MARIA ANTOINETTE SANTILLAN QUIROZ

Oct. 15, 1949 - Dec. 6, 2018

Mrs. Quiroz was born on October 15, 1949 in Brawley and was a lifelong Imperial Valley resident. She attended Brawley schools where she excelled at English, Reading and Composition, graduating from Brawley Union High School in 1968. A highlight of her young life was attending a cousin’s San Diego State University college graduation where President John F. Kennedy was the commencement speaker. She attended Imperial Valley College, where she spent most of her classroom time playing poker in the Student Union.

While there she met her future husband William Meza Quiroz. They were married at St. Anthony’s Church on April 18, 1970.

After spending a year in Germany with her husband and baby daughter while he served in the U.S. Army, they made their home in El Centro, adding twin girls to their family.

Mrs. Quiroz was employed for fifteen years at the Economic Opportunity Commission of Imperial County, a social services agency, in the capacity of executive secretary, personnel director and administrative assistant. During this time, she also did volunteer work for several years with the El Centro Junior Girls Softball League as secretary, treasurer and board member.

She enjoyed various hobbies such as needlework, reading (especially biographies), writing stories and memoirs, compiling yearly photo albums, maintaining an extensive Santillan Family Tree (dating to the 1700’s) collecting 1930’s-40’s pottery and working crossword puzzles.

After a serious car accident in 1984 Mrs. Quiroz began experiencing several health issues, spending the rest of her life as a disabled person.

During her lifetime Mrs. Quiroz enjoyed spending time with family, organizing family reunions and traveling to Chicago, San Francisco and many other places. Although never having graduated college, she was well-read and always encouraged those around her to further their education. She was very spiritual, striving to serve as a role model, especially to the women and girls in her life, encouraging them to be independent, honest, strong and free thinking and to lead their lives with integrity and selflessness.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Antonio and Velia Santillan; birth mother, Claudia F. Perez; grandparents, Paz Timoteo and Maria de Jesus Santillan both Imperial Valley Pioneers; brothers, John and Salvador Jr. Vallarta; uncles, John and Samuel Santillan.

Visitation will be held on Monday, December 17, 2018 from 6 to 9 p.m. with rosary at 7 p.m. at Frye Chapel and Mortuary in Brawley, CA. Mass will be held on Tuesday, December 18, 2018 at 10 a.m. with Father Ed Horning officiating at Sacred Heart Church in Brawley, CA. Burial will immediately follow at Riverview Cemetery in Brawley, CA.

The family request donations in her name made to the America Cancer Society.