Guadalupe Villarreal

In loving memory of Guadalupe Maria Garcia Villarreal, fondly known as Lupita or Mrs. V, who passed away on April 13, 2022. Lupita was born on June 25, 1926 to Doroteo and Guadalupe of San Juan, Texas. She graduated from McAllen High School.

Shortly before World War II, she took a job as a clerk in a general store in McAllen, Texas to fill a position being vacated by a young man who joined the Army and would be shipping out. He trained her for the position and left for training and later deployment in France. While he was gone, she was encouraged by her employer to write to the young man. Lupita was very competent, organized, and was soon promoted to store manager. On his release from military duty, he returned to that same General Store but would assume a clerk job under the “new manager” whom he had trained. Over time, he eventually built up the courage to ask her to a movie and eventually to share his life.

Lupita married Antonio Villarreal on April 14, 1950. Their first child, Juan Antonio (Tony), was born in 1952. Joel Efrain (Joey) Villarreal was welcomed into the family in 1957 and then Christina Villarreal completed their family in 1964.

They settled in McAllen across the street from a Catholic Mission Church that would eventually become Our Lady of Perpetual Help of which they were founding members. Mrs. V founded the initial “Altar Society” and also served as a kindergarten teacher in the CCD program as well as the First Communion Preparation Classes for over 40 years. She humbly served as a Lay Eucharistic Minister for the parish, taking Communion to the sick and the shut-ins. Mrs. V also volunteered in Scouting, Class, Band. and Girls Athletic activities. She volunteered at the Church Food Bank and was an active volunteer with the Rio Grande Valley Extension Program teaching women/men the basics of cooking and sewing.

They loved to travel. Traveling the world together with her husband’s company and eventually to Germany to visit their son and his family in Germany multiple times. She enjoyed teaching her grandchildren how to sew, how to cook, the importance of faith in God and living the Beatitudes.

Lupita is preceded in death by her parents; her husband; her granddaughter, Monica Marie Villarreal; and her great-granddaughter, Luce Merry Salvo.

She is survived by her children, Tony and her loving and dedicated daughter-in-law Yolanda, Joel, and Christina. She also leaves four grandchildren, Denise Yvonne Villarreal, Amanda Renee Villarreal Salvo, Jaime Joel Villarreal, and Alexandra Marie Jones; and three great-grandchildren: Jaime Joel Villarreal, Jr., Isabella Marie Villarreal, and Ava Marie Jones.

A rosary will be held at 7pm on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 at Sawyer-George Funeral Home in Corpus Christi, Texas. The funeral mass will be celebrated by Fr. John Gaffney, SOLT, at 11am on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 at St. John Nepomucene Catholic Church in Robstown, Texas, with the interment to follow at Seaside Memorial Park in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Active pallbearers are: Michael Salvo, Richard Tamez, Jaime Villarreal, Tony Torres, Armando Garza, and Javier Garza. Honorary pallbearers are: Bobby Gonzalez and Oton J. Guerrero.

Memorial donations in Lupita’s memory are welcomed and may be made to St. John Nepomucene Catholic Church, CCD Program, 603 N. 1st Street, Robstown, Texas 78380.