Lydia Garcia Our mom left this earth and went home on Tuesday, May 12th, 2020. We know she is in heaven, dancing, and is pain free after having battled so many different physical afflictions in her life. Her first fight for life began when she was born on August 24th, 1939, in El Paso, Texas. As a preemie, she weighed only 2 ½ pounds and was taken home wrapped in handkerchief and placed in a shoebox. The doctors believed she would only live a few hours, but they didn’t know about her strong will and the purpose that God put her here on earth. She managed to survive and endured seeing her mother pass when she was only ten years old, when her grandmother stepped in to help raise her. As an only child, she helped her dad, cooking meals, doing laundry and taking care of all the duties that her mom would have done. She would milk the cow, collect the eggs from the chickens, deliver to the neighbors and make her dad breakfast, all before going to school. Lydia had five children: David, Michael, Laurie, Eddie and Diana. Michael went to heaven in 1995. She made sure that each one had a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ and instilled life skills for every aspect of life. She was married and devoted to her love, Mario Garcia, for over sixty years. She never neglected a single one of what she believed were her motherly responsibilities. She was known as “Lita” to her 16 grandchildren: Michael, Gina, Mark, Lindsey, Sarah, Katie, Daniel, Becca, Stephen, Jordan, Sami, Lauren, Cody, Quinton, Joey, and Aiden and her 12 great grandchildren: Bryant, Lucas, Maddie, Layla, Kimberly, Kensley, Opal, Max, Emma, Micah, Emily and Bowie. Besides raising her children, she managed to work full time in so many capacities during her career. Her last tenure was as the translator for Tucson Unified School District, where she retired in 2005. She translated all the documents for the District from Spanish to English and English to Spanish. Her grammar skills, vast vocabulary and proficiency in Spanish was admired and esteemed by Professors, experts, and other translators. She was just as proficient in English, her second language. Before her job at ‘1010’, she worked for several years at Pueblo High School for principal Lalo Cubillas. She also worked for the City of Tucson; at Police Dispatch, the City Clerk’s Office, the City Attorney’s Office and finally a few years as the secretary to George Gray, the assistant City Manager to Joel Valdez on the 10th floor of City Hall. Her devotion to God was undeniable in every aspect of her life. Our family will sorely miss our prayer warrior on earth. She was constantly in prayer for every family member and every friend or person that she knew, praying passionately, fervently and unceasingly and into the early hours of the morning many times. At the many churches she attended she led women’s ministries, taught Sunday school, conducted marriage seminars, and led countless bible studies. She evangelized to everyone she came in contact with including family, friends, strangers, or anyone in need. On her nightstand you will still find her very worn bible, devotionals and a note pad to record her inspirations, thoughts, and lessons. It doesn’t matter which name you knew her by, whether it was Mom, Lita, Grandma, Tia, Prima, Hermana, Lydia, Vallejo, Hija, or Hon, her smile, her voice, her instruction, her prayers, her friendship, her laugh and her love will be dearly missed. We will always have our memories of her, her inspirational stories in our hearts and the love we felt to hold on to. And, we know that she will continue to plead and petition our Father in heaven on our behalf because of her love for us and her undying love for our God. A ‘Celebration of Life’ funerall service will be held on Tuesday, May 19th at 11:00 a.m. at Grace to the Nations Church, 6810 E Pima Street, Tucson, AZ 53712. There will be a viewing prior to the service at 10:00 am. If attending the service, PLEASE BRING YOUR MASK which will be REQUIRED. The church is required to practice social distancing. Family members may sit together but will be spaced 6 feet from the next family or person. She will be interred near Michael at East Lawn following the service. The interment will be limited to 60 family members. Due to the current travel restrictions in some areas and the circumstances we are living in, the service will be made available through a live feed on the following website: https://www.gttn.org/ Donations can be made at the following website: https://www.gofundme.com/f/memorial-for-lydia-garcia