Bienvenido Garcia Ayala born March 14, 1946 in Guinayangan Philippines.  He is son to Faustiena Garcia Ayala and Potenciano Ayala and brother to Ofelia Ongjoco, Eyen Ayala, Jun Ayala and Carmelita Montecalvo.

Ben was a man of few words but high principle.  Summing up Bienvenido's life, you keep coming back to one thought; never will you meet a man who more faithfully lived his values.  Some of his values were of his own creation.  Birthdays and holidays were a must, but as a devout catholic, his faith carried him throughout his entire life.  Not only through his love for family but his love for God.  He may have marched to his own beat (or most often the Beatles), but his faith continued to be the true soundboard for his life.  This showed in his morals and principles as concrete as one can expect.  Some would say as disciplined as the Military.  Maybe that's why he joined the US Army in 1971.

As a helicopter mechanic, his military career immediately lead him to his beloved wife Margarita Ayala, and raising three children; Jo Ayala, Virgilio Ayala and Mariebien Wilcox.  Ben actively served from 1971 to 1977, eventually continuing his career as a civilian budget analyst for the US Army and Air Force from 1977 to 2012, retiring at Vanderburg Airforce Base in Lompoc, California.  His love for the Military and Ronald Reagan must have been his obsession with Fox News.  Ben welcomed everyone to is home, but TV was always set to Fox News.

He loved and politics and government.  In fact, his love was so deep that even on vacation he had to visit the Ronald Reagan Museum in Los Angeles.

As true as his love for religion and politics, nothing was more true than the love for his family.  Ben had a deep love for family that words cannot express, including his own.  His dedication to family was in actions and support.  He never let another family member down.  He fulfilled every obligation he ever undertook.  His word was his bond, and everyone knew it.

He taught by example and continue to educate himself endlessly.  He was self-made and self-reliant.  From his education to his career, from his skill with every kind of tool that he could fashion to improve his home, Ben engaged with the world as a man who would be its master.

He was loyal and faithful to everyone in his life and that could be seen in the way he treated one another.  He was never stingy.  He was a man who understood the value of a dollar and the importance of saving, the generosity he expressed with his money matched his generosity of spirit.

He loved a good joke, yet his humor was never mean spirited, nor designed to hurt or humiliate.  Even if his laugh sounded mischievous, he had a quiet dignity, respecting himself the way he respected others. As he faced his final days, his body ravaged with the cancer, he occasionally lost his good humor, but he never had one moment of self-pity.  He fought until the end.

Farewell, Tatay. You did good. You did real good.

Bienvenido died Saturday, November 17, 2018, at the age of 72.

The visitation will be Friday, November 23 from 4 to 7 pm in the chapel of the Starbuck-Lind Mortuary with the Rosary and eulogies starting at 6 pm.  The Mass of Christian Burial will be Saturday, November 24, at 8:30 am at La Purisima Catholic Church, 213 West Olive in Lompoc followed by burial in the Lompoc Evergreen Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to the Queen of Angels renovation project, 3495 Rucker Road, Lompoc, CA 93436.

Sincerely,

Mariebien Ayala Wilcox