Aurelio Garcia passed away July 27, 2021 at the age of 91.
He was born on Jan. 20, 1930. He was blessed with a long life and a large family with many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was able to relate to each individual in the family with his sharp wit and dry humor. He had great affection and took much pleasure in seeing the accomplishments of his growing extended family.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Cecilio and Ines Garcia; his siblings, Maria Teadora Luna, Gabriel Garcia, Pascual Garcia, Paula Hernandez, Martina Zamora, Guadalupe Velasquez, and Rosita Garcia; and his daughter, Angela Garcia.
He is survived by his wife, Maria Garcia; and their children, Maria Ines Aguilar, Cesilio Garcia, Alicia Aguilar, Susan Bazan, Aurelio Garcia Jr., Martina Ruiz; and his brothers, Cecilio Garcia and Mauro Garcia. Additionally, he has grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren which are too numerous to name here.
Aurelio began his life as a migrant worker, traveling to find work in any calling that would have him. As a result, he became a jack of all trades. He liked to tell his sons, if you don’t know how to fix it, figure it out. This coupled with an industrious nature, served him well as he grew his family. They settled in Weiser, Idaho and soon purchased a four-room house across the river in Oregon. It quickly proved to be too small for the expanding family, but undeterred, he began to add onto the structure. He later bought some used farm trucks to do custom hauling for farmers and found some success with that.
In 1974, he found an opportunity for work in the Hermiston area and the family made the move to, as he called it, “Marlboro Country!” He held a variety of jobs ranging from construction laborer to potato plant warehouse worker. For many years, he worked on the railroad. He followed up on that by starting a successful delivery business for tortillas and Mexican pastries. His generous nature and kind heart contributed to his prosperity and was appreciated by both his family and customers. The family loved to go camping in their pickup mounted camper, although the boys had to sleep under the truck at night. Early mornings would see Aurelio out with his fishing pole trying to catch breakfast while the kids were splashing in the water around him with an early morning swim. Eventually, he would give up and have to return to the camper where he invariably would crank up the Spanish music loud enough for everyone at the lake to enjoy.
This coming September, he was looking forward to celebrating his 70th wedding anniversary. His love of life was contagious and infected the entire family.
Recitation of the Holy Rosary will be held on Monday, Aug. 2, 2021 at 6 p.m. at Burns Mortuary Chapel in Hermiston.
Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2021 at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Angels Catholic Church, Hermiston.
Burial will follow at the Hermiston Cemetery.
Family has asked that masks be worn at the Rosary and Mass.
Please share memories of Aurelio with his family at burnsmortuaryhermiston.com
Burns Mortuary of Hermiston is in care of arrangements.
