Gabriela "Nena" Ortiz Sanchez passed away in her Skagit Valley home of nearly 50 years at the age of 78 on October 31, 2020.  Nena was born in Naranjo, Texas on March 30, 1942 to Monico and Maria Luisa Ortiz.  After losing both parents at the age of 2, Nena was raised by her oldest sister and her husband, Paula and Guadalupe Garza, in Brownsville Texas.  Nena helped to care for her younger siblings as they seasonally travelled through many states on the East Coast as migrant farmworkers.  Growing up poor, in a big family, taught her the value of hard work and appreciating everything you owned. After the birth of her first two children in Texas, Patsy and Joe, she moved to New York where she had Cookie and Anita.  She left New York as a single mother in 1970, and moved to Washington to follow her family that was here.  Nena worked hard in the fields - she was a strong leader and even became forman at Ted Hood Cucumber Farm.  Her children worked in the fields and orchards alongside her - harvesting apples, vegetables and berries.  Nena was proud when she had earned enough to buy the house on McLean road to raise her family in.  She cared about being a good mother, and took homemaker courses through Skagit Valley College - where she learned sewing and canning. She was smart and resourceful, teaching her children the trades needed to persevere and be successful as a family.  Nena met Eduardo Sanchez in the beet fields of Eastern Washington, and they were married March 11, 1977.  Together they had two sons, Jerry and Cristobal, and their familia of 8 built a life centered around faith, family and food.

Nena was faithful and spiritual.  Her Saint Jude chain stayed close to her heart around her neck, her house is full of statues of saints y La Virgencita, and if she knew you - you were sure to be in her prayers.  Anytime her family left the house, she would bless them with "Dios le bendiga," a tradition that was passed onto her children.  Nena's mom Paula was a respected and sought after curandera in Skagit.  Nena learned many of her remedios, and used them to heal her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, "You just have to believe," she would say.

Nena could always be found in her checkered apron and paño making arroz, frijoles, habichuelas, flour tortillas or pelando nopales.  She sold her canned salsas, catered on the side with Eduardo and the kids, and made tamales every holiday season. Nena's greatest joy was having a house full of family, laughing, storytelling, chismeando and eating around her red table cloths.

Nena loved burgundy, red and black. She loved to shop at Macys, always buying things for others. She could talk for hours on the phone, and loved to do her hair to sit in front of her Facebook Portal to video chat. She lived for visits from her family and friends. Her home is overflowing with her collections - Coca Cola, Barbies, pigs, frogs, glass shoes and scarves.  She always wore a scarf, her cowboy boots, her jean or camo jacket covered in pins, jewelry, a bedazzled belt, and a polo to match Eduardo.

Nena loved Eduardo.  She was always with him, a tiny passenger in his big truck, riding along to job sites and going out to eat.  She got him a new recliner for father's day when his old one had worn out. Every birthday and anniversary, Eduardo would bring her two dozen red roses.  Juntos - they overcame so many hardships and obstacles, but they lost their last battle together.  Eduardo passed after a long and brave battle with COVID. Nena, still weak from her own fierce fight with the virus, passed just three days later from a broken heart.  Nena spent her last days at home, in the burgundy living room she loved, surrounded by family.  She smiled and laughed with her grandchildren, asked for los niños y los bebés, told feisty jokes to her kids, sat with her siblings, and ate her favorite foods while novelas blared in the background.

Nena was loving, generous, sassy, funny, resilient, steadfast and the strongest woman we knew. Nena was preceded in death by her husband Eduardo Sanchez; biological parents Monico and Maria Luisa Ortiz; her adoptive parents Guadalupe and Paula Garza; her siblings Jesusa Flores, Guadalupe Lugo, Valentina Valera, and Guadalupe Garza Jr.  Nena is survived by her children Patsy Martinez, Joe (Shanna Walton) Castillo, Cookie (Mike) Schleppy, Anita (James) Meadows, Jerry Sanchez, Cristobal (Courtney) Sanchez; her 20 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren; her siblings Pauline (Perfecto) Castellon, "Primo" Juan (Rocio) Garza, Monico (Fern+) Garza, Maria (Jaime) Guerra, Paula (Dennis) Garza-Britt, Georgia Garza, and Nancy Garza.

We will miss hearing your voice on the other end of the phone. We will miss your smile, laughter, feisty wit and blunt honesty, your hugs, remedios, blessings and comida. You left a legacy of traditions that your family will carry on.  Esposa, Ama, Suegra, Abuela, Hija, Hermana, Madrina, Prima, Tia, Comadre, Amiga, Mayordoma. . . you were our glue, our strength and the matriarch of this family.  Descansa en paz con el amor de tu vida, Nena bonita.

There will be a public viewing on Wednesday, November 4, 2020 from 1:00pm to 7:00pm at Hawthorne Funeral Home in Mount Vernon.  Due to COVID restrictions, only 30 people will be allowed at a time - and will rotate throughout the day.   There will be a funeral mass and entombment on Thursday, November 5, 2020, but due to COVID restrictions, will only be for immediate family.