Genalyn Rocha Baltazar

Genalyn was born December 28, 1971 in Manila, Philippines. She was the eldest daughter of William Lee, Sr. and Cecilia Rocha. She immigrated to America at the age of 9-years old, along with her parents and two younger brothers, William Jr. and Gary. She lived in Pasadena, Southern California. She graduated from Marshall High School and went to Pasadena City College for a year before being accepted to the University of California at San Diego, majoring in Biology. She went to work for The Salk Institute, doing research in HIV for four years. Upon graduation, she stayed in San Diego and worked for the San Diego Eye Bank, doing research in macular degeneration, ocular diseases, and harvesting corneas for transplantation. She met her husband, Dennis, when she was 19-years old when both were volunteering in a collegiate community service organization called Circle K International, while helping decorate floats for the Pasadena Rose Parade. It is within this organization that Genalyn developed life-long friendships with many individuals with the same passion, drive, and organizational skills that she continued to cherish throughout her life.

Genalyn moved to Las Vegas after getting married in 2002 and begin her life as a new mom in 2003 with her first daughter, Kaelyn. Two years after that another daughter was born, Ashlyn. Three years more past, came Treyden, and finally five years after, came little Rhyden. It was during her last trimester with Rhyden that she was first diagnosed with breast cancer and withheld chemotherapy until he was born. In the span of ten years, she dedicated her precious time and love to her family, providing for their needs and wants. Not being hindered with setback on her health, she became involved at Lamping Elementary School's PTA, volunteering in class, helping with fundraising, and organizing annual holiday school activities. She also made time to get involved at St Francis of Assisi church, being a catechist; teaching Sunday classes, being involved in women's church choir and volunteering during Vacation Bible School during the summers. And if that was not enough, she also became involved at Dance Zone, helping make costumes, helping out during dance competitions and recitals. She became an integral part of Dance Zone, where all four of her kids took lessons.

Genalyn's energy did not stop at that, she decided to begin her second career as a Realtor for Berkshire Hathaway and Coldwell Banker. She harnessed again the energy, passion and drive that was once inside her and used it to succeed at her work. She was determined to help people around her; it didn’t matter where she was at, in the kids' school, dance studio, church classes, or with her clients. She was always willing and helpful to anyone that she came across and affected so many lives. We all can see it on how diverse the people that were around her, each one willing to return the joy and love that she unselfishly shared.

It was just a year ago in June 2017, almost five years after her initial diagnosis that the cancer came back. It was a difficult time in her life, managing all her motherly duties along with her commitments in school, church, dance studio, and work. She persevered with the pain and tried to live as normal a life as she could while keeping her condition a secret. It was on July 14, 2018 at 4:08pm that Genalyn's loving, caring, and energetic life was cut short. Life that she shared with others will now be stored in our memories and joyously remembered. Genalyn meant so much to us as a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, teacher and coworker. She did so much in enriching our lives in such a short time, that we could only wish for her now, is to Rest in Peace. We will miss you and we will always love you.