Bernadette "Judy" Gonzales Garcia's Obituary
Bernadette “Judy” Garcia passed unexpectedly, though peacefully, at home while basking in the sunshine in Shady Side, MD on May 20, 2024. Judy was born to Maura and Gregorio Gonzales in Bulacan, Philippines. There, she spent most of her childhood with her six sisters and one brother in a farmhouse before moving to Manila for higher education. She worked during the day and attended school at night, earning a degree in Business and Commerce at Far Eastern University. She always believed that an education would provide a better life for her and her family. She learned her amazing skills of short-hand and record keeping, and saved enough money to buy an apartment building in Caloocan City, Manila so that her whole family would always have a home in the city. She worked tirelessly in two jobs and opened her own housekeeping company to help her family and send her younger siblings to school until she married the love of her life, Jose, on Valentine’s Day in 1971. They immigrated to the United States a year later where they lived and worked multiple jobs in New York City, giving birth to and raising her most precious loves - her two daughters. They relocated to Hazlet, New Jersey, where she became an executive assistant at Bristol Myers, before moving to Nazareth, Pennsylvania, where she became a payroll accountant at St. Luke’s Hospital, until finally settling down in Shady Side, Maryland to be closer to her children and grandchildren.
Bernadette was always an active church community member from Incarnation Church and St. Benedict’s Church to Holy Family Church - as a bible study teacher, volunteering at the local food pantry, organizing clothing drives, preparing event meals such as pierogies and keffel cookies. She learned how to cook Polish, German and Italian food from her friends. She was also an active leader in her Bukas Luoob Sa Dios Filipino Church organization where she sang in the choir and was a marriage counselor, meeting many lifelong friends. Above all, Bernadette was a kind, loving and thoughtful wife, mother, “nana,” daughter, sister, aunt, godmother, mentor and friend.
She loved to pray - carrying her rosary everywhere she went - and also loved laughing with her siblings each day on the phone making “chismis” and supporting the dreams of her children and grandchildren. She would listen to her grandchildren sing while encouraging them to try out for American Idol or become an actress as she had always wanted to be a singer growing up. She tirelessly worked to provide and support her loved ones. She loved and prayed for all of us daily including our wishes. She was ever grateful for all of her blessings, sending a daily morning message of love to her kids to enjoy the sun even on her last earthly day and to continue to love each other, and in feeding us all lumpia, pancit and chicken adobo. She was gentle, compassionate, brave, and a warm, joyful light to all that she met.
She is survived by her husband, Jose; daughters, Maria Joycelyn and Jeane Marie, son-in-law Pierce; siblings, Ating (deceased), Sanse Ateng, Sanse Aring, Ditse Simang, Annie, Baby and Leonardo; granddaughters, Selena, Alden, Winter and Anne; and many other loving family members and close friends. She was loved so deeply and will always be with us.
On this Sunday, May 26, she will be honored at mass by her immediate family. Afterwards, her family will host a Celebration of Life gathering in the sunshine from 3-6pm at the Cedarhurst Community House in Shady Side, MD 20764. It’s a spot where she enjoyed watching her grandchildren play.
Please email her daughters at both [email protected] (Maria) and [email protected] (Jeane), if you are able to join us, and wear white in the Filipino tradition. If not, online tributes to her in English or Tagalog are also welcome here: https://phjesuits.org/portal/masscards/msgboard.php?board=24821
In lieu of flowers or gifts, voluntary memorial donations may be made to the Girl Scouts Chesapeake Bay community here (“Tributes/Memorials”): Girl Scouts https://www.gscb.org/
Other condolence messages can be sent to Maria J. Garcia, MD at 3170 Berry Road NE Washington, DC 20018 or to Jeane Davis at 505 Kentucky Ave SE, Washington, DC 20003.
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