- Date Of Birth: November 4, 1925
- Date Of Death: October 31, 2016
- State: Texas
Family, friends, and community are such a beautiful aspect of life. “The love of family and the admiration of friends is much more important than wealth and privilege.” This quote by journalist, Charles Kuralt, can describe many different families and even more groups of friends, but it especially rings true for a family truly blessed by a wonderful mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, and friend. The family of this amazing woman truly is blessed, wealthy, and fortunate in love and comradery all because of the influence and care of Mrs. Carolina Garay DeLira.
In early fall on November 4, 1925, a beautiful, sweet baby girl came into the world in Monterrey, Mexico. Her delighted parents, Jose Araujo and Perfecta Rodriquez, named her Carolina. Unlike many childhoods, filled with unrequited joy and happiness, Carolina learned about loss at a very young age when her mother passed away. Her step-mother, Justa Araujo, came to raise little Carolina and taught her many of the things Carolina would carry into her own motherhood many years down the road. In her early twenties, Carolina married her wonderful husband, Jessie G. Garay. Together, they made a beautiful family of three boys and three girls. Nurturing her children and taking care of her husband became Carolina’s passion and purpose in life; they meant so much to her. To take care of her family and provide for their needs was her calling. She stayed at home and raised her children to the best of her abilities, with the only exception being Christmas time. During the winter holidays, Carolina would work two jobs, Neiman Marcus and as an assembly line worker, to raise money for presents for each of her children. She made sure every Christmas, each person within her family had a present under the tree. However, working two jobs didn’t just pay for presents-she needed extra money to pay for all the supplies to make her many, many famous Christmas Tamales. During Christmas, tamale making became a family ordeal, literally. Every single member of the family crammed themselves in her kitchen cutting meat, wrapping corn tortillas, placing the delicious, rich tamales in corn husks, and placing the hundreds of filled corn husks in the oven. Newly-wed spouses just entering the family were not only welcomed to join in on the family tradition, but were required to be a part of the action. Carolina loved every new addition to her family as if they were her own beloved children. Along with making tamales, Carolina was famously known for not just decorating her living room or dining room with Christmas cheer, but also every other room within the house! She not only wanted all her family to come together in the festive cheer of Christmas, but every other holiday too. Holidays were very special to Carolina, and she made each holiday special. For every Easter, she would work hours upon hours to make hundreds of cascarones, or confetti eggs, for her children and grandchildren. She dyed eggs with her grandchildren, and of course had her whole family gathered around a single table of wonderfully prepared and displayed foods. If you didn’t catch it the first time, let it be reiterated: she had everyone in her large family seated around a single table. Having the family together around a dinner table was so important to Carolina because the family could exchange plates, stories, and smiles as one unit, not separate little groups scattered about the house. The “table” typically was composed of one dinner table and then any other table that could be found and stuck to the end. Even walls could not stop the family from sitting next to each other. On one particularly crowded get-together, her son recalled that Carolina arranged the tables so that the family was sitting together from the dining room, around a wall, and almost to the back door in one single row of tables. She wanted to bring the family together and show them how important they were to each other, but especially how important they were to her. Her grandchildren held a special place in Carolina’s heart, and one day, she decided she would throw a party for each of the grandchildren’s birthdays all at once. All the family members came, and each of her 20 grandchildren were honored with their own special birthday cake. Carolina never even thought about giving up or doubting her husband, her children, or her grandchildren; she loved them with a strong, undying, fervent love.
