Carmela Guza

1939 - 2024

Having escaped with their lives from the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, Eduardo and Conchita Ayala gave birth to Carmela Conception Ayala Bonilla Garcia Duarte Echevarria in Paris, France on March 15, 1939. Soon after her birth Eduardo took his wife and newborn on an ocean liner packed with refugees bound for Cuba. After a brief sojourn there they lived in Victoria, Chile for Carmela's childhood and eventually to Buenos Aires, Argentina in pursuit of greater economic opportunity for their expanded family of three more children.

Unmarried at twenty-six in a traditional Spanish household, she sought her independence by obtaining a US visa and traveling to New York City. There she got a job in the library services division at Random House and continued her education at Baruch College and Hunter College. It was at Random House where she met Richard Guza, a correspondent with Random House. They married five months after introducing themselves and had two children, Helen Guza (Bosch) and Edward Joseph Guza. When the children were five and three, they moved to Great Falls, MT, Richard's hometown, to have a life he believed better for all.

Carmela thrived in Montana just being Carmela: a devoted wife and mother, a beloved member of the Guza family, a gourmet cook, a Master Gardener; and succeeded professionally, first as an accountant for Con Agra in GF for nine years, then as a teacher's aide and certified child development teacher in the Havre Head Start (HS) for four years, and finally as the parent coordinator of Anaconda Head Start and an auditor for the national HS program for ten years. She continued her work with children as a volunteer in the Butte HS and public schools assisting children with special needs until 2023.

She made many visits to Argentina with Richard and her children and grandchildren, and took trips to cities in the US and Europe and to Africa with them and other family members and friends. She was active in the Butte Garden Club, Red Hats, and the MAC gang. She often said that Butte was the best place she had ever lived and cherished the friends made here, like Sharon Chebul, Mary Carol Orizotti, Ron Sletten and all the gang, and our NYC-California friends Carol and Dena Stern and Richard's life-long friend Jim Poletto.

Mercifully she died in her sleep next to her husband and daughter of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the morning of May 3, 2024. At her request her remains have been cremated and no funeral services. There will be a celebration of her valuable life in a Butte park this summer. Richard, Helen and Edward thank their grandchildren, Richard's siblings and their spouses, Amy Horner, our friends in Butte and beyond for their calls and visits and food these last days. We also thank Stillwater Hospice for the excellent services provided by Kathy, Angie, Deacon Dan; to Teri Waldorf and Raquel Greer, all who made it possible for Carmela to die at home with her loved ones present.