Maryann Garcia passed away on 2 April 2014 after a brave battle with cancer.  Her husband, Fidel (Junior) Garcia was at her bedside when she took her last breath.

Maryann (Taeko Tsuda) was born in Fukuoka, Japan on February 24, 1925.  After graduating from Women's College in Nagasaki Japan, she found employment at Itazuki Air Base where Fidel was stationed.  She worked as a clerk typist for the U.S. government.  They met at a dance at the Service Club on Base and dating began with movies and church activities.  Soon after, Maryann decided to take instructions in the Catholic faith (Religious Education) at a local parish with Father John Barret, (an American Irish Priest from New Jersey) spoke fluent in Japanese.  They were married, by Father Barret on 10 October 1957.  They rotated back to the states on March 1958.  While Fidel's duty assignments at stateside Air Force bases, Maryann almost always volunteered at the on Base Chapel or as a Red Cross volunteer at the hospital.  At overseas assignments, she would continue to volunteer in the same fields.  After Fidel's assignment to VAFB, California, Maryann, again, joined the COWC (Catholic women of the Chapel) until Fidel's Retirement from the Air Force on 1 April 1980.  Prior to Fidel Retirement, they bought a house in Lompoc and joined La Purisima Catholic Church and Fidel transfer his Knights of Columbus membership to the local council #3570 where Maryann again volunteered to help her husband do the monthly Council Newsletter (she typed- he edited) and do the flower decorations at Knights various functions.  She also joined the Martha's Group and as a greeter.  She also was part of the Church cleaning crew.  Maryann as a convert to the Catholic religion had a strong conviction in her faith in God.  Seven years prior to her demise, she began making Christmas stockings for the school at La Purisima, and Santa Inez Mission school children.  Some of her stockings ended in the Watts area through the Sisters from Santa Inez Mission.  A Catholic lower-school in the country of Hungary in Europe also was a beneficiary of her Christmas stockings.  My wife, Maryann, was a gentle, loving, caring person, always giving without expecting something in return and always had a smile towards everyone she met.  The Hospice nurses, who attended Maryann, were amazed at her cheerful smile and expressing her gratitude in spite of her condition.

I would like to express my deepest and sincere gratitude to all the hospice nurses and the Dignity home care nurses for their wonderful care they gave to my wife during her suffering with cancer.  Also grateful thanks to Doctor Bailey and Doctor Piers for their initial care and concern given to Maryann.

Funeral Mass will be on Thursday April 10, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. at La Purisima Catholic Church.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Catholic Charities.