Herlinda Canales

Rangel

Herlinda Canales Rangel, surrounded by her loving family, passed away at La Hacienda Nursing Home in Harlingen, Texas, under hospice care, at the age of 88 years and 9 months on August 7, 2019 due to complications of illness and old age.
She is survived by her four sons: Rene C. Rangel (Maria Lily) of Santa Rosa, Ruben C. Rangel (Beatriz) of Santa Fe, New Mexico, Roel C. Rangel (Patricia) of Keller, Texas and Raul C. Rangel (Evelyn) of Arlington, Texas; grandchildren: Rene Francisco Rangel (Vanessa) of Santa Rosa, Daniella Rangel of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Marco Rangel of McAllen Texas, Dante Rangel of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Margo Rangel of Keller, Texas, Hugo Rangel (Sarah) of Panama City Beach, Florida, Natalie Rangel of Mission, Texas, Cecilia Pena of Austin, and Nicholas de la Fuente of Redding, California; five step-grandchildren Jesus de la Fuente (Lynette) of Houston, Texas, Gilberto de la Fuente, Jr. (Anandi) of Redding, California, Shelly Vasquez of Little Elm, Texas, Sarah Mashburn of San Antonio, Texas, and Carey Tennison also of San Antonio, Madison of Boerne, Joshua de la Fuente and Jonathan de la Fuente ; great grandchildren: Renata Analicia of Santa Rosa, Jon Carter de la Fuente and Evander de la Fuente of Houston, Texas, and Roman Diego Rangel of Panama City Beach, Florida; Brother Israel Canales of Santa Rosa, Brother Rodolfo Canales * (Jovita*), Sister Rebecca Canales Gonzalez of Harlingen, Texas, two brothers-in-law: Heriberto Salinas Chapa (Odilia) of Visalia, California and Hector Salinas Chapa (Rebecca*) of Pharr, Texas; and many cousins, nephews and nieces.
Herlinda joins her recently deceased husband of 64 years, Francisco Salinas Rangel*, her one daughter Raquel C. Rangel* (deceased after childbirth in 1971), and her parents.
Our mother, Herlinda, was the daughter of Timoteo Solis Canales and Katarina Montalvo Canales; paternal granddaughter of Margarito Canales and San Juanita Solis, maternal grandfather Manuel Montalvo (Concepcion Salazar Guerrero); her paternal great grandparents were Lazaro Solis and San Juanita Cantu.
Childhood: Herlinda was born on October 6, 1930, in the Rancho de los Canales off of Louisiana Road next to the Willacy Canal just south of Santa Rosa, Texas. Many Canales relatives lived in the Rancho and helped raise her and her brothers, Rodolfo and Israel. Her mother, Katarina passed giving birth. Having lost her mother and baby sibling, Herlinda was eight years old when she began to help raise her brothers. Later her father remarried Elvira Quintanilla of San Benito, Texas. Elvira, as stepmother, raised the Canales children with later Herlinda's stepsister Rebecca Solis Canales.
Herlinda was born into the Canales and Solis families who have a long history in South Texas from the early Spanish colonial days and related to many Valley colonial families. Her great-great-great...Grandfather Jose Cayetano Canales was granted land by the King of Spain around 1765 to colonize Porcion 38, a land grant, along the Rio Grande in present Zapata County, Texas. This was long before the country of Texas, the state of Texas, and the United States existed. Having lost the land grant after the Texas War for Independence, the Canales family subsisted on ranching, farming, and later as migrant laborers during the Anglicization of Texas. The change from the Spanish and Mexican cultural and political system to the American system was challenging and discriminatory to Spanish and Mexican descendants living in the new American Texas. As many of us know, life under the new American system was hard on many families in the Rio Grande Valley, leading many to seek work in the new 20th century agricultural businesses of the Valley working in the fields, and vegetable and fruit packing sheds. As a child and into adulthood, Herlinda toiled in the fields of vegetables and cotton working the year-round seasons of harvest in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. As a child, she also traveled with her family to "el Norte" and far away states following the harvests. She has many stories of her hard work and adventures during those years. She traveled and worked in the fields with many of the early families of Santa Rosa and La Feria, Texas. The hard times created by having one parent, the Great Depression, and being poor and female prevented her from getting a formal education. She attended elementary school in Santa Rosa to third grade and then had to drop out to care for her brothers and contribute to the family budget through child labor. Though she had little formal education she was amazingly intelligent and wise. This was her survivable skill in difficult times. She reminded her family of the hard work, but happy times during her youth. She worked in the 1950's in Santa Rosa Pineapple Cannery, Weslaco Pioneer Grain Seed Company, shrimp processing plant in Harlingen, and in the 1940's at the Sanfilippo dry goods store in Santa Rosa.
