Maria Moreno

Aug. 3, 1938 — July 21, 2023

On July 21, 2023, Maria de la Luz Moreno, returned to the Lord at age 84 after a long, courageous battle with dementia. She passed peacefully at home, surrounded by her family, friends, and pets. Maria was the biological mother of three children. However, many people considered her their surrogate mother and grandmother.

Maria was born to Osvaldo and Carlota Olmeda in San Carlos Tamaulipas, Mexico, on Aug. 3, 1938. The second oldest of six children, Maria is preceded in death by her parents, her sisters Neomi and Alicia and her brother Samuel. She leaves behind her sisters Betzabeth and Gloria Eva.

When Maria was 22 years old, she divorced her first husband when her youngest was only six months old. She refused to live her life on anyone else’s terms, during a time when divorce and single motherhood were taboo. But with her head held high, she took her three small children Irma, Julia and Junior, and started to nanny in Texas. She helped raise three more children alongside her own. She became best friends with Libby Vernon and her sons became her first set of honorary children.

In 1969, she married Manuel Moreno and moved to Moses Lake, Washington, where she resided until this day. With her new marriage, she gained six more children to love. I grew up unaware that I had any step-family. That word just did not exist in her household. Family was family, and she doted on all of us every chance she could.

Her story is full of courage, tragedy, wisdom, humor, diligence and most of all hands that would squeeze so tight, you would never forget how much you were loved by her.

It didn’t take much to make her happy — a phone call, a card, a visit or a kiss before saying good night. She lived to make our lives better. She loved to spoil us in her kitchen and her garden, and using her sewing machine.

She cared deeply for her family, friends and neighbors. She did this not out of obligation, but because of who she was. She was always the first to offer help. She always ensured that every child who came through her door was safe, healthy and happy. She would give cold water to the garbage men every Tuesday morning, meet up with her friends for coffee at McDonald’s, have shopping sprees at Goodwill and the Senior Center, carpool to church, and get home in time to call her sisters and daughters every night.

It’s hard not to brag about my Gramma. With only a formal third-grade education, she taught herself to read and write English so well, she was translating government paperwork for anyone who asked. There are generations of families living in the U.S. today, because of her help. And she did it all free of charge. Her greatest joy was to help.

Despite being diagnosed with dementia 12 years ago, a disease that is known to strip someone of their personality and dignity, Maria continued to stay true to herself. The core of who she was never wavered. Her sense of humor, her sass her strength and her love were always there. Her face would still light up when she saw you enter the room. She still reached out to squeeze your hand. And dementia couldn’t take away her grasp of both English and Spanish.

There is no doubt that if dementia never entered her life, she would have easily lived to be 110. People would often compare her to an ox! She survived one life-threatening ailment after another. Maria was an extraordinarily strong woman who outlived doctors who told us she didn’t have much time left. She refused to be a textbook patient and lasted a decade longer than expected. My Gramma lived and died on her own terms. It was between her and God, and no one else.

Through her, we know what resilience and perseverance truly look like. The impact she had on those fortunate enough to know her cannot be measured in one lifetime.

Maria has blessed five generations of our family. She leaves behind her children Irma Valdez, Julie Peterson and Ramon Garcia, Jr.; her grandchildren Jaime Valdez, Melissa Alvarez, Philip Peterson, Andy Peterson, Jacquelynn Garcia, Eric Garcia and Marcus Garcia; her great-grandchildren Jaime Valdez Jr., Julie Daley, Eli Valdez, Selena Valdez, Azelea Fuentes, Huston Fuentes, Nyssa Peterson and Eric Garcia Jr.; her great-great-grandchildren Avery and Aria Daley; and an endless list of honorary family members.

All of us feel an immeasurable loss, but also feel deep gratitude to have been lucky enough to be loved by her.

Please join us for her celebration of ;ife. Funeral services will take place on Thursday, July 27 at Restore City Church at 2227 W. Peninsula Drive at 11 a.m. Burial will be in Guarding Angels Cemetery.

Please express your thoughts and memories at www.kayserschapel.com. Arrangements are under the care of Kayser's Chapel of Memories.