As Chuck Woolery, the host of Love Connection, put it, “Being a lady is an attitude,” and Carolina Garay DeLira had that attitude. Her strong-willed mind and personality was both comforting and intimidating. You simply did not tell her “no” when she had something in mind. It was “her way or the highway,” and nowhere was Carolina’s persistence seen more than at the dining room table. Preparing food and arranging a lovely meal was a feat of passion for Carolina that she displayed every night. “Have a hot meal ready for your husband,” were words often spoken by Carolina to her daughters, granddaughters, and daughters-in-law. The meals couldn’t be warm, they had to be hot. Breakfasts, lunches, and dinners made by Carolina made mouths water with her cooking expertise. However, these delicious meals didn’t cause her to slave away in the kitchen all day. On the contrary, she could make 18 tasty homemade flour tortillas and a delectable hot meal all within 20 minutes. Aside from having fresh, hot meals, the dining table had to be set in a formal, special way. Every entrée and appetizer had its own unique CorningWare or serving dish. There was no chance of serving a meal out of the same pot or pan that dinner was cooked in or even served buffet style. Another unique thing about Carolina’s dinner was that each dish of food had its own spoon. If anyone tried to even used the same spoon for the mashed potatoes as the green beans, Carolina would stop them pre-scoop, and tell them to use the mashed potato spoon. And of course, dinners couldn’t be complete without a napkin at every place setting. Carolina didn’t just settle for paper napkins or embossed napkins; the napkins could only be made of cloth. As the family recounted her napkin choices, they had to mention just how cloth napkins came within their family and have been passed to each of the children. It all started with Mr. Jessie Garay’s business relationship with Mr. John Stemmons, a wealthy real estate developer and community leader within the Dallas area. Every six months or so, Mr. Stemmons would invite Mr. Garay over for tea. After one of these visits, Mr. Garay came back to the house with cloth napkins and gave them to his wife. The rest after that was history. One of the most crucial parts of dinner consisted of how it was served to different members of the family. No matter what, Carolina’s husband was always served first-a display of her love and respect for him. After her husband was served, then the older men around the table could fill their plates. The younger men followed the older men, and the women followed the younger men. Everything flowed with formality, yet possessed all the comforts of a well-loved, tightknit family.
Many houses are kept up very well with great care and energy, but seldom do they reflect the same warmth and comfort than Carolina’s home. Her home was a place of cordiality and friendliness. Often friends from her church would stop by and visit for a while. Because of this, the house was kept immaculate and spotless. On one certain occasion, a son of Carolina told her, “Mom, you don’t need to keep working on the house; it looks beautiful.” Her response back was of course she had to keep cleaning, because “you don’t know if the priest is going to come by” which he did in fact come by often. When Carolina wasn’t cleaning her home, she would occupy herself with crafting and sewing. She made homemade doll clothes for her children and her grandchildren. Like many things that Carolina did, she didn’t stop at making a suitable, cute outfit for these dolls; she took put great attention and detail into each outfit to make the clothes look beautiful and stunning. Around her house were also beautiful, comfy patchwork blankets that Carolina made herself. She tended to give these away to her family and friends as gifts and promises of her love and affection. Along with a wonderfully upkept house, Carolina also kept a clean, pristine kitchen. There was no such thing as dishes in the sink around Carolina; they went straight into the dishwasher. She efficiently handled all the dishes from her large, delicious dinners with ease. To see someone try to start a dishwasher with a few dishes or a partial load made her economical personality come out; it was simply a waste of water and time. After Carolina would clean her kitchen, you couldn’t even tell that daily meals were prepared there. Similar to the rest of the warm house was Carolina’s large backyard. Grandchildren would race to the backdoor to run around with Carolina’s many Chow dogs and of course to also play with the massive McDonald’s Hamburglar in the backyard. She wanted to give her grandchildren a place to play and have fun, and having her son bring the Hamburglar home from a McDonald’s was a wonderful way to accessorize her yard for such things. Everything she did with and within her home was for the enjoyment and comfort of her family.
