Emily M. Rangel's Obituary
Our Loving Mom-Emily Montez Rangel April 27, 1926 to May 6, 2016Our Mom was such a great, strong role model for us. She was born on April 27, 1926 and lived a very full life filled with adventure, fun, sadness, and so much love! She used to call herself “The Bull” because she was born in April under the Taurus sign, and she was as strong as one! She had six children, of which 4 are still living and we are all very close. She had 14 Grandchildren and 17 Great Grandchildren. The most important thing to Mom was her children/family. She would always say, “I want you all to get along…” She taught us so many things in life. She was so good at understanding the value of paying her bills on time and keeping good credit. Mom raised us as a single parent for quite a while and she needed good credit to feed 4 kids, keep a roof over our heads, buy us birthday and Christmas presents, school clothes and all of the obligations that comes with parenthood. We knew we were poor, but somehow Mom always took us on trips, every chance she got. Our Mom was a fearless adventurer who took us camping a lot, Yosemite was one of our favorite places to camp. We took plenty of road trips as she had travel in her blood. She took to the road and traveled alone to Florida at a very young age where she found work in a Cigar factory making hand rolled cigars. She enjoyed smoking cigars sometimes at parties, and talked about her experience in the cigar factory. She had so many great stories. She worked in the Naval Shipyards in Richmond during WWII and was a Rosie the Riveter. She weighed all but 90 pounds and wore a heavy belt, equipped with a torch to weld the ships. We took her to the Grand Opening of the Rosie the Riveter Museum in Richmond and toured one of the docked ships. We were amazed with the thought that our Mom carried the blow torch up and down the narrow stairwell on board the ship. The “You Can Do It” slogan was one of her favorites in Spanish. She would always tell us “Si Se Puede” whenever she offered us encouragement to get through our life obstacles. This was her mantra to get her through life and living 12 years alone in her own home after our beloved step-father, Enrique passed away in 2004. We miss our mother so much and will not forget our annual Christmas Tamale making, which was more about getting the family together than making and eating the tamales. Mom loved celebrating holidays, birthdays, music and dancing! At her 80th, she got on stage to sing with the Mariachi. At her 90th birthday, which we recently celebrated, the singer of the band came off stage and sang Happy Birthday to our Mom. People in the audience who did not even know our Mom came over and hugged her. She loved people and people loved her. She always made sure that if they visited her, she cooked and no one ever left hungry. She would always worry whether she made enough food, even though we would tell her she cooks for an army. Homeless, young and old, Mom made sure they had something to eat. Our Mom was the best Mom, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister and person. We could keep going on with her life stories, but as her son-in-law said “they broke the mold after they made our Mom”. When our Mom passed, she went so peacefully surrounded by her children. We were spending the Mother’s Day weekend together, so we were all together, except for our youngest sister, who Mom still called her “baby”. (They had a very special bond). We were taking her to the Mariachi concert in Cache Creek when her heart stopped. She never even made a sound. We were all together with Mom, Eddie, Linda, Chris, Joe Riggs and our baby sister Sylvia and Joe were on their way to be with us. It was so surreal. We will always love our Mom and will keep her memories and stories close to our hearts forever. Until we meet again – We miss and love you Mom!!!
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