Tony Navarro Padilla

A boy was born to Diego and Esther Padilla on Dec 13, 1926. Tony Navarro Padilla, their first son was followed by brother John and sisters Mary, Margaret and Frances. Tony was adventurous and active with John as they rambled throughout their Pearl Street neighborhood in central Dallas and later in La Bajada neighborhood located just off the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge at the entrance to West Dallas. He attended area schools such as Cumberland Hill School and Crozier Tech High School that he described as the best places to learn and meet new friends. In 1963, he completed 2 years of university at UT Arlington. Tony served in the U.S. Army as an explosive engineer in the Korean War.

As a lifelong Catholic, Tony was a faithful member of St. Augustine Catholic Church in Pleasant Grove. He participated in the Knights of Columbus where he coordinated numerous activities such as regional basketball tournaments, Right to Life walks, coordinating fund raisers for scholarships and headed membership committees for his council.

Married to his childhood sweetheart, Nasaria “Cheva” Padilla of 62 years, they raised their only daughter Ramona Vela Padilla, a resident of Austin. They volunteered together at church for breakfasts, dances, Sunday school teachers, picnics at White Rock Lake and planning the annual church carnival.

Tony excelled in electronics during the late forties, fifties and sixties. He held a variety of jobs working at General Electric assembling the aviation panels of the B36 aircraft, at Geotech Teledyne he supervised the construction of lunar seismographs for the Apollo space capsules and the at the City of Mesquite he was the coordinator of the traffic signal system as they became computerized.

Tony is preceded in death by his wife, Nasaria and his parents Diego and Esther Padilla, his siblings John Padilla, Mary Padilla and Margaret Padilla Luna. Grandsons Kareem Hajjar (Melissa), Azim Hajjar (Hannah), and Salim Hajjar survive Tony as well as great granddaughters Isabel, Eloise, Frances and a September baby. He is also survived by his daughter Ramona Padilla and his sister Frances Padilla Ramon (Rudy) and numerous nieces and nephews.

Services will be held at Calvary Hill Cemetery in the North Chapel on Monday June 21, 2021. A rosary will be said at 8:30 am with Mass following at 9:00am. Graveside services will begin at 10:00 am. A light lunch will be served following the services.