Ermalinda Avila, 80 yrs old and a long-time resident of Lompoc, CA, passed away at home in the early hours of July 30, 2022. She was born in Ventura, CA to Delfina Garcia and Albert Avilla. Her father José De Lira raised her with her mother Delfina De Lira. She is predeceased by her parents, her son Ernest Vargas Jr, granddaughter Catalina Vargas, brother Benny Romero, and sister Frances Razo. She is survived by her faith risen children Eric Vargas, Marcus Vargas, Regina Vargas Gonzalez, Jeff Vargas, Evelyn Lee, and David Lee. Her surviving faith risen grandchildren are Elisa Centino, Thomas Vargas, Genesis Navarro, Christopher Vargas, Cym Vargas Savio, Yazmin Grizzanti, Elijah Lee, Vequi Lee, Joey Lee, Anastasia Lee, Coda Lee, Adam Gonzalez, and Seth Gonzalez. Surviving faith risen great grandchildren are Julian Sykes, Jayden Wilson, Ronin Brown, Dominic Vargas, and Tommy Vargas. Her surviving siblings are Margaret Molina, Gloria De Lira, and Joe De Lira. Also, she had the blessings of extended family and many nieces and nephews.

Early in life she lived with her grandmother Abundia Garcia in Santa Paula, CA, then lived in a railroad box car where her mother and father lived and worked. Soon after, they all moved to Lompoc, CA where they heard there was work at Bodger Seeds. Her father José immediately became Head Foreman. The family enjoyed living in the track houses of Bodger Seeds, the bigger farmhouses around Lompoc, and later living in the house that her father built. Today that house still stands with family living in it to this day. She attended a one room schoolhouse, Artesia School, and later Lompoc Union High School that is now Lompoc Valley Middle School. In school she was known for her artistic ability, sweet shy demeanor, and natural beauty. She would tell us stories about growing up climbing rooftops, trees, and reservoirs eating plums and chasing dogs. As a teenager in the summertime, she worked at Bodger Seeds in the green houses taking care of flowers and cross pollinating them for new varieties of flowers with her mother.

Before having children, she wanted to become a nun to be in service to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The only thing holding her back was her wanting to have children. Her love for family made the decision for her as she promised to raise her children with the fear and love of the Lord.

Being an adventurous spirit, she moved to Los Angeles a few times having sensational offers working in Hollywood. She never accepted these opportunities because of her deep faith and strong moral ethic. She did however become a hostess, server, and film editor for a while there. Later after starting a family, she even became a cotton picker and canner in Selma, Ca. Her other jobs while settled in Lompoc were many. She worked for Lompoc Unified School District as a teacher's aide teaching Spanish/English students in elementary, Payless Drugs in retail positions, Mc Donald's as a food prep/fry cook, Cirrus Environmental as lab prep/maintenance, Taco Bell, Subway, and Walmart as maintenance, garden associate, salesfloor associate, door greeter, and asset protection host. She also helped her kids collect cans and work their newspaper routes. If there was an art project you would always see her shine with amazing abilities. She also sewed for a while making cute dresses for her daughter Evelyn. Artistic design was evident in everything she did. Just because she worked hard all day didn't mean she was done. You would many times find her in the yard working her new landscape formation; planting trees, flowers, fruit vines, and preparing the soil for seeding grass.

Being a true artist, she had a great eye for picking out antiques and furniture from the thrift shops around town. She was always adding to her collections and gave them away to her family that shared her keen style and taste.

Her family was always a priority. There was never a job too small or low that she wouldn't do to take care of them. It was not uncommon to see her hop on a bike or walk because the car couldn't be fixed to get milk and groceries. She never complained and never gave up on herself or people. Always moving forward, God was written in her heart no matter what peril she would face.

Everyone who ever had known Ermalinda had known her as Erma, Linda and sometimes true to her name Ermalinda. The one thing that never changed was her love of God. She would always resonate a message of salvation in her daily life. "Praise Jesus!" was a catch phrase to all. Many times, you would see her messages of worship on random items. Opening the refrigerator, you could easily find "Praise Jesus!" written on ketchup bottles and other items. Her love of God was shown in her love of knowledge. She would collect books of faith and study the word constantly. She was fascinated with the Revelations, prophecy, and mysteries like the Nephilim.

Ermalinda always loved a good story, movie, or book. She didn't just love stories, but she loved telling them. Her stories always had great detail and blunt truth. Humor was consistently part of the conversation. Somehow, she always maintained an innocence to her. Always humble, she never saw how talented and smart she truly was. She was a mother, sister, friend, artist, mentor, cheerleader, and teacher of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. She was an amazing strong woman of God. We will miss her immensely with love and appreciation in our hearts forever.

Visitation and services will be held at Starbuck and Lind Mortuary on Saturday, August 13, 2022, starting at 8am and lasting until 12pm. Please join us as we celebrate her life coming together in her honor.