Isabel Castro Martinez Garibay
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Isabel Castro Martinez Garibay, 102, of Thousand Oaks, passed away peacefully in the home of her daughter and son-in-law, in the company of family members, on Friday, July 8th.
Isabel, affectionately called 'Chabela' by her family, was born August 14th, 1919 to Jesus and Jesusita Martinez in Tlahualilo, Durango, Mexico. Her parents fled the lawless environment of the marauder 'Pancho Villa', bringing her, along with her five other siblings, in 1922 to settle in the Oxnard community of El Rio.
In 1940, Isabel met Richard Lopez Garibay in El Rio, and they married in 1946. Over the next 10 years the couple had a family of seven children: Richard, Diana, Anthony, Joey, Loretta&Lorraine (twins), and Candy. As her faith was very important to her, Isabel joined the modest small-town Santa Clara Chapel, where her brother, Randy, was the Deacon. Over the ensuing 44 years Isabel was a pillar of the Parish community. She had the strongest and most resonant voice in the church choir, which also made her a valuable and beloved Lector.
In the early 40's, while she was dating Richard, Chabela sang on local Oxnard radio station KTMS. Later, during her golden years in the late 1980's, she took-up acrylic-painting, and became quite an accomplished painter. She painted often and accumulated an impressive collection of paintings, until her eyesight had degraded, and her stamina was waning by about age 99. Still, even at the advanced age of 101, she shifted her artistic pursuits to coloring, with a rainbow of colored pencils, on images that Loretta incessantly downloaded from the Internet. Her other favorite diversions were doing lottery tickets, and watching the hummingbirds at the feeders hanging in her garden outside her bedroom window; a fitting pastime for someone whose younger brother had nicknamed her 'Chirina' (hummingbird en Espa?ol), in their youth. She also loved gardening! The one overriding passion that spanned from around the time of the birth of her first grandchild until roughly age 98, was crocheting. And finally, 'lest we forget', one of Chabela's most surprising accomplishments was to have begun learning to use a computer at around age 80, which was her 'Window on the World' until within weeks of her passing.
Isabel is survived by her brothers Freddie and Edward and sisters Alice, Mary, and Connie; along with 10 granddaughters, 9 grandsons, 20 great-granddaughters, 13 great-grandsons, 2 great-great-granddaughters, and 4 great-great-grandsons.
Services will be held on August 12, 2022 at 10am, at Santa Clara Chapel, 1333 Ventura Blvd., Oxnard, CA, 93036. Isabel will be laid to rest immediately after the service at Santa Clara Cemetery, 2370 N. H St., Oxnard, CA, 93036. Any flowers should be sent or brought to the Cemetery.