Nell Rose Gomez Garcia

Nell Rose Gomez García, also known as Rose, Rosie, or Rosa, was born in Wilmar, CA on November 23, 1947 to Foster and Nellie Gomez. Rose grew up in the house where she was born, and attended Utah St. School in Los Angeles, CA, Monterey Vista Elementary School and Richard Garvey Jr. High in Rosemead, CA, and Ramona Convent Secondary School in Alhambra, CA. Rose felt called to religious life from the age of 11. After graduation from high school in 1965, Rose entered the convent of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Angels in Quebec, Canada. After much discernment over the next six years, Rose realized God was calling her to a different lifestyle, and returned home to southern California. In 1973, Rose met Evaristo Antonio García, “Tony,” and in January 1974, they were married in Malibu, CA. Their marriage was consecrated at Mission San Gabriel Arcángel. Together, Rose and Tony raised four children until Tony’s passing in October 1992. In September 1995, Rose moved to Sutherlin, OR with her teenage children for a fresh start, and later followed her daughters to Tucson, AZ in 2009. During her life, Rose worked as a Certified Nurse Assistant, Admitting Clerk, NICU Unit Secretary, and Medical Transcriptionist in hospitals in the Los Angeles area, Roseburg, OR, and Tucson, AZ. Rose also donated her time and talent to her Catholic parishes of St. Anthony in San Gabriel, CA, St. Martha in Valinda, CA, St. Francis Xavier in Sutherlin, OR, St. Joseph in Roseburg, OR, and Our Lady of Fatima in Tucson, AZ as Cantor, Catechist, Lector, and Eucharistic Minister. Rose retired in 2012 at the age of 65, and dedicated as much of the next ten years of her life as possible to spending time with her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

Rose will always be remembered for her deep love and dedication to God, her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, husband, Momma, Papa, siblings and their children, friends, her children’s friends, and all she met, as well as for her beautiful singing voice, her talent in drawing, and love for music (especially Barbra Streisand, Barry Manilow, Carole King, and The Beatles), movies (especially White Christmas, The Song of Bernadette, Fried Green Tomatoes, Forrest Gump, and On a Clear Day You Can See Forever), great stories (especially the Harry Potter series and John Grisham novels), and musicals (especially The Sound of Music, The King and I, The Man of La Mancha, West Side Story, Les Miserables, and Chicago).

Rose was preceded by her Papa Foster, her husband Tony, her Momma Nellie, her sisters Marilyn, Tootsie, Sally, and Lucy, and her brothers Foster, Frank, and Vance, and survived by her brother Jim, children Karla, Lysette, Tony, and Marissia, her grandchildren Antoinette, Joseph, Mari, Tahlía, Anthony S., Brianna, Anthony G., Syd, Tatianna, Cristiana, Gabriel, Anthony M., Noah, Xitlali, Isaiah, and David, and great grandchildren Journey, Saint, Jedi, Sol, Daisy, and Josiah.