Maria Alcantara's Obituary
Maria Alcantara June 16, 1917 ' May 9, 2013Maria Alcantara, 95, of Fairfield, California, died peacefully on May 9, 2013 surrounded by her family.She was born Maria Contreras, daughter of Francisco Contreras and Rosalia Castro, on June 16, 1917 in Smelter, Texas.She was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Januario Alcantara, in 1977. Maria will be put to rest beside her husband at Skylawn Cemetary in San Mateo, Ca. Maria is survived by her son Arturo Alcantara, daughter-in-law, Karen, and their children, Jacqueline and Jason, all of Hayward; and daughter, Rose, and her children, Jonathon and Caira, and Rose's husband Robert of Fairfield, Ca.She is also survived by her sister, Rita Baca (also named Maria), of El Sobrante, Ca. One of nine children of hard-working migrant farmworkers, Maria was raised in a convent of the Sisters of the Good Shepard and was their devoted benefactor for many years sending money and clothing to support their endeavors. Upon leaving the convent, she moved to El Paso, Texas before moving to Oakland, California, as a single woman with friends from the convent school. She worked for Borden's Ice Cream and Nabisco. With a sly smile she told family her job was putting the Bit-O-Honey candy bars into boxes of Shredded Wheat.After marrying Januario, she settled into the life of a devoted mother and housewife. When Januario suffered a paralyzing stoke in 1956, Maria kept the household intact and took in washing, babysat, cleaned houses and rented rooms to boarders to keep their house and family together. After Januario's passing in 1977 she continued to raise her two beautiful children as a single mother, living in San Mateo.Maria devoted many hours to creating delicate and intricate works of embroidery and crochet up until the last years of her life. A brief graveside service will be held Wednesday, May 15, at 1:30 p.m. at Skylawn Cemetery in San Mateo, followed by a reception.
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