Criselida "Cris" Hernandez

Criselida “Cris” Cantu Hernandez, 86 of Temple, passed away peacefully at her home surrounded by loved ones on the morning of Thursday, October 10, 2024. Born in Skidmore, TX, Cris was the third born of four children. She graduated from Temple High School and worked several jobs before spending her years as a mother and wife. Starting at age ten, Cris worked alongside her family doing migrant work in West Texas. She would attend a half-day of school then travel with her family by bus to work in the fields, picking cotton and pecans. Cris and her brother Leonel would also relieve their mother Hermina, who worked as a maid at the Oasis Hotel in Skidmore, by picking up her weekend shifts and cleaning rooms. Upon graduation, Cris and her sister Angie worked at the Curtis Shoe Factory. Lastly, she briefly trained to become a nurse and would instill her nursing knowledge to her family for the rest of her life.

Cris was an avid sports fan and competitor. She never missed a chance to watch her favorite teams, the Houston Astros, Dallas Cowboys, and Texas Longhorns. She loved watching football so much that she would watch the games of her children’s favorite teams as well. Throughout her life, she participated in competitive barrel racing, softball, and bowling. In her youth, she would compete in horse barrel races and loved to recreationally horseback ride. She served as pitcher for the family’s company La Familia Enterprises’ fast-pitch softball league. She spent several years traveling nation-wide to compete with her beloved bowling team. However, her greatest love of all hobbies was her bingo time. She loved attending the American Legion to play bingo with her best friend Alma.

Cris and her husband Joe met in 1955 at a festival in Cameron, TX and would go on to spend sixty-nine long years together, sixty-two of them married. The couple married in 1962 in Temple. Cris served an important role in helping Joe jumpstart his music career throughout the 1950’s. Throughout the progression of his career, Cris would become the president of their record label, Leona Records, and the co-founder of their publishing company, DeLeon Publishing. She co-founded Little Joe and The Latinaires, what would later become Little Joe Y La Familia. In the early days of Joe’s career, Cris served as costumer and seamstress, creating outfits for Joe and the band.

She is survived by her husband Jose Maria DeLeon Hernandez, by their four children Ivan Hernandez, Criselda Cruz, Isaac Hernandez, and Demetrias Hernandez, her four grandchildren Amber Carnathan, Joshua Hernandez, Catalina Cruz, and Jazzmeen Hernandez, her three step-grandchildren Jennifer Manriquez, Josie Garay, and Greg Saldaña, her eight great-grandchildren, her seven step great-grandchildren, and her brother Leonel Cantu.

She is preceded in death by her father Manuel Cantu, mother Hermina Cantu, and sisters Estella Soto and Angie Allen.

Our family wishes to send a special thank you to Nicole, Christi, Krystal, and Tamara at Gentiva Hospice for their excellent care. We also wish to send a special and important thank you to Dr. Alan Gowan for years of excellent care and concern for Cris.

A visitation service will be held on Wednesday, October 23, 2024, at 5 PM at Harper-Talasek Funeral Home in Temple. A church service will be held on Thursday, October 24, 2024, at 10:30 PM at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. A private interment will be held at a later date.

We so deeply miss our wife, mother, grandma, sister, aunt, friend, protector, and angel. We can so vividly hear her loud laughter, her cheering for her sports teams, her singing and hooting as she danced, and her life guidance that she provided her family with. Nosotros te amamos, Cris.