Inez Cheatham

Inez Hernandez Cheatham was born on April 7, 1939 in Winslow, Arizona to Augustine and Florinda Hernandez. She was the eldest of six children and cared for her younger siblings as if they were her own. She often spoke of her childhood growing up in the mountains of Arizona and her Native American roots.

Inez lived a life full of faith and dependence on her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. She often smiled, lifted her hands, and declared, “All things are in God’s hands.” She cherished God’s word and placed her confidence in every one of God’s promises including the hope and blessed assurance that she would be joined with her Lord and Savior in glory as noted in her favorite scripture John 14:2-6:

“In my fathers house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself that where I am, there you may be also.”

She so loved her family and made sure to spend time with each of them from the oldest to youngest at birthday parties, weddings, graduations, baby showers, or going on car rides to get ice cream, and even more intimate moments and conversations over a hot cup of coffee and a sweet pastry. She was certainly the life of every family gathering and kept everyone laughing with her great sense of humor, stories of her world travels, and all the interesting people she’d met. Inez had a giving heart and often knitted blankets that she gave as special gifts to friends and family. She loved cheering for her favorite football team, the Dallas Cowboys, watching Western movies, and enjoying good food.

She loved cooking large meals for the family and shared her secret recipes with her grand and great-granddaughters.

Throughout her career, Inez served as a well-respected office manager for multiple physicians in Corpus Christi, Texas while specializing in finance and accounts receivable. After retiring from corporate America, Inez became a certified botanist, founded her own landscaping business, and took pride in serving both commercial and residential clients throughout the coastal bend. In the latter years of her life, Inez particularly enjoyed serving people in need from working part-time at the American Cancer Society helping to restore dignity to numerous cancer patients by helping them find the perfect wig as they suffered hair loss or by weekly volunteering at her church to register the city’s poor and homeless to receive groceries from the church food pantry and even more importantly, prayer and ministry. She was a friend and encouragement to those in need that others often turned their back on. She was a source of joy and comfort not only to strangers and friends but also to her family, and although she was known as a mother, grandmother, great, and great-great grandmother, she was above all, a friend. A listening ear, a warm hug, a gentle smile, and a contagious laugh. She was strong and resilient, beautiful and elegant, a hard worker and independent, a well-spoken truth-teller, and a faith-filled woman of God. This is the legacy she leaves for her family not only to cherish but to continue in her honor.

Inez is survived by her four children, Darlene Coddington, Linda (Armando Sr.) Garza, Anthony (Sylvia) Gonzalez, and Paul (Raquel) Cheatham, two sisters, Linda (Harry) Garewal and Dolores (Ed) Joya, fifteen grandchildren, forty one great grandchildren, and four great-great grandchildren including many nieces, nephews and friends.

Inez is preceded in death by her parents, Augustine and Florinda Hernandez and three siblings, Trinidad, Helen, and Augustine.

A Celebration of Life will be held at City Church in Corpus Christi, Texas on Thursday, December 21, 2023 at 5pm.