Damiana Loredo Franco

Damiana attended William Adams High School in Alice, Texas up until completion of her junior year in 1951 and later obtained her GED.

She met her husband, Reynaldo Ruiz Franco at a bus stop in Alice, Texas where she took a bus to the high school and Reynaldo took a bus to work. After a short courtship, they married on September 20, 1951.

For the majority of her married life, Damiana was a wife, mother, and homemaker. She briefly worked as a baby-sitter, bottle inspector at the Seven-Up Bottling Company, and as a meat packing worker at Sam Kane Beef Plant.

Our mom, Damiana was best known for her delicious lemon meringue pies, cakes, pan de polvo, and her savory dishes. She enjoyed sharing her deserts and meals with her children’s friends , church members, neighbors, sometimes for the Moody Football team.

While she was still in good health, she volunteered in the different Baptist churches she attended as a nursery worker, and girls’ church groups. She was a home-bound member of Heritage Baptist Church where she and her husband attended and where her daughters Juanita and Angelina are still members.

Damiana and Reynaldo believed that family and family relationships were of upmost importance and modeled and practiced that belief and as a result, she and her husband Reynaldo passed on that belief to their children.

What she enjoyed more than baking were rummage, garage, yard sales, and clearance sales. She was an early riser and was almost always the first to arrive at sale locations. Not only did she buy things for herself, but for others as well. She loved eating out and was a faithful fan of the Dallas Cowboys.

Our mother, Damiana’s gift and what she was known for among her children was that of a storyteller. As many of us sat in my parents’ living room we started reminiscing of what we remembered as young children. My niece, my parents’ first grandchild remarked that she loved the time she spent with my mother as she told scary stories. Everyone chimed in—“Who can forget the Cuentos?” They were not meant to be scary stories. Their main intention was to scare you straight! Scare you into behaving as you should and in obeying and respecting your parents, OR ELSE!

Damiana was preceded in death by her parents Gerardo and Juana Loredo and grandparents, Teofilo and Sabina Rangel of Alice, Texas who raised her upon the death of her parents in 1935 and 1936. She is also preceded in death by her siblings, brothers Secundino and Jose Loredo and sister, Mariana Flores Galvan and her husband of 65 years, Reynaldo Ruiz Franco.

Damiana is survived by her children, Juanita Medina (Tony), Piedad Ymbert (Gilbert, Jr.), Angelina Escamilla (Daniel), Mariana Castillo (Reynaldo), and Josefa Franco. She also leaves behind 13 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren.

A heartfelt thank you to the staff of Christus Hospice and Palliative Care for helping make our mother’s final days and hours as comfortable and manageable as possible. And we are grateful and thankful for Pastor Johnny Chae and the congregation of Heritage Baptist Church for their prayers and their outward expressions of love.

Family viewing will begin Thursday morning, December 12 at 10 a.m. at Heritage Baptist Church located at 5217 Yorktown Blvd. 78413. Public viewing will be from 10:30 -11:30. Memorial Service will begin at 11:30 and dismissal for internment at Memory Gardens Cemetery at 1:00 p.m. on 8200 Old Brownsville Road, Corpus Christi, TX, 78415.

Flowers can be delivered at Funeraria Del Angel 4901 Everhart Rd. before 9:30 a.m. Thursday, December 12. After 9:30 and before 11:00 a.m. at Heritage Baptist Church at 5217 Yorktown Blvd. 362-856-4222

Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”