A tenacious spirit who loved her family and anything purple
JUDY ELIA AVILES
Judy Elia Aviles packed serious punch into a 4foot-10-inch frame. “The phrase ‘dynamite in a small package’ was coined for her,” says her sister, Jean Cervantes.
Aviles, of Houston, died April 18 at the age of 70, after contracting COVID-19 at a skilled nursing facility in League City.
She grew up in Houston’s Lindale Park neighborhood, the oldest of three children and the only one who was bilingual. “My sister was very smart and had a quick wit,” Cervantes said. “She was also direct. She said what was on her mind and did it her way.” Her family called her “Jud,” and the brevity of it suited her.
Aviles graduated from Jefferson Davis High School (now Northside) and worked for about 20 years as a draftsperson and administrative assistant for Southwestern Bell. She married and divorced twice, and doted on her son, Mario Anthony Aviles.
Purple was a passion, too, evident in all of her furniture and clothes. She liked pansies, elephants and cocker spaniel figurines, which reminded her of her dog, Boe; she also collected Sabino glassware that Mario gave her. An avid reader, she showed her creativity with crossstitch needlework, cooking and baking. Her repertoire included a mean pot roast, “No Name” cookies and a Mississippi Mud Pie that was “lethal,” Cervantes said. What she remembers most, though, is her sister’s tenacity. “She was so brave for so long,” she said.
After a brain aneurysm in 1991, Aviles spent three weeks in a coma and a year in rehab, learning to walk again and to use her hands so she could feed herself, write and cook. “It broke Jud’s heart that she was unable to cook for her family,” Cervantes said. Aviles developed rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. She broke a hip, and kept dislocating it. After a bout of seizures, she entered assisted living, and later a nursing home.
When Cervantes last saw her on March 8, Aviles seemed OK. On April 6, Cervantes was notified that another resident at the Regent Care facility had tested positive for COVID-19, and that her sister was having fevers. Cervantes could no longer visit.
Along with Cervantes and her wife, Mara, Aviles is survived by her son Mario and his wife, Amanda; her parents, David and Eulogia Cervantes; and her brother David Eric Cervantes, his wife, Cassie, and their children James, Teddy and Juliana. The family held a private service, with the casket flanked by huge sprays of purple roses.