Jairo Gustavo Vargas

Jairo Gustavo Vargas was born June 3, 1977, at Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia, to Jairo S. and Isabel A. Vargas. Jairo grew up in Annandale and loved attending St. Michael Catholic School for elementary and middle school. He and his friends loved playing soccer and were coached by Jairo, Sr. The family moved to Burke where he attended high school at Lake Braddock, graduating in 1996 before continuing his education at George Mason University; Jairo received his B.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Economics in 2004 and 2009, respectively. His first job was with Lockheed Martin in Hanover County, Maryland. He built his career in many locations for many different companies, and he loved his final position as Systems Engineer at Peraton in Northern Virginia. Jairo’s biggest love was his family; he was very close with his parents, local cousins, aunts, and uncles. Jairo began his own family with Karen J. Summerson-Vargas, whom he met in 2016, and they were married on April 30, 2022, at Nativity Catholic Church in Burke, Virginia, where they are parishioners. Jairo and Karen welcomed their child, Inez Isabel, in the early morning hours of October 6, 2023, in Alexandria, Virginia. Jairo called her his nina bonita. Jairo was an avid fan of many science fiction/fantasy universes, including Transformers, DC Comics, Marvel, and Star Wars. He also loved cheering for the Dallas Cowboys and the Brazilian futbol team, El Equipo Brazil. He and Karen loved to travel, especially to watch and support independent women’s wrestling. A kind, gentle man with strong faith and a pure heart, Jairo will be kept alive in our memories and through his daughter. Jairo quietly battled late-stage pancreatic cancer for nine months before passing away on his birthday at the age of 47. Jairo was preceded in death by his abuelos, Nemecio Arias, Éstefania Pagàn, and Modesto Rodolfo Vargas; his tías, Maria Angelica and Sara Llanos; his tíos, Jaime Vargas and Pablo Arias; and many cousins. He is survived by his wife, Karen Summerson-Vargas; daughter, Inez Isabel Vargas; parents, Jairo S. and Isabel Vargas; parents-in-law, David and Janice Summerson; brother-in-law, Mark (Jennifer Nyman) Summerson; his tíos, Victor (Mimi) Arias and Roger (Rosa) Lopez; his tías, Elsa (Nico) Atachagua, Berta (Pedro Flores) Arias, and Norma Vargas; many cousins, including: Jorge (Evelyn) and children, Arturo (Kerry), Cesar, Jenny (Howard), Matthew Nico, Myrta, Liseth, Elsa Veronica, and Kathy Atachagua Arias; Leo (Mary Lou), Monica, and Stefan Soto; Carlos (Analiz), Jessie, and Bryan (Sally) Soto; Henry, Felipe (Stella), Jason, Angolina, Chris, and Nico; Karla (Jason Garcia) and Jimmy Payne; Tony (Tamara), Malik, Christian, and Arlecia Mairena; Stefanie (Renato) and Aleksandar Petreski. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests any memorial donations be made to Inez’s education fund (information below) or to organizations working to find a cure to pancreatic cancer; Jairo greatly benefitted from Mayo Clinic, John Hopkins Medicine, and PanCan.org. A visitation for Jairo will be held Friday, June 14, 2024 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Demaine Funeral Home, 5308 Backlick Road, Springfield, VA 22151. A graveside service will occur Saturday, June 15, 2024 from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM at Fairfax Memorial Park, 9900 Braddock Rd, Fairfax, VA 22032. A mass of the resurrection will occur Saturday, June 15, 2024 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Nativity Catholic Church in Burke, 6400 Nativity Ln, Burke, VA 22015. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests you consider donating to one of the following: - Inez Vargas’s Virginia 529 education fund. Below is a URL that takes you to the webpage; I’ve also attached a QR code. Logging in (or signing up and logging in) will input her account information: https://myaccount.virginia529.com/pls/prod/twpkwbis.P_wwwlogin?=GIFT&key1=PR9QW6M - Much more research is needed to fight pancreatic cancer. If this speaks to you, please consider donating to: Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCan.org), Mayo Clinic (https://philanthropy.mayoclinic.org/donateMC), or John Hopkins (https://giving.jhu.edu/ways-to-give/). Jairo benefitted greatly from all these incredible organizations.