Delores Muñoz Varela

Delores (AKA Jim, Dee, Lola, Lolie, Momma, and Nana) was born on her family’s farm in Sharp, TX on October 27, 1944, to Ignacio Muñoz and Anita San Miguel. The youngest of 12 children, her early days were happily spent watching Roy Rogers and playing Cowboys and Indians through Central Texas’ black-dirt hills.

She attended Sharp School, where she proudly served as class president and played small forward on both the Sharp basketball and donkey basketball teams. She graduated from Rockdale High School where she was a member of the National Honor Society. After high school, Delores worked as a bookkeeper as she cared for her aging parents. She spent many years at home as a dedicated homemaker, classroom mom, and PTA volunteer. While her children were busy with middle and high school, Delores enrolled at the University of Houston, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. After graduating, she joined the Internal Revenue Service. She took her job seriously and was darn good at it. Delores completed 17 years of service as a Grade 13 Revenue Agent and was considered a technical expert in examinations of significant and complicated tax compliance issues.

She married Jesse Varela, of Rosebud, TX, on July 12, 1969, in Houston, Texas. When not bossing each other, they liked going to estate sales, gardening, collecting rocks, and cheering on all the Houston sports teams, especially the Astros, Rockets, and Cougars. Together, they had two children, Jason and Gaby. Delores’ family grew to include Jason’s wife, Laurie, and their children, Maddie and Jake; and Gaby’s husband, Chuy, and their children, Lola and Cia. She loved nothing more than making lemonade with lemons from her tree and Rice Krispie Treats with tons of sprinkles for her grandbabies.

For Delores, hobbies revolved around family. Never caught without an apron, Delores dedicated herself to all the domestic arts. She loved spending time cooking, baking, crafting, sewing, and “weedie-weedie-ing” with her big sisters Cuca, Mary Ann, Sarah, Harriet, and Annie; her “comadres” Joni Varela, Mamá Adelina Herrera, and Sylvia Lopez; and numerous nieces and cousins. She enjoyed hearing countless tales of days gone by from her big brothers Ernest, Lee, Art, Mingo, and Raymond. As the baby of the family, she relished in her responsibility of cataloging, organizing, notating, recording, and preserving the Muñoz-San Miguel family history.

Principled, honest, and unwavering, she held herself to a higher standard. She taught her children 101 ways to not be wasteful, a nod to the lessons in resourcefulness she learned while growing up on the farm. Her style was simple – make a list and get stuff done, perhaps not to perfection, but good enough for “gubment” work. Delores was small in stature – she barely topped 5 feet tall – yet she was a formidable force in our lives, and she stood tall in our hearts. She will be sorely missed.

Her funeral service will be March, 13, 2024 at 11:30 a.m. at American Heritage Funeral Home in Houston, Texas. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the University of Houston David Eric Rojas Memorial Scholarship.