Aida C. Lopez

Aida Lopez, a beloved mother, grandmother, sister, sister-in-law,

tia and friend, died in the early morning of Sunday, April 16 at Sharp Medical Center in Chula Vista after a long illness. She was 88, passing just one month shy of her 89th birthday.

Aida was born on May 16, 1934 in Pueblo de Suaqui in the Mexican state of Sonora, the fourth of 11 children born to Carlos and Berta Cazares and the second girl in the large, loving family that is the Cazares family of Chula Vista.

Aida first moved to San Diego’s Frontier Homes in the Midway area when her family immigrated to California in 1945. Aida attended Memorial Middle School and eventually earned her GED diploma in 1973, the same year that her eldest daughter graduated from high school.

At age 19, Aida fell in love and married the late Bill Lopez, a Korean War veteran who grew up in Logan Heights and became a nuclear physicist, eventually retiring from Southwestern College as a physics instructor. Aida and Bill were married in October 1953 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in San Diego, and over the course of their marriage raised three wonderful children: Jeanette Cisneros of Salinas, CA.; Bill Lopez, Jr., of San Diego; and Diana Lopez McGawley, of Chula Vista.

Aida and Bill later settled in San Diego’s Clairemont community, where Aida was beloved not only by her own children but also by many of the kids in the neighborhood. With her love of children and a zest for life, Aida became the neighborhood den Mom, in effect, the go-to mother figure for after-school food and fun, recalled her eldest daughter, Jeanette.

“There were many kids in our neighborhood who were close to my Mom,” Jeanette said. “They would come to our house for games, sweet treats, and a sense of safety.”

Aida also had a mischievous side to her, playing funny pranks such as making masks out of tortilla dough, piercing girls’ ears while neglecting to ask parental permission, and singing silly songs, Jeanette recalled.

Bill Lopez, Jr. recalled that while his mother indeed had the reputation among the neighborhood children as the “pretty Mom, the fun Mom,” she also cultivated her children’s love of nature and the outdoors.

“She would bring home goats, little ones, like puppies,” Bill recalled. “And we could have have pets like frogs and lizards. While some Moms might not allow that, she would actually help and make cages.”

Bill also said his mother was thrifty, citing one anecdote in particular. “I had an old canvass Boy Scouts backpack and the straps were chafing my shoulders,” Bill recalled. Instead of purchasing the hot, new-on-the-market aluminum-frame backpack with padded straps, Aida took kitchen sponges and neatly sewed them into the straps of Bill’s old canvass backpack. “She surprised me, and said, ‘Look what I’ve done for your backpack!’”

Diana recalled that her mother’s kindness extended well beyond her immediate family, highlighting “how much she cared for others, not just family and friends, but also to strangers.”

“She would sometimes bring a person to the house whom she had just met,” Diana said. “One time she went to the grocery store and came back with a lady and they were speaking Spanish. I asked my Mom who she was and she said, ‘She’s looking for work and she doesn’t have a place to stay.’ ” Aida found the woman a job.

“There were a couple of other occasions when she set up a cot in the garage for someone who was without shelter — people we didn’t know! But she was a pretty good judge of character,” Diana added.

To Yolanda Leyva, Aida was a loving sister, best friend, and stand-in mother when Yolanda was growing up as the youngest of 11 children. “My mother was a wonderful, loving mother, but I was one of 11 children and she didn’t drive,” Yolanda said. “Aida was the functional mother.”

When Yolanda had her first birthday party when she turned seven, it was Aida who put it on at her house. “If it wasn’t for Aida, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do some of the things I did in life, such as learning to tap dance and twirl the baton,” Yolanda said. “She bought me my tap shoes and baton, which I still have.”

When Aida and Bill moved to Chula Vista in 1973, she became the anchor for the extended Cazares family. She served as the stand-in babysitter, after-school caregiver, and emergency “go-to” person for her grandchildren, her many nephews and nieces, and many other people. She also became the well-known, fun Friday Happy Hour hostess.

“Aida was the center of family life,” said Aida’s youngest brother, Allen Cazares. “Her house is where we had most of the important family get togethers, such as Easter and Christmas. She was like the family matriarch without actually being the matriarch.”

As Diana concluded, “She never lost her spark for enjoying life.”

Aida is preceded in death by her parents, Carlos and Berta Cazares; three brothers, Carlos Cazares, Renee Cazares, and Louie Cazares; and her older sister, Celia Linares.

In addition to her three children and son-in-law, Ken Martin, Aida is survived by seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren; two sisters, Edith Miller of San Diego, and Yolanda Leyva of Chula Vista; and four brothers, Roger, Roy, Hector and Allen, all of Chula Vista. She also is survived by five sisters-in-law, and two brothers-in-law.

A memorial service for Aida will be held Friday, May 12, 2023 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM at Glen Abbey Memorial Park and Mortuary, 3838 Bonita Road, Bonita, CA 91902, followed by a committal service from 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.glenabbeysandiego.net for the Lopez family.