She continued this hard work after she married Francisco Salinas Rangel in 1953. During the 1950's and 1960's, she worked in many vegetable packing sheds in Santa Rosa, La Feria, Harlingen, and Hereford, Texas working alongside many of her childhood friends. This manual labor, which required long hours standing, contributed to a strong work ethic which she passed along to her sons. The many travels across the United States (Ohio, Michigan, California, Arkansas, Texas, Wyoming, Colorado, and Wisconsin) created wonderful stories that she enjoyed sharing with friends, family, and anyone that would listen. One of her favorite past times was playing Mexican music loudly. She loved entering the radio contests put on by host Hugo de la Cruz on the popular 1530 AM station. One laughable contest was the one of the biggest tamale. She and Francisco made a giant tamale and grilled it outside. Francisco was supposed to watch it. He fell asleep and the tamale burned. She called in to the radio station and explained the occurrence to Hugo on the air. Everyone had a good laugh at the story.
Marriage: Herlinda married Francisco in Groesbeck, Texas on October 1953 at the age of 23. They settled as husband and wife in La Feria, residing with dad's uncle Jesus Rangel and aunt Panfila, and then rented from Martin Martinez. Later they moved to a country house at the corner of west Toribio Rodriguez and south Louisiana roads with Tomas Caruso as a neighbor in 1957. Her first two sons had been born by this time. One thing, her sons always remember is that she and Francisco, after following the crops for work up north, would always bring them back to Santa Rosa at the beginning of the new school year. Even though, mom and dad lacked a formal education, they always stressed the high importance of a formal education and doors of opportunity it would open. They didn't want their boys working in the fields the rest of their lives. They were always so proud of their four sons having completed college and all receiving degrees from Lamar University and advanced degrees from Texas A&M Kingsville, Yale University, and Texas A&M. She was so proud her sons had good education and jobs. She advertised it.
Santa Rosa resident: In 1958 Herlinda with husband Pancho, and two sons Rene and Ruben began to live in the old William Foster home (father of Edith Friend), which was at the present Dollar General Store location in Santa Rosa. In 1959, Francisco and Herlinda bought three city lots of brush land located at the corner of Retamosa St. and FM 506. Our parents then bought the Foster house and had it moved to the lots. Herlinda and Francisco resided in the same house and address for the next 60 years until Herlinda's death, preceded by Panchos' in 2018.
The births of Roel, Raul, and Raquel followed at this residence. Herlinda and her loving family made this their life long domicile, seeing the boys grow up, go to college, and prosper as adults. Early on Herlinda enrolled in 1967 and took night classes in the LBJ's Adult Education Program in Santa Rosa High School to advance her knowledge. In this house, mother and family survived the terrible Hurricane Beulah (1967) and recently endured Hurricane Dolly (2008). She was resident in La Hacienda Healthcare in Harlingen during the catastrophic June 2019 flooding, which ruined the house. In her home she loved to sew. She made clothing and bedding with her favorite sewing machines Using Simplicity patterns she made clothing for herself and the family. Early on, she made many made handmade colorful cozy quilts for the bitter Valley winters.
Family outings: Herlinda would go on family trips to visit Rangel, Canales and other