Hortencia Meza

Hortencia met her husband, Angel, through her best friend and as they were dating, they would meet at the same railroad tracks that Hortencia would take to go to her job at the local candy store where he would always bring her flowers until they got married in 1956.

Once she had her first child, Angel Jr., she stopped working to be a full time mother while her husband supported the family as a painter. After sixteen years of marriage, her husband died of a heart attack, leaving her to take care of her six children by herself in 1974. That was when she decided to move her family closer to her parents in Rosarito, Baja California in 1976. Once there, she worked as a maid and seamstress to support her children while also deciding to never remarry because she wanted to raise her children by herself as she told them that “they only have one dad and she only had one husband who she loved.”

In 1981, when her two oldest children moved to Fresno, California, she followed them with the rest of her children to have a better life. She lived there until she moved to San Bernardino in 1990 to help her daughter Lila take care of her firstborn, Rick Jr.. In 1998, she moved again with her daughter to San Diego where the rest of her younger children were.

Throughout her life, she continued to be a caring mother to both her children and grandchildren. She took care of every single grandchild from all her kids. She was a very loving grandmother who had love for everyone and made sure that everyone was well fed. The kitchen was her domain as she loved to cook everything and anything for her family. When she wasn’t cooking, she would lovingly knit clothing for her family.

Hortencia had nine siblings: seven brothers and two sisters.

Hortencia is survived by her two brothers, Jose and Carlos, and her sister Maria; her six children: Angel Jr. (Betty), Agustina (Rick) Cordova, Raul, Mario (Marisol), Mary Castillo, and Carlos (Nancy); her thirteen grandchildren: Alejandra, Angel Jr., Daniel (Alyssa), Vivian, Rick Jr., Mario Jr. (Carrie), Kevin, Paloma, Carlos Jr., Serena, Breanna, Arlett, Yurida; and six great-grandchildren: Samantha, Arianna, Natalia, Dylan, Savannah, and Mario III.

She was preceded by her husband, Angel, her two parents, Adolfo & Consuelo Mesa, her brothers Jesus, Vicente, Aldolfo, Raymondo, Pedro, and her sister Herlinda.

Hortencia passed away peacefully in the morning on June 16th, 2019 in San Diego, California after battling a stroke.