Juanita Tena

1934 - 2023

Juanita Tena née Merás, October 27, 1934 - July 24, 2023. Born of Genaro Merás and Susana
Merás née Vázquez, who had many businesses including running a tavern/restaurant. Juanita
was the eighth of nine children and grew up in San Antonio, Texas. She graduated from Lanier
High School. As a young woman Juanita loved to spend her time with family and friends, going
out dancing (particularly the bunnyhop) and to parties. She enjoyed visiting parts of Texas and
Monterrey, Nuevo León, México where she had many family members.

In 1954 she moved, along with her mother, older brother, and younger sister, to Los Angeles.
She quickly found work at Jan-U-Wine, the first Chinese food canning company in the US, as a
bookkeeper. Soon after she bought a house in Florence near Huntington Park, where many of
her relatives from Texas had also settled.

Juanita loved to be around her family, and loved to explore the world around her. She
memorably drove solo on vacation from Los Angeles to Monterrey, NL to visit family and try on
new experiences.

She loved the cinema, and would sometimes enjoy two flicks in one day. Her favorites were
westerns, thrillers, and science fiction movies. She loved sporting events too, and would take in
baseball, boxing, and even wrestling. She enjoyed the early rock & roll of Fats Domino and
Ritchie Valens.

On one occasion, her cousin invited her to a party and introduced her to her future husband
Arnold. Ever the connoisseur of good and happening music, she chose the location of their first
date- a nightclub run by Lalo Guerrero in East Los Angeles.

Juanita and Arnold married in 1966, and for their honeymoon took a road trip to Los Mochis,
Sinaloa. Within two years they moved to Westchester in West LA, closer to where Arnold
worked as a teacher in Hawthorne, and she bore their first child, Michelle. They would have
three other children, all two years apart: Theresa, John, and Joel.

She settled into life as a stay-at-home mother, and was very active in her children’s lives. She
volunteered at their schools, was a Troop Helper in Girl Scouts, and a Den Mother in Cub
Scouts. She also practiced sports with her children, particularly softball & baseball as she had a
strong throwing arm.

Whether driving to various practices and school activities, baking treats, tending to scrapes and
bruises (both physical and emotional), Juanita did everything she could to nurture and support
her children.

Juanita and Arnold both loved to camp, and took their children out regularly to the great
outdoors. Sometimes at a local campground, sometimes on a long road trip to Arizona,
Washington, or back home to Texas. In the rain (and sometimes snow) and in the daylight or
darkness, she was always ready to help set up camp and prepare meals for everyone. And
always in her adorable dark blue denim bucket hat.

Baseball was a favorite pastime for Juanita. Along with practicing with her children, she enjoyed
going to games with her family and watching them on TV. Her first love was for the Los Angeles
Dodgers, and with the arrival of cable television she became a fan of teams from Chicago and
Atlanta. She also enjoyed visiting ballparks and traveling to different cities to see games and
spring training.

In addition to camping and visiting ballparks, Juanita loved to travel. She visited many parts of
the US, including Washington DC and New York City. She saw the leaves change in New
England, the Forbidden Palace & Great Wall in China, glaciers in Alaska, volcanoes in Hawaii,
and pyramids in the Yucatán and central México.

In addition to her early love of rock, she enjoyed musicals, particularly those from Rodgers &
Hammerstein, boleros from groups like Los Panchos & Lucho Gatica, and flamenco from Paco
de Lucía. She loved traveling to mariachi festivals with Arnold, and they made regular visits to
several over the years.

Juanita was a prolific reader. She was deeply curious about the world and always kept up with
current events. She read the Los Angeles Times and Daily Breeze everyday, sometimes cover
to cover. She loved to laugh as well, and would make sure to always take time out to read the
comics and the Sunday funny pages.

She was a passionate watcher of news programs, including 60 Minutes and Dateline. She also
made time for lighter fare, including General Hospital and The View, and would make sure to
record her grandkids’ favorite programs to watch together with them later.

Her curiosity and love of exploring new things extended into food. She loved trying new cuisine,
new snacks, and was always curious about ingredients and how things were made. In particular
she was enamored with foods from East Asia. She loved Chinese food, Thai food, and
Vietnamese food, among others. And of course she continued to love Tejano food and Mexican
cuisine, as well as Italian food and a good pepperoni pizza (as long as it was not too greasy).

Juanita was very spiritual. While she identified as a Christian, she had respect and interest in
many different faiths. This stemmed from a time in the early 1960’s when her grandmother
Dolores Vázquez came to California to stay with her. Juanita became her primary caregiver.
Dolores was extremely interested in other religions other than Catholicism, and Juanita would
take her on trips to visit different churches, synagogues, and temples throughout the Los
Angeles area to learn how others worshiped. This led to a caring, understanding, and respectful
world view that she would carry for the rest of her life.

Juanita is preceded in death by her husband Arnold, her parents, her older brothers Raúl,
Genaro, Artemio, Roberto, Rudolfo, older sisters Raquel and Susana, as well as numerous
in-laws, nieces, nephews, and cousins. She is survived by her children, younger sister Stella,
younger brother Richard, sons-in-law John & Jason, daughter-in-law Aparna, and grandchildren
Neil, Sean, Jack, Francisco ‘Coyo’, Marco, & Catalina, numerous cousins, nephews, nieces,
family, neighbors and friends.

Services will be as follows: a wake for Juanita will be held at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery,
5835 W Slauson Ave, Culver City, CA 90230, on Thursday, August 17, 2023 at 4:30 pm. Burial
services for Juanita will begin at 1 pm on Friday, August 18, 2023, also to be held at Holy Cross
Catholic Cemetery. For more information please continue to check this site, or contact
joelarnoldtena@gmail.com.