 35 years. During her time at NASA she was able to fulfill a lifelong dream and became an umpire for the ASA. Gloria maintained a lifelong passion for sports and supported all the Houston teams – it’s hard to say if she had a favorite. One of her most memorable moments in sports was when she caught the U.S.A. team’s homerun ball at the women’s softball event at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. She also traveled throughout her life to faraway places such as Australia, Hong Kong, Hawaii, Mexico and Canada. She saw the wonders of the world, which included places such as the Colorado mountains, the Grand Canyon, sailing in a sailboat through the Bahamas, traveling through the Eastern Seaboard area, the California Redwood Forests, watching whales in Vancouver, chasing dolphins in a catamaran in Hawaii, and feeding koalas in Australia, to name a few. She lived such an adventurous life! Gloria’s hobbies in her retirement years included spending time with family and friends, gardening in her yard, playing poker on weekend nights with her godson’s family and playing penny machines at her favorite spots. Gloria is survived by her three children, Yolanda M. Sanders and her husband, Johnny, Belinda M. Kasmiersky and her husband, Tom, and Paul Martinez and his wife, Grace. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Steven Paul Martinez, Jennifer Christine Sanders Robinson and her husband Jereme Wade, Christopher William Sanders, Kyle Thomas Paul Kasmiersky, Tyler James Kasmiersky and a great-grandchild, Dominic Kirk Sanders. Gloria has one surviving brother, Marion A. Banuelos; two half sisters, Maria Baneulos Breuss, and Evangeline Banuelos Parra; and many nieces, nephews, other relatives and close friends also survive her. In addition to her parents, Gloria was preceded in death by her five brothers, Rueben, Romeo, Herbert, Ernest and George Banuelos, and her two sisters, Eva Banuelos Perez Buss and Olga Banuelos Ochoa Mendez Perkins. Gloria was from the Greatest Generation and the world doesn’t make them like her anymore. She was strong, courageous, outgoing, smart, and funny, with a little twist of commotion in her. She will undoubtedly be greatly missed by her family and friends, whom she passionately loved.

Visitation will be on August 10 between 1- 3 p.m. and on August 11 between 3-5 at Earthman Southwest Funeral Home, Stafford.