Juanez Martin

Our loving mom, Vera Juanez was born in Beckham, Texas on April 8th, 1939 to our granddaddy Vergil and our grandmother Coleta Kimbrell, affectionately known to everyone as Gran-Gran. Mom grew up in east Texas and Arkansas with her younger sister, our Aunt Evon. Mom retired as an Executive Secretary from Siemen's in Grand Prairie in 1999, after 21 years.

The name Vera came from her Aunt Faye and Uncle Dean’s daughter. Gran-Gran loved her name. For Mom’s middle name, Gran-Gran had a list of names, and Juanez was on this list. She thought that was the prettiest name she had ever heard and so she gave our mom the middle name “Juanez”, which she was known by her entire life.

As our Aunt Von recalls, as young girls, she and Mom helped the women in the family with the canning, shelling of peas in the washtubs, and picking cotton in the fields. Our mom, Aunt Von, and our Great Aunt Annie Lou would also help with planting. They worked together as a team, one poking a hole with a broomstick, one dropping a seed, and the third stomping the dirt back over the hole. Aunt Von remembers how she could talk to Mom about everything and how Mom was the one whom she always turned to when she needed anything. Mom taught Aunt Von her ABCs, numbers, and would also dress her for school. Mom also was the one that read her the story, Twas the Night Before Christmas and also taught her the newest song of the time, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” right before their school bus picked them up when they were in grade school. Aunt Von said that was how she was able to sing along all the way home on the school bus. Another fond memory of Aunt Von’s is how the girls used to stand in downtown Sulphur Springs and listen to the high school band strike up for the parade. The band was wonderful and as it passed by, the sound would jar the bricks underneath their feet. Parade participants would throw candy and the girls would fill their skirt tails with as much as they could hold.

In high school, while living with our Granddaddy Vergil in Wickes, Arkansas, Mom earned the opportunity to participate in the American Legion Auxiliary Girls State for Arkansas. Back in Texas, she also carhopped with Aunt Von at Weber’s Root Beer Stand on Forest Ave. to save up money for their school clothes. With the money, Mom opened accounts at both Mangles and Learners, and eventually they were able to buy a Mouton coat. Our Mom was also Vice President of the Beta Club, Class President, Sophomore Class Favorite, and Letterman’s Club.

Mom and Dad’s love story began in 1956, when he went to her home, in the hopes of taking Aunt Von to a movie. Aunt Von was not interested, as she was dating someone else. However, Mom overheard our Dad get rejected and quite excitedly said “I’ll go!!!” Shortly after, they started going steady. They attended prom together at Crozier Tech High School, where they both graduated from in 1957. Dad proposed to Mom in the driveway the next year. In 1958, they were married in Slaughter Chapel at First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.

Mom and Dad quickly grew their family with the addition of the three of us children, Michael Charles in 1959, David Keith in 1961, and Tammy Renee in 1964. With Dad being in the Navy, we lived various places until his retirement in 1977, including Texas, California, and Florida. After our Dad’s retirement, we settled in Arlington, TX, where Mom and Dad lived until 1994, when they moved into their final home in Mansfield.

As kids, one of our fond memories was when Santa brought us each a bicycle seat for Christmas when we were out of town and staying at our Aunt Von’s house. We all were so jealous and confused as our cousin Joey received a motorized mini bike from Santa, and yet all we got was a bicycle seat. Mom and Dad had to explain that Santa probably left the rest of our bicycles at home since they would not be able to travel with them. The entire time we were gone, the three of us were anxiously waiting to travel back home in hopes we would indeed find them at home. Another funny memory from childhood was when we traveled to Yellowstone National Park. Dad got out to look at some bear cubs and didn’t realize us kids were throwing cracker jacks from behind him. Soon after, the mama bear came out and Mom quickly told us to shut the door and lock it, even though Dad was still on the outside. Dad had to bang on the window and run to the other side of the car before he could get back in.

Dad had three tours during the Vietnam War and was deployed 6 months at a time. During this time, Mom and us kids would make shoeboxes to mail to him, filled with items from home, including tapes that we made in which we sang songs. The ladies’ group would also gather together from time to time to send care packages to their husbands overseas. One time, a teenage Mike accidentally came across one of the care packages; he found flirty photos of our mom and quickly put the photos down so as not to defile his imagination.

There were many times growing up that we lived on a very tight budget and Mom would have a hard time not being able to give us the things she wanted to, however, there was never a shortage of love and memories to be made. We will never forget how our Mom would kiss the three of us on our heads each morning and wake us up, happily singing “Good Morning to You”. When we would play games with Mom, she would hate for her kids to lose, so if it looked like she might win, she would always say there was more time left in the game so that whichever child was playing with her had the opportunity to win. We would often go to the drive-in theater and take grocery sacks filled with popcorn from home and bottles of RC cola.

