Lourdes Ortiz

Lourdes Alvarez Oritz was born on April 19, 1936 in Ponce, Puerto Rico, the youngest of five children, to Angel Alvarez Alvarez and Josefina Velez Sanabria. Lourdes was a traditional mother and wife who along with Juan loved to cook and entertain for family and friends. She dedicated her life to the Lord, her husband and family, and her church. She was a generous and caring woman with resilient faith. In addition to her children, there were many who loved Lourdes and viewed her as a mother figure. In recent years, she dedicated herself to being a bible study teacher at church. She graduated from cosmetology school in 1961 at Vanity House of Beauty in Ponce, Puerto Rico. She was united in marriage to Juan Herminio Ortiz on March 29, 1953 in Ponce, Puerto Rico. In March 2013, they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at Iglesia Cristiana Monte Sinai. Lourdes and Juan enjoyed this celebration to its fullest. Lourdes supported her husband, Juan, who retired from the U.S. Army in 1972 as a Master Sergeant. He worked for Central Texas College in Germany as an electronics instructor, and worked as an electronic technician for 22 years at West Fort Hood, finishing his career with DynaCorp. After close to 40 years in Killeen, Lourdes and Juan moved to Hewitt in 2011. Lourdes is survived by her daughter, Noelia and her husband, Daniel Gonzalez, of Killeen; son, William and his wife, Trixi, of Copperas Cove; son, Dempsey and his wife, Nancy, of Phoenix, Ariz.; daughter, Nancy and her husband, Iván Sánchez, of Hewitt; ten grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, and her siblings, Ada Alvarez Santiago, of Ponce, Puerto Rico; Elena Alvarez Maldonado, of New York; Jose Angel Alvarez, of New Jersey; and Heriberto Alvarez, of Florida. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Juan; and her daughter, Wanda Santana.

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