Arcelia Alvarado

Arcelia Castellanos Azuela, 75-years-old, died on Tuesday, October 25, 2016, at her Palo Verde home in Brownsville, Texas. Despite her valiant fight with breast cancer, Arcelia’s battle was cut short by a disease which was well into stage three before the first treatment began. However, her strong will to live, unwavering faith in God, and the love and prayers of family and friends carried her through eight months of grueling chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

Married for 53 years, Carlos and Arcelia raised their four children, Lucelia, Patricia, Claudia, and Karla on Lomas de Rosales in Tampico, Tamaulipas. Possessing a true servant’s heart, Arcelia faithfully cared for her family and her community. She hosted weekly social gatherings serving delicious culinary creations which blended French and Mexican technique. She was an accomplished cook and the consumate host. A woman of faith and the heart of the Alvarado family, Arcelia shaped the spirituality of her children by her tireless Christian example, and through her involvment in various Catholic charitee groups and philanthropic activities.

She saw her job as twofold: make Carlos Alvarado’s life happy and give the community a dignified, Christian home. With characteristic savoir faire, she succeeded in both.

Arcelia is survived by her husband, Carlos, four beautiful daughters, four grandchildren, one great grandchild, as well as many other relatives and friends. The Alvarado family, and her role as wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother was the most important thing to Arcelia. This is where she drew her strength and left her legacy. Being with her family was what Arcelia enjoyed most of all. Her life had many obstacles, and she struggled for twenty years trying to overcome the stroke-like effects of a ruptured brain aneurysm – including her inability to speak. Yet through it all, her love and caring for her family remained her focus, and in so many, many ways, she was still able to communicate that love. This perseverance through adversity is a powerful lesson and one of her most valuable bequests. Keep your priorities straight. Focus on the things which are most important. Love and care for your family. Don’t let adversities or setbacks or any of the distractions of the world keep you from this most important aspect of life.

Throughout her life and up to the very end, one of her greatest joys was gardening. Arcelia took great pride in her plants, roses, and fruit trees. Gardeners are special people. It takes patience, perseverance, and a love-for-living-things to cultivate a garden or a beautiful rose. Gardening is tedious and hard work, but there is something that gardeners know and experience that others sometimes do not. There is a beauty and a satisfaction in seeing the result of your labor grow and come to fruition. There is a peacefulness that can come over us as we care for and nurture the flowers and plants of a garden. In nurturing living things and helping to bring beauty and peace to the world, gardeners make a difference, they make their lives, and the lives of those who benefit from their gardens, richer and fuller. That was the life of Arcelia Alvarado – may her legacy never die.

Services will be private. Memorials in Arcelia’s name can be made to The Patient Advocate Foundation 421Butler Farm Rd. Hampton, VA 23666 or patientadvocate.org