Obituary of Teresa P. Nunez

Teresa Nunez, 86, passed away peacefully at home on Jan. 21, 2021 with her two daughters by her side.  Teresa was born April 5, 1934 in Yuma, AZ, to Jesus and Rosa Nunez.   She grew up there, until 1949, when she graduated 8th grade from Arizona Public Schools. She told stories of growing up there during the Great Depression: walking on the desert sand barefooted, picking and eating citrus fruit from neighborhood trees, and playing in the canals to keep cool. She lived in a wooden one room home with a dirt floor. As a child she remembers coming to California with her family to harvest apricots in the Santa Clara Valley. 
In 1949 she started a new chapter in her life, moving to the Salinas Valley to rejoin her immediate family. She attended Salinas and Gonzalez High Schools until the end of her sophomore year. She had to start working to help support the family by picking vegetables. Soon life started taking off for her. She had a daughter and lived in many parts of the U.S. South as she followed her military husband. About a decade later, life took another turn and she was a single parent working two jobs such as waitressing, packing celery, and other assembly line work.
Later, with a new relationship, she became a housewife once again caring for two new daughters and a granddaughter. Teresa was a great cook, gardener, seamstress, artist, and avid reader. She could host great backyard bar-b-ques too! 
A few years later, she returned to the work force as an instructional paraprofessional at Fremont School for several years before taking a position as a Food Service Aide for the Alisal Union School District. She retired with 22 years of service. Soon after she survived a heart attack and adjusted to retirement. She loved to walk down Old Town Salinas streets to shop and visit the library.
 She was always there for her family with a warm hug and smile. Teresa always had the words to comfort and encourage, but most of all, she was the best listener. Friends and family looked to her for such support. She will always be remembered as a creative, energetic person who had a special relationship with the Lord.   
Teresa is survived by her daughters, Bernadette Rojas-Ramirez(Javier) and Teresa G. Rojas; granddaughter, Gilda Pedigo(Gary); and one grandson; and at least 20 nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her eldest daughter, Gilda M. Garcia, three nephews, her father and mother, and three siblings: Ramona, Rudy,  and Rita.
Family services will be held at the Queen of Heaven Cemetery.  A Celebration of her life will be held at a later date.