Maria Rosa Cruz

1932 - 2021

Maria Rosa Cruz, 89, of El Centro, CA passed away peacefully in her home, surrounded by family, due to a short battle with cancer, on Friday, August 6, 2021.
Rosa was born on July 5, 1932, in Guadalajara, Mexico. After she migrated to the U.S., for work she became a sitter for the Douthitt Family for many years. She later met the love her life, Theodore Ted Cruz. In 1953 she married Ted and started her life with him in El Centro. She became a mother of two daughters and a step-son. Shortly after she gained two more children, whom she raised as her own.
Rosa loved to tell stories about her childhood days in Guadalajara to all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She loved her grandchildren and everything she did for them, whether it was picking them up from school or cooking them up some of her favorite Mexican dishes. She enjoyed shopping and had the biggest sweet tooth. She loved working the snack bar for the Spartans Athletic Club. She met so many people from different school districts, who she considered family and would refer to her as Grandma.
She was preceded in death by by her husband, Theodore Ted Cruz; son-in-law, Joe Tabarez; step-son, Ted Jr.; granddaughter, Lavette; siblings, Ruben, Javier, Simon, Chano and Oduelia.
She is survived by daughter Martha Tabarez; children who she raised as her own, Martha (Barrett) Trost, Tony (April) Sonico and daughter Rosemary (Ray) Singh; grandkids, Vero (Joey), Chrissy (Andy) Diaz, Paul (Lynessa) Tabarez; 16 great grandkids and 2 great-great grandkids; sister Lina Byrd; brothers Beto (Yadira) Rodriguez, Alfonso (Consuelo) Rodriguez, Isidro (Alicia) Rodriguez; numerous nieces, and nephews, and one niece whom she also helped raise, Barbara (Larry) Peterson.
Visitation will be held on Thursday, September 16, 2021 from 6 to 8 p.m., with rosary said at 6:15 p.m., at Hems Brothers Mortuary in El Centro. A mass will be held on Friday, September 17, 2021 at 9 a.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in El Centro, CA. Burial will immediately follow at Evergreen Cemetery in El Centro at 10 a.m.