Bobbie Estelle Diaz Martinez

1935 - 2016

Bobbie Estelle Diaz Martinez, a native of Fort Worth, died Monday, Feb. 1, 2016, in Dallas after a lengthy illness. Funeral Mass: 10 a.m. Monday, Feb. 8, at St. Patrick Cathedral, 1206 Throckmorton St., downtown Fort Worth. Entombment: Greenwood Mausoleum. Rosary: 5 p.m. Sunday in Greenwood Chapel. Mrs. Martinez, daughter of Petra Zapata Diaz and Francisco Diaz Sr., was born in Fort Worth in 1935, one of nine children who lived and four children who died in infancy. At the age of 19, she married World War II veteran Juventino Martinez of Melvin. She discovered her life's calling as a loving mother when she gave birth to a daughter, Anna Marie, and 2 1/2 years later, a son, Gilbert Anthony. Having married an active duty Air Force sergeant, Mrs. Martinez traveled the world in support of her husband's career, including his year of voluntary service in Vietnam in 1967-1968, but she always longed to return home to her beloved Fort Worth. She taught her children strength, dignity and respect for their family, themselves and others, love of country, and abiding faith in God. After her husband's retirement from the Air Force, Mrs. Martinez insisted that the family move back to her hometown. A Veterans Administration loan and her husband's retirement income allowed the couple to fulfill the American dream of home ownership. Perhaps because she raised her baby boomer children to be as independent as she was, both married relatively late in life. Gilbert Martinez married Elizabeth Sanders in Bryan-College Station in 1995. The couple made Mr. and Mrs. Martinez proud grandparents with the birth of Jared Anthony in April 2000. His sister, Sara Alise, arrived in August 2001, and baby sister, Emily Anne, was born in December 2004. Mrs. Martinez conspired, with the help of an old Air Force friend in Dallas, to reunite her daughter, Anna Martinez -- at the time a WFAA-TV reporter -- with her friend's son, Dean Dominguez. Anna was a toddler in Nouasseur Air Base in Morocco in North Africa, when she first met Dean who, like Gilbert, was born in Nouasseur. Anna and Dean married in 1999. The only force powerful enough to uproot Mrs. Martinez from Fort Worth was the long-awaited birth of her oldest child's only daughter, Amelia Analise, in April 2001. Mr. and Mrs. Martinez sold their paid-off home in Fort Worth to purchase a home in Dallas so she could help take care of Amelia. As much as Mrs. Martinez loved being a mother, she found renewed purpose and fulfillment in being "Nana" to all four of her beautiful grandchildren. Special thanks to Dr. Rita Lepe-Suastegui of Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas for helping extend the quality of Bobbie Martinez's life; to the caregivers of The Villages of Lake Highlands for making her final weeks as restful as possible; and to Nora Quepons for her unwavering loyalty and friendship to our beloved mother. Older siblings who preceded her in death were Benito "Benny" Diaz, Tiburcio "Butch" Diaz, Teresa "Terry" Diaz Trujillo and Josefina "Josie" Diaz Garcia. Survivors: A widow at the time of her death, Mrs. Martinez is survived by her son and daughter; their spouses; her grandchildren; older sister, Blanche Soria; older brother, Moses Diaz; younger sister, Margarita White; younger brother, Frank Diaz Jr.; and numerous nieces and nephews.