Erlinda Estrella Cruz

On December 24, 1971, she was united in holy matrimony to Benjamin Santullo Cruz in a small ceremony in her childhood home in Bataan. They built a beautiful life together and celebrated 52 years of marriage. Their union was blessed with three daughters, Maria Theresa (angel at birth), Shirley, and Jennifer and a son, Ben Jr., a son-in-law, Edwin Rillamas, a daughter-in-law, Hyacynth Gacula, and seven grandchildren, Aryssa, Francisco, Andrew, Samuel, Sophia, Zachary, and Charles.

Benjamin, Linda, and their 4-month-old daughter Shirley moved from the Philippines to Big Sur, CA where they lived from 1975 to 1977. While there, they welcomed their third daughter, Jennifer, in 1976. They moved to San Diego in 1977 and purchased their first home. They lived in Bremerton, WA for one year from 1980 to 1981 where their son, Ben Jr., was born. They left Washington and grew their roots in San Diego, briefly moving to Subic Bay, US Naval Base (Philippines) from 1988 to 1991 and settled back in San Diego. In her youth, Linda studied cosmetology in the Philippines. Although she did not pursue this as a career, she loved to practice haircuts and perms on her young daughters. She worked at Fujitsu Electronics for two years but later decided to devote her time to being a navy wife and stay at home mom to her three children. She later dedicated her life to her grandchildren, who each adored her. Linda was reserved and soft spoken but came out of her shell around her family and select friends who were dear to her. She was known for the delicious meals she prepared and happily fulfilled her grandchildren’s special requests for their favorites.

Her beautiful laugh and smile will be terribly missed. All the wonderful memories with her will be cherished always by her husband, children, grandchildren, her surviving sister (Imelda Estrella Villacorte), in-laws, and countless cousins, nephews, nieces, grandnephews, grandnieces, and friends.