Graciela Olimpia Sanchez

Graciela Olimpia Sanchez of Round Rock, Texas, passed away on 09-29-2025 at the age of 91. She was born on 11-29-1933 to Paola Carpio and Alejandro Cruz in Arequipa, Peru.

She grew up in Arequipa, Peru and married her childhood sweetheart, Humberto Segundo Sanchez, on April 24, 1953. She attended Catholic finishing school, where the nuns taught her how to keep house, set a beautiful table and other various arts for the home. She lived in various cities across the Americas, including Arequipa, Peru; Lima, Peru; Kansas City, Missouri; St. Louis Missouri; Charleston, West Virginia; Dade City, Florida; Lake Butler, Florida; and Round Rock, Texas. She mastered needle arts such as crochet, knitting, and needlepoint. She also enjoyed painting, ceramics and making beautiful things for the home. She created many treasures that her family and friends have enjoyed over the years. She was also a marvelous and much sought-after cook, specializing in dishes native to the place of her birth. She was a lifelong Catholic. One of her proudest moments was when she became an American Citizen on November 18th, 1994. She was a voracious reader of mysteries, history, and romance novels and had a vast collection of books about cooking, knitting and crocheting. She had an insatiable curiosity and a lifetime love of learning. Her most cherished roles in life were as a wife, mother and "Nana". She loved her family with all her heart, and their love was what she treasured most.

One of her most amazing accomplishments was immigrating to the United States on New Year's Eve, 1959, flying from Peru to Miami with four children all under the age of six. She then took a train to the central United States, where she joined her husband who was in a surgical residency program. It was a long trip, and she was brave to undertake the journey to a foreign country without knowing the language and with such young children. This journey showcased her lifelong attributes of resilience, resourcefulness and persistence.

She is survived by her children: Segundo Sanchez, Oscar Sanchez and spouse Linda Sanchez, Eduardo Sanchez and spouse Diane Sanchez, Rafael Sanchez and spouse Darlene Sanchez, Pola Sanchez-Baker and spouse Michael Baker, and Alejandro Sanchez and spouse Anne Sanchez. Her grandchildren: Angelina, Andrea, Allyssa, Jameson, Maria Elena, Armando, Segundo Alejandro (AJ), Jack, and Sofia. Her great grandchildren: Kinsey, Kadyn, Koltyn, Izabella, Jaxson, Addison, Grayson, and Gunner.

She is preceded in death by: Dr. Humberto Segundo Sanchez, MD who was her beloved husband of 32 years, and her sons, Orlando Sanchez, and Fernando Sanchez.

Her body will be cremated and the ashes returned to the family. Information about a memorial service is forthcoming.

DEATH IS NOTHING AT ALL

Henry Scott-Holland, 1847-1918

Death is nothing at all.

It does not count.

I have only slipped away into the next room. Nothing has happened.

Everything remains exactly as it was.

I am I, and you are you,

and the old life that we lived so fondly together is untouched, unchanged. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.

Call me by the old familiar name.

Speak of me in the easy way which you always used. Put no difference into your tone.

Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes that we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.

Let my name be ever the household word that it always was.

Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow upon it.

Life means all that it ever meant.

It is the same as it ever was.

There is absolute and unbroken continuity. What is this death but a negligible accident?

Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, for an interval,

somewhere very near,

just round the corner.

All is well.

Nothing is hurt; nothing is lost.

One brief moment and all will be as it was before.

How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again!