Guadalupe Leon Gomez Flores passed away on Thursday April 8th,2021. Lupe was born in the city of Indio CA, at La Casita Hospital on October 30, 1943. She was born at 7:45am followed shortly by her twin sister Nellie Greiss. She was born into a farming family in Indio Ca. Her and her 5 other brothers and sisters all grew up on their grandfathers ranch and helped work it from the time they were young.
As she grew up she attended local Indio schools. She graduated from Coachella Valley High school in 1961. While in high school she worked part time at Indio Shoe store, eventually worked there full time for a number of years after high school. On February 10, 1968 she married Edmond (Eddie) B. Flores a United States Marine. Ten months later on December 25, 1968 their first son, Edmond Flores Jr was born to them. Less than a year later Edmond was injured during combat operations in Vietnam. This was a life changing event for them as he had to be medically retired from the Marine Corps due to his injuries. After a lengthy rehabilitation period, the family decided to move to San Jacinto CA. On April 8, 1972, their second son Christopher John Flores was born to them.
Lupe remained a homemaker for her family, being involved in both of the boys school and extracurricular activities. After a number of years as a stay at home mom, Lupe took a job at Monte Vista Middle School as the on campus suspension supervisor. Lupe decided to go back and finish her degree at Cal State San Bernardino graduating with a B.A. in Liberal Arts and also a Masters of Social Work in 1997. She worked for the county of Riverside as a Clinical Social Worker until she retired in 2004.
Lupe loved to travel, taking trips to Spain, Italy, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Germany, France, Austria, and loved to visit her sister Nellie in Colorado. Lupe was an avid tennis player and played for the Mt. San Jacinto women's team, earning the MVP award her final year. She also helped coach the San Jacinto girls tennis team for a number of years. In addition to playing tennis, she was a huge fan of professional tennis, traveling to France to see the French Open tournament and she attended the Indian Wells Masters tournament in La Quinta numerous times.
Lupe loved hiking and was fortunate to hike the Grand Canyon trail and other local Mountain trails. One of the joys in her life was spending time with her grandchildren, Alethea, Zack and Caleb. She enjoyed doing crafts with them and trips to the park. Also, the highlight of her week was going across the street every Wednesday to her dear friends and neighbors for almost 50 yrs John and Marie Conijn. They would share a meal, a glass of good whiskey and play games. Lupe also had the privilege of being caretaker to her aunt Hortencia who lived with her for the last years of her life.
The last 10 yrs of her life proved to be challenging as she battled both breast cancer and Leukemia. She fought her way into remission with both of them however.
She was a member of St. Anthony’s Catholic church for over 40 years.
Lupe was preceded in death by her mother Luisa, her Father Cruz and sister Carmen.
Live Stream Link: https://vimeo.com/537354851/2da916e5c1
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