Mary Cruz, age 96, of Manteca, CA passed away on June 30, 2024. She was born in Northern Arizona, Mary spent her first months of life traveling to California’s San Joaquin County with her family. Her father transitioned from working with the railroad to agriculture work, as it did not require the frequent uprooting of the family that railroad tracks work then entailed. Mary would keep San Joaquin County as her home for her next 96 years.
Mary grew up during the Great Depression and WWII, lean times when she learned to work hard, make the most of whatever she had and to not waste anything; everything can be repurposed. Beginning in her teens she worked at the Manteca Canning Company; always putting family first, she would take extra work during the holidays at the El Rey Theater to supplement the family income and make sure her youngest siblings, for whom she took time from school to help to raise - Ray, Cres’, Angie and Dan, had gifts under the Christmas tree. The male siblings all would serve tours in our nations armed forces. Mary later worked for Simpson Lee Paper Company, before returning to school and graduating from Modesto Junior College and CSU-Stanislaus earning an AA, BA and teaching credential. For a quarter century (late 60s-early 90s) Mary was a bi-lingual elementary school teacher at French Camp School (in MUSD). She enjoyed helping her students succeed. While teaching she was caring for her elderly mother, the family’s cherished “grandma” Mercedes. Much of the family was at Mary’s house for at least a few hours after church most Sundays. After she retired from teaching, Mary stayed busy tending to properties she rented out. She found ways to give back back to her community by volunteering to tutor students at the Raymus Foundation’s “Give Every Child a Chance” (GECC) where she enjoyed figuring out ways to best reach her assigned student. She loved to share her joy with family when she saw the “lightbulb go on”. On one session at GECC, she had the opportunity to visit with the then First Lady of California, and Mary’s interview was published in the local newspapers. Mary also contributed to many causes, supporting many other social justice issues, including those seeking to remedy disparities in actual-access to legal care and impartial courts, broadly, organizations seeking to offer greater support for those in need, including those supporting military veterans.
Mary was a lifelong learner; she enjoyed reading multiple newspapers each day, cover to cover, the occasional good book, and traveling. She visited four of the worlds continents: Asia, Australia, Europe and North America, and also much of Oceana. Continuing to travel later in life, she visited China, zip-lined the jungles of Central America and toured Italy in her late 70s, in her 80s she road tripped the West Coast from Baja California to British Columbia; In her 90s she returned to her birthplace in Northern Arizona for the first time, where she had a celebratory. lunch, adjacent the railroad tracks her father had once worked on, recalling all that had happened since she was last there.
One of the lasting gifts Mary gave to her family was, in her 80th year: she prepared a compilation of the family’s history. The project culminated in a big family reunion to present the work and celebrate the first century the family had been in the USA while remembering where the family had come from. She then continued documenting the families history by preparing a book of “Dichos” - sayings/lessons our grandmother brought with her from the old country.
Mary was blessed with a long life, she loved her family and was always there for holidays, graduations, birthdays, weddings, award ceremonies, communions/confirmations, game days, recitals, college tours.wherever the family was. She was someone who you could depend on to always be on time (often early), always ready to help you solve whatever issue you sought to solve without complaint. She would remind you things were often not as difficult as they may seem; if a solution was taking a little long, take a break, perhaps have a nice glass of juice/wine (depending on age), take your mind off things for a bit and maybe even have a laugh before returning. She was a lifelong parishioner of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church (the old one and the new one) where she worshiped every weekend she could.
Mary was proceeded in death by her parents, Dionicio and Mercedes, her siblings Delphine, Pauline, Amparo (Ann), Guadalupe (Lupe), Cruzita, John, Raymond, Dionicio (Dan) and Philip. She is survived by her siblings Cresencio (Cres), Angelina (Angie) and Lucy, as well as her many nieces, nephews, godchildren and her students.
Services for Mary are under the direction of P.L. Fry and Son Funeral Home, 290 North Union Road, Manteca, CA.
Viewing will be held on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, at 8:30 a.m., Rosary at 9:45 a.m. all held at P.L. Fry and Son Funeral Home. Mass of will be held at 11:00 a.m. at St. Anthony's Catholic Church, 505 East North Street Manteca, CA. She will be laid to rest at St. John's Catholic Cemetery, 17871 S. Carrolton Road, Escalon, CA.
Manteca (Calif.) Bulletin
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
