ROSEMARY K. GARCIA
1931-2022
Rosemary Kendrigan Garcia, of Houston, died on the evening of Easter Sunday, the 17th of April 2022, after a long illness, surrounded by her loving family. She was 91 years of age,
Rosemary was born in Chicago, Illinois on the 4th of February 1931, to Frank and Dorothy Kendrigan.
She graduated from St. Francis School of Nursing in Evanston, Illinois in 1952 and from Loyola University Chicago in 1957. That same year she began active-duty military service, stationed at Brooke Army General Hospital where she met her husband of 64 years, Efrain Garcia, MD.
She was a kind, intelligent and loving person, a devoted spouse, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. She proudly called herself a homemaker, raising her five daughters in the Catholic faith, carpooling them to school, ballet lessons and piano recitals. She looked forward to dressing them all in matching new Easter Sunday dresses every year, complete with white hats and gloves. Rosemary often hosted family and friends at her home for holidays and poolside gatherings.
Rosemary was a devout Catholic, a longtime parishioner of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, where she served as President of the Women’s Guild, Extraordinary Minister, and Lector. She was a good friend who founded and organized a weekly neighborhood Bible Study with a small group of devoted friends. This small fellowship met regularly for almost 40 years learning God’s Word together and supporting each other steadfastly. Her family often teased her that it was as much a social as religious endeavor. As her children started to leave the nest, she began volunteering at Casa de Esperanza, happily changing diapers and holding little babies in need of love and hugs. Later, she helped raise her grandchildren from infancy through preschool and continued with after school pickups and snack time until their working mothers came to collect them. She was assisted in raising the second generation of her family with the help of Mrs. Maria Flores, her “adopted” sixth daughter, without whom she might not have managed. Rosemary was an avid reader and life-long learner who in later years enjoyed taking theology classes at St. Michael’s and continuing education courses at Rice University with
Efrain.
Rosemary is survived by her devoted husband Efrain Garcia MD; their daughters, Margarita Garcia Jannasch, Rosanne Garcia Caton,
Alicia Garcia Priest, Sara Garcia Barkley and Carmen Garcia Smith, her sons-inlaw, Gregory S. Jannasch, Thornton E. Priest, Howard Thomas Barkley III and Phillip Todd Smith; and her six grandchildren, Zachary Jannasch, Travis Caton, Kelsey Caton, John Priest, Jason Priest, and Erin Smith. Rosemary is also survived by her loving siblings, Frances Madden, Jeanne Kendrigan and James Kendrigan.
Services for Rosemary will be held privately for the immediate family.
The family wishes to thank her caregivers at the Hallmark Skilled Nursing facility who assisted Rosemary with true love and compassion these past few years.
In lieu of customary remembrances, and for those desiring, the family requests that memorial contributions in Rosemary’s name be directed to Casa de Esperanza; P.O. Box 301209 Houston, TX 77230 (https://www.casahope.org/ make-a-donation); or to Casa Juan Diego, P.O. Box 70113, Houston, TX, 77270 (https:// cjd.org/how-you-can-help/ donate/).
Please visit Rosemary’s online memorial tribute at GeoHLewis.com where fond memories and words of comfort and condolence may be shared electronically with her family.