Dr. Rosemarie Rivera Garza passed away peacefully at her Uvalde home on Monday, Jan. 9, 2017, after a long and fiercely-fought battle with cancer. She was 61. Funeral services will be held today at 3 p.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Uvalde. Rose will be laid to rest tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery in Dickinson. From her birth in the Philippines on Feb. 13, 1955, to the day of her death in Uvalde, she brought laughter, joy, and a love of life to everyone she knew. Rose was born in San Teodoro, on the Filipino island of Mindoro, and grew up in Manila. She graduated as a registered nurse in 1976 and immigrated to the United States in 1978. In 1981, she married Dr. R. Steve Garza; they moved to Uvalde with their two daughters, Kim and Lindsay, seven years later. She was devoted to her family, including her siblings and the extended Rivera and Garza clans, and loved gathering with them for holidays and vacations, all with lots of picture-taking. Rose loved education and nursing, and dedicated her life to both. She worked as a nurse with open-heart surgery specialty, a clinical educator, a nursing instructor, and a director of ICU. She earned two master’s degrees and completed her Ph.D in nursing in 2014, and she implemented and directed the community health worker program at Uvalde Memorial Hospital until her death. Many of these accomplishments were achieved while undergoing chemotherapy treatments for breast and ovarian cancer, which she was diagnosed with in 1993 and 2009, respectively. Rose was an active member of the Uvalde community, a bright light in organizations like the Catholic Women’s Society, the Cursillo movement, the St. Henry de Osso Family Project, and the Rural Health Advisory Board, appointed by Governor George W. Bush. She was passionate about her work and her friends at Uvalde Memorial Hospital and the family of faith at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, where she also served as a lector and eucharistic minister. She deeply loved, and was loved by, every social and spiritual community of which she was a part. Those communities are many, too numerous to list. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Steve Garza of Uvalde; two daughters, Kimberly Garza of Denton and Lindsay Garza of Austin; two brothers, Virgilio (Rosa) Rivera Jr. of League City, and Dr. Joel (Adora) Rivera of Mesquite; three sisters, Dorothy (Antonio) Diaz of Brisbane, Australia, Leslie (Erwin) David of Texas City, and Dr. Maria Lourdes (Jomar) Patawaran of Dickinson; and numerous devoted nieces, nephews, cousins, and relatives-in-law from the Rio Grande Valley to the Philippines. She was preceded in death by her parents, Virgilio and Marcela Rivera. Rushing-Estes-Knowles Funeral Home is in charge of all funeral arrangements. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Rose’s name to the St. Henry de Osso Family Project, 114 E. Nopal, Uvalde, TX, 78801.
THE PRECEDING IS A PAID OBITUARY.