Guadalupe Silva Torres

Our loving and beautiful mom died peacefully and went to be with the Lord, early in the morning, at the age of 92. She was born in Orange, California, but when our grandmother Consuelo took ill, she took our mom to Mexico to recover from her illness. Unfortunately, grandmother succumbed to tuberculosis. Before she died, she placed mom in a girl’s Catholic boarding school, in Mexico City. She was separated from her older brothers, Juan and Ruben Martinez, and her younger brother Armando Hernandez for ten years. Her brother, Ruben, brought her back to San Pedro, California, to start a new chapter in her life.

Guadalupe, “Lupe”, at the age of 17 started working at the fish canneries in Terminal Island, CA. This was a shock to her and proved to be a whole new experience. She said she would start crying as she cleaned fish and the Croatian ladies would come over to console her. One of those ladies turned out to be her future son in-law’s grandmother Simica Rokov.

At the cannery she met her future mother-in law Maria Torres. She introduced Lupe to her son Manuel Torres in 1947. They got married on May 21, 1949. They started their family of eight children in 1950. She was a busy and a hard working mom, taking care of her family and other children throughout the years. She went back to work at Star Kist Cannery in 1955, after Manuel, a Longshoreman, had a terrible accident on the waterfront. He was hospitalized for over 8 months. Lupe worked off and on for 25 years at the cannery and at Four Fisherman Frozen Fish, and retired in 1970.

Mom loved cooking and was a great cook. She always said that Grandma Maria taught her how to cook as she passed on her recipes to mom. Mom taught her girls, and anyone who wanted to know, how to make tortillas, tamales, her spicy-hot green chili, and many other recipes. She loved to travel with Dad and her family going camping in Sequoia, Yosemite, going to Mexico visiting family, and Hawaii. But most of all, she loved to talk and tell stories and we heard them many times over.

She is preceded in death by her son Alexander Torres, her husband Manuel Torres, and older brothers Juan and Ruben Martinez. She is survived by her brother Armando Hernandez (Ensenada, BC, Mex.), children Ruth (John Bobic), Connie Torres, Raymond Torres, Martha Torres, Manuel Torres, John Torres, Sandra Torres, 13 grandchildren, 21 great-grandkids, 2 great-great-granddaughters, her sister in-laws Maggie Bradford, Rachel Nuno, and Josie Torres, as well as numerous nephews and nieces . Her legacy lives on.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and restrictions, the viewing for Guadalupe is on July 7th at Green Hills Chapel from 5-8 p.m. and limited to 40 people at a time. Private service with family is on July 8th. Please sign the guestbook at the Green Hills website.

The family thanks all of the friends and family that came to visit her at home and for phone calls to keep in touch with her. It meant so much to her to see all of you who came and spent time with her. She got to retell old stories and the history of the family. Thank you Agape Hospice for stepping in during her last days, and her devoted housekeeper/care giver Sophia, and gardener Mr. O’Campo, both church friends who spent a great amount of time with her, encouraging her and praying for her.