Sylvia Tarin

Ms. Tarin was born at Santa Rosa Hospital, in San Antonio, to Susie and Antonio Tarin, Sr, on May 21, 1941. She went to school at Sacred Heart Elementary School, and she graduated from both the high school (1958), and college (1966) at Our Lady of the Lake University. In the socially and politically charged 1960’s, Ms. Tarin was actively involved in supporting the Free-Speech, Civil Rights, and Anti-War movements, participating in numerous acts of social activism, and protest.

She worked as an educator for most of her career, teaching everything from primary and elementary levels, all the way to various subjects in graduate and postgraduate levels, such as calculus, philosophy, logic, history, and physics.

Her favorite subject, however, was always English, which she taught at the Defense Language Institute English Language Center, for the Department of Defense, in both San Antonio and Cairo, Egypt, where, for her time there, she held the rank of Major, in the Egyptian Army. Her time in Egypt greatly influenced her entire life, instilling a deep love for the country’s culture, religion, people, and history. This inspired her to, later in her life, return to her beloved Cairo, where she, once more, taught English for various private institutions, which allowed her to travel more extensively throughout the country, instructing staff at multiple resort hotels, as well as for the National Bank of Egypt. Upon her reluctant return to her home in San Antonio, she soon settled comfortably into retirement, where she enjoyed reading books on any subject which caught her interest, avidly keeping up with world events, and she kept her mind active and sharp by ceaselessly challenging herself with logic and mathematical problems and puzzles.

Ms. Tarin was preceded in death by her beloved Pekinese The Baby, and her Japanese Shin, Sophie.

Ms. Tarin is survived by her son, D. Anthony F. Tarin, and his partner Christie Flanders, her brothers, Gilbert Tarin, Antonio Tarin, Jr. and his wife Linda Tarin, their children, Vincent Tarin, Veronica Tarin-Cordova and her husband Gabriel Cordova, and their children, Antonio, Alejandro, and Arianna.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 am on Tuesday, June 25, 2024 at Sacred Heart Conventual Chapel, at Our Lady of the Lake University, with Fr. Martin J. Leopold, of Mary Mother of the Church Catholic Parish, officiating.

Memorials and donations may be given to The Sisters of Divine Providence, at 515 SW 24th St, San Antonio, TX.