Dora Garcia

Dora died peacefully on June 5, 2021, at the age of 95, in Oakland, California. She is survived by her brother, Elmer Garcia, and many younger relatives. She was a pleasure and a joy to know and will be missed by so many who loved her. A memorial service will be held on June 18, at Grant Miller-John Cox Mortuary Chapel in Oakland at 11:00 a.m.

Dora was born on June 2, 1926 on her parents’ farm in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico, one of ten children. As her cousin once said, “there are a lot of Garcia’s in Ojo,” now a hot springs resort.  After Dora graduated high school, she went to Seattle with her brother and other relatives, where she found work at the Boeing factory, because she said, “I fit and worked down in the wing.”

Dora moved to the Bay Area in the 1960s and enjoyed the nightlife with dancing and big band music on weekends. Dora lived in San Francisco where she worked at Blue Cross as an accounts clerk. In 1963 she bought her home in Oakland where she lived for over fifty years.

In the late 70s, Dora retired because she required heart surgery to address her damaged heart valve, caused in childhood by rheumatic fever. Doctors had said Dora would not live to age 40, but she practiced healthy eating and exercised, leaving such things to the experts and God.  She received a mechanical heart-valve replacement, at the age of 52.

Dora was a frequent patron of the Oakland Senior Center at the Veterans Memorial Building by Lake Merritt and a long-time member of the Church of Saint Leo the Great, in Oakland. Dora marveled at the wonders of life, did not judge others and always had excellent advice.

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