JUANITA CARRANZA

JUANITA CARRANZA Juanita Carranza beloved mother and grandmother entered eternal rest on April 2, 2013 with her family by her side. She was born in Los Angeles, California to Natividad and Maria del Refugio Castellanos on November 19, 1926. She is survived by her children Minerva Carranza, Diana (Rick) Castro, Jose (Rosa) Carranza, Elena (Ruben) Luna, and Veronica Carranza and one brother Luis Castellanos. She is also survived by 11 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband of 57 years Jose V. Carranza, daughter Dalia (Matias) Morin, and granddaughter Linda Celeste Luna. Juanita was a homemaker and enjoyed cooking family dinners, sewing, and gardening. She loved cooking for her family. Dad wouldn't eat anyone else's cooking. She kept her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren close by having everyone gather for dinner and spend time together. She loved to joke and had everyone laughing, many times at her own expense. When her children were growing up, Juanita had a gift for making things go a long way to make ends meet. She enjoyed sewing and spent countless hours sewing dresses for her five daughters to wear to school, parties, and proms. She loved working on her garden and said it reminded her of the years she spent migrating to work in the fields. She could tell stories about the many states they visited while she grew up and how she helped her family from a very young age. Juanita passed on her strong work ethic to her children and encouraged them to get an education even though she had not been able to attend school past third grade. She was very proud of her children and their accomplishments. One became a nurse, 3 teachers, a financial analyst, and her son a senior manager for DART. She played an active role in raising her grandchildren. They loved spending time with Granny as much as she enjoyed spending time with them. She let her granddaughters play with dolls from her precious doll collection and had tea parties with them. For her grandsons, there were homemade Ninja Turtle costumes and homemade swords. She would also pick them up after school and have homemade tortillas and dinner waiting for them. Even her pets enjoyed her home cooked meals made especially for them. She was a very positive person making the best of any situation and was a joy to be around. She leaves us with many wonderful memories and will be greatly missed. We would like to thank Dr. Manuel Mercado for the years he managed her health and his kind words of comfort at her passing, the wonderful nurses who took care of her at Rio Grande Regional Hospital in her final days, her physical therapist Geraldine Hernandez, and her caregiver Rita. Visitation will be held from 5 – 9 p.m. with a 7 p.m. rosary, today, April 4, 2013, at Memorial Funeral Home in San Juan. Funeral service will be at 10 a.m. on Friday, April, 5, 2013, at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Pharr. Interment will follow at Valley Memorial Gardens in Mission. Funeral services are under the direction of Memorial Funeral Home in San Juan. Her children arise and call her blessed. Proverbs 31:28 Sign the guest book at www.themonitor.com/obituaries