Carolina Garay DeLira loved her family with all her heart, and many things that she did was for the benefit and development of her those she loved. She was greatly involved in each of her loved ones’ lives. Like many mothers, Carolina protectively watched over and cared for her children, but unlike most mothers, she took it above and beyond. For each of her daughters’ pregnancies, Carolina would stay at their homes and help in any way that she could find. She cooked meals for her daughters, cleaned around their houses, washed clothes, and when the baby was finally born, she would stay a little while longer to give the tired mother some rest and take care of her new grandbaby. Carolina wore selflessness and humility like beautiful gowns. She had a servant’s heart which was always willing to help someone in need. However, along with her selflessness and humbleness, she also ornamented herself with a little bit of stubbornness. Carolina was very particular about how things went around her. If anyone stepped out of line, she was not afraid to get on to them no matter who was there at the time. A great example of Carolina’s mettle occurred one day when she was staying with her son. Without her knowing about it, her son invited a few friends over to his house before he got home. When he entered the front door and could even say “hello” to his waiting friends, Carolina Garay DeLira immediately started lecturing him about letting her know the next time he brought people over. Her son took it well, but still recalls with a smile how his elderly mother could still put him in his place even in front of his friends. Carolina’s love of having things just so spread to many areas of her life, sometimes in the most beautiful and heart-warming ways. Friday nights in Carolina’s house always consisted of buying 2 large pizzas and a 12-pack of beer. Carolina and her husband Jessie would sit down and relax after a long week with these two pizzas and beer, which was the only time she would ever drink beer. This was their personal time to talk, laugh, and unwind amongst all the challenges of daily life. She did something similar with her son and his wife when she moved in with them. After a few months adjusting to life in her son’s house, one day she stopped and asked him if they could have breakfast all together every Saturday morning. What seemed like a simple task became a special time for them as they sat around empty plates and full stomachs talking and connecting. Another thing that Carolina always insisted that her family members do was hug each other, never shake hands.
One of her greatest enjoyments in Carolina’s life was expressing her strong, free will. Independence flowed through Carolina Garay DeLira like water in a stream. Nowhere was this more apparent than when Carolina first learned how to drive at sixty years old. At that point, nothing could stop her from going wherever her heart desired, with the exception of when her car went missing one chilly winter morning. Carolina was about to drive off to work in her green Ford LTD, when she came into the house telling her son that her car was gone. In a panic, both flew out of the door to search when her son told her he found it-across the street and through a fence. Evidently, the car had been in neutral and independently took off down the driveway without its equally independent owner.
However, as Robert Frost writes, “nothing gold can stay,” sorrow and anguish overcame Carolina’s children, grandchildren, great-granchildren, and friends as Carolina Garay DeLira faded from this life on October 31, 2016 to start her new life in Heaven. Many might believe that Carolina is truly gone from this world, but on the contrary she is very much alive. She passed on some of her most unique qualities and traditions to her children, which have been passed down to their children, who are currently teaching their own children. Carolina Garay DeLira’s stubbornness is seen in her sons, her motherly concern in her daughter, and to all her children, her love and selfless nature. Like their mother, each of of her children is ready at a moment’s notice to help those in need; they care for their families, provide as best as they can, and love without conditions or restrictions. Along with her qualities and memories, Carolina Garay DeLira left behind her beloved children, Virginia Gonzales and her husband, Gilbert, Gloria Martinez, Jessie Edward Garay and his wife, Rachel, Richard Lee Garay and his wife, Lisa, Arthur Hugh Garay and his wife, Leticia, and Idalia Camarillo and her husband, Victor; her sisters, Olivia Ojeda and Rachel Briseño and her husband, Pete; her 20 grandchildren; and her 30 great-grandchildren. Carolina Garay DeLira is joined in Paradise with her loving husband of 50 years, Jessie G. Garay; her devoted second husband of 17 years, Inez DeLira; her sisters, Loretta Mireles and Petra Medina; her parents, Jose and Perfecta Araujo; and her step-mother, Justa Araujo.
Thursday, November 3rd, 2016, 5:00pm – 8:00am, Hughes Family Tribute Center
Friday, November 4th, 2016, 12:30pm, St. Pius X Catholic Church
Calvary Hill Cemetery
