Amelia Garcia Diaz

Amelia Garcia Diaz, 80, of Ontario and formerly of La Grande, died August 19, 2006. A public viewing will be conducted Thursday from 4 to 5:30 pm and there will be a rosary at 6 pm. Both will be at Loveland Funeral Chapel in La Grande. A Resurrection Mass will be conducted at 10 am Friday at Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church. A burial service will follow at Hillcrest East Cemetery.

Mrs. Diaz was born September 29, 1925, to Rolando and Maria Gonzalez Garcia in Carrizo Springs, Texas. She married Antonio Sandoval who died earlier. Following his death she married Valdemar Diaz on February 11, 1944. They moved to Nyssa as migrant workers. Mrs. Diaz was the first president of the first Hispanic PTA in Nyssa and was later active in AARP and the Union County Senior Center. She was an avid seamstress, filling many homes with Holly Hobbie quilts. Her favorite activity was playing the nickel slots hoping to hit the big jackpot. She loved to travel and to share her stories with others. She was sad to leave La Grande and her friends, but enjoyed living with her family in Ontario for the last few months of her life.

She is survived by seven children, Alberto Sandoval of Carrizo Springs, Amelia Barr and her husband, Larry of Terrebone, Idaho, Ida Barry and her husband, Paul of Merritt Island, Florida, Eloy Diaz and his wife, Bobbi of Ontario, Diana Diaz of Boise, Irma Rogers of La Grande and Lisa Mendez and her husband, Arturo, of Ontario; sisters, Alejandra Valdez, Lupe Paulino, Lenore Lazano and a brother, Rubenciao Garcia. Her husband, three sons, Valdemar II, Valdemar and Joel; a daughter-in-law, Bebe Sandoval; two brothers, Miguel and Nicholas and one sister, Barbarita, died earlier.