Gracie Lucille Bejarano

Gracie Lucille Bejarano, age 87 passed away on Wednesday, January 10, 2024. She was born on July 6, 1936, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her birth parents were (Lourdes) Mary Lou Atencio and Rejinio Gomez. She was raised in Southern California by her mom and stepfather Frank Martinez. She had 3 brothers and 3 sisters.

At the age of 21 she married Robert on August 10, 1957, in Montebello, California. They had 4 children. Robert, Maria, Richard & myself (Irene). She was married to him for just shy of 65 years. She always said that Robert was her true love and soul mate. Growing up, Irene and her siblings remember their house being the house where their friends came to for mom’s famous homemade tortillas with butter. They would eat them so fast and then run back outside to play and come back for more. She also made delicious homemade sopapillas with a little bit of honey.

She was an emergency foster care parent when Robert was in the Air Force and also became a counselor at a Children's Receiving home. Again, wanting to help those in need. As her family grew up, she became a private caretaker for the elderly. An “End of Life Doula” as I came to know it from her daughters' personal experience caring for mom. She hoped one day when it was her time that someone would be there to help comfort and care for her. Her family were able to provide the love, care and compassion she had hoped for and a little bit of what she provided to others when it was their time. With the loving support of family members, they were blessed with that honor until the morning she took her last breath.

Gracie loved to interact with others and make new friends. She was a caring, nurturing, kind, energetic, loved to walk and exercise, and a bit of a social butterfly. Her smile was warm and comforting. She moved out to Texas in August 2021 after Robert passed away. She was nervous but excited, as she was leaving her life, family, and friends in Phoenix.

Gracie's daughter, Irene recalled having a great time talking on the drive home, listening to Gracie she shared how she missed my father but was lonely and was glad to be coming home with them. She was looking forward to spending time with everyone. She was a little nervous about moving and having to make new friends, but everyone at Eden Hill Pinnacle made it very easy.

Her family reassured her that she would be very busy and have an opportunity to spend time with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She attended ball games, school sports events, holidays, birthdays, quinceaneras, graduations and other special events with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She taught her great grandchildren to make tortillas and sopapillas, hoping that they will carry on a little family tradition. She loved to crochet and make things for others.

She loved attending events, especially the music events with her friends from Eden Hill and then sharing with her family how much fun she had. She also developed a love for the game of baseball or maybe just the Astros. Doris, her good friend, neighbor & Ambassador and Gabby (Dori’s little dog) won Gracie's heart instantly. Betty, Janet, Nita, Irish and so many others felt Gracie's love and care.

She crocheted shawls for the ladies and lap throws for some patients in the rehabilitation area and afghan blanket for a friend that had a stroke was rehabilitating at Eden Hill care center. The new friends and staff at Eden Hill treated her like family and she also had so many other wonderful lifetime friends like Julie, Suzie & Jim, plus all the family in Arizona that she loved and missed.

We would like to ask the family and friends to not shed too many tears, but to just stop and reflect on Mom’s love for life and celebrate her life, because she “loved” being kind to others!

She is preceded in death by her husband Robert Bejarano and 3 brothers, and she is survived by their 4 children Robert (Denise), Maria, Richard, & Irene (Cory), 13 grandchildren, & 24 great-grandchildren, and her 3 sisters, Tita, Clara & Gloria.