Mom and Dad helped all three of us kids financially to get through college. Over time, we graduated, married, and had children of our own. Mike married Jana in November 2007, David married Cindy in 1979, and Tammy married Bob in 1987. Becoming grandparents started our parent’s next big adventure. Mom and Dad have nine grandchildren: Tiffany and husband Jeremy, Marie and husband Matt, Jenny and husband Steven, Timothy and wife Katie, Alicia and husband Kenny, Matt, Jake, Katie, and Nick, and currently one great-grandchild Noah. Only time will tell, how many additional great-grandchildren will follow.

The love Mom showed to her children and grandchildren was undeniable; she showed them what true love looked like. She made each of us feel like he or she had her whole heart. Some of her notable qualities that our family will always keep dear to our hearts include her love for collecting Disney beanie babies, drinking Diet Dr. Pepper, dressing up to perfection, and letting her granddaughters use her clip-on earrings and play in her clothes and makeup.

Mom loved to talk and never wanted her phone calls to end. She would say “goodbye” and “I love you” a thousand times and had the ability to start a new conversation before you ever could hang up the phone. Anytime Mom went out to eat with her family, she ordered her dinner for everyone to eat but herself. She always tried to give her food away because she worried you would still be hungry when you finished your own plate. She would always say, “Who wants my food?” and would spend the entire meal trying to convince someone to eat it, hardly eating a bite herself.

Going to Grandma’s house always excited her grandchildren because it meant they were free of rules. She would make a huge pallet in her room filled with pillows and blankets for her grandchildren to sleep on and they all would stay up way past their bedtimes watching movies and cartoons until they literally could no longer keep their eyes open. Then when they woke up, Mom, now known as Grandma, would always ask, “Did everyone sleep with your eyes closed?” while they giggled as she squeezed their legs. Anytime her grandkids would leave her house she would blow kisses continuously, while she and Granddaddy waved from the doorway, until they had driven out of sight. When she signed birthday cards for her grandkids, she would add the number of X’s and O’s at the bottom to match how old her grandkids were turning that year.

Mom and Dad celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2008. It was a momentous occasion as the entire family traveled to the Bahama’s to celebrate. There were a lot of special moments and fun times on the trip. The most memorable moment was when the kids and grandkids created a gigantic anniversary card, made out of anything they could find on the resort, including stickers from beer labels, construction paper that happened to have been brought along, and ribbon from another drink bottle. A beer bottle was used as a template to trace circles on the card, where each person wrote a special note to the happy couple. The card was given to Mom and Dad by all of us kids and grandkids shortly before leaving for the airport, and a million dollars would not have been as special to them. Our Mom was in tears and the card is still displayed in their formal living room, as if it was an heirloom.

The trip to the Bahamas was only one of many times the entire family traveled together. We traveled as an extended family to Destin and Ft. Meyers, Florida, and Cancun and Cozumel, Mexico. Mom and Dad have taken many more trips with their children’s families as well, including Disney World, Gulf Shores, AL, a cruise in the Caribbean, and one final trip this past fall to Branson, MO. Regardless of how beautiful the vacation locations were, Mom’s favorite place to be was her home so she would not be away from her children and grandchildren.

Mom’s favorite pastimes included crocheting, needlepoint, attending her grandchildren’s extracurricular activities, and spending time with her family. She loved to sing and tell stories to all of her children and grandchildren. She also loved spoiling her grandchildren and was known for her generosity; she would have gladly given away anything she owned to make someone happy. One example was when she fished enough coins out of the bottom of her purse to be able to buy a slide for her grandkids.

Mom had a heart that could move mountains, as anyone who knew her would attest. She will be missed more than she could have ever imagined and we are all so lucky to have her as a guardian angel looking over us now.

In final closing, we would like to share a note that our Mom wrote by her Senior photo in our Dad’s high school yearbook on June 23, 2007, 50 years after they graduated.

Honey, my Husband,

After 50 years, I am writing in your annual. It seems like only yesterday, we met. I guess it was fate that brought us together, and love has done the rest. I am so glad you were meant for me and I was meant for you. Together we have made our dreams come true. What a wonderful family we have, 3 children, Michael, David and Tammy, 9 grandchildren, Tiffany, Marie, Jenny, Timothy, Alisha, Matt, Jacob, Katie and Nicholas and a grandson-in-law Jeremy. My aren’t we blessed! Thank you for your love 50 years and counting. Hugs and Kisses,

Your loving wife,

Juanez

PS. Hasn’t it been good? Yes!!!!

Some women were born to be Mom’s and that was our Moma!

-Her kids, Mike, David, and Tammy