Maria De Los Angeles Licea

God mercifully called upon our dear mother, Maria De Los Angeles Licea, to her eternal rest on August 18^th, 2023, at the age of 84. She was born and raised in her beloved city of Guadalajara in the State of Jalisco, Mexico on March 7^th, 1939.

Together with our father support, our mother raised us in a strict Catholic home. Looking back, we can truly appreciate the countless acts of devotion and sacrifices she made for us.

She gave up her country, her people, and her extended family so that her children, as second-generation Mexicans, could have a better life in a place that was truly foreign to her. Along with the importance of assimilation, she also enforced the importance of retaining our faith, our Mexican culture, and the Spanish language.

She was very social and loved helping others.
With the help of Sister Conchita, Sister Sandra, Sister Catalina, Father Juan, and Most Holy Trinity church, she opened up our home for afterschool catechism.

As we grew older and attended different schools, she donated her time doing whatever she could, from making piñatas at Hubbard preschool, to selling office supplies on “return to school for parents’ day” at Most Holy Trinity, and even helping at the concessions stand for football games at Overfelt High School.

For many consecutive years, she also organized neighborhood processions and lead rosaries in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe, as well as Posadas. (Posadas are processions made in December to mark Mary and Joseph’s search for an inn on the night of Jesus’s birth.)

Per her oldest son’s wishes she enrolled him in the neighborhood Cub Scout troop. Seeing the value in Boy Scouts, she encouraged us to progress through the ranks. Years later, she was very proud to have all three of her boys reach the rank of Eagle Scout. Before her passing, she had the joy of being informed by her grandson, that he as well, had reached the rank of Eagle Scout.  

Although mobility became an issue in her later years, she did what she could to support and encourage her grandchildren to progress in school and their activities by attending many mariachi performances, school achievements, and soccer matches. And even with all her activities she still found time to instill in her grandchildren the same family values, traditions, language, and faith she instilled in us.    

She prayed the Holy Rosary several times during the day and despite the passing away of most of her bible study friends who always joined her, she would encourage those who happen to be present when the time came to pray, to pray with her by handing out the multiple rosaries she kept on hand for such occasions.  

We thank God that He gave us such a loving and devoted wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. We will attempt to live by her examples and by doing so, we hope and pray to maintain a loving and close-knit family that is first and foremost under God, and respectful of tradition, of our ourselves and of others.    

Maria De Los Angeles Licea is predeceased by her: loving husband, Jesus Padron Licea, brother Javier Rizo, father J. Guadalupe Rizo and mother Felisa Rizo de Preciado.

She is survived by her children: Jose R. Licea, Julio G. Licea and Jesus A. Licea; 4 grandchildren: Amelie, Simon, Ava and Olivia; daughter in law: Sonya Navarro Licea and Sandy Ramirez Licea; and many family members in Mexico, and in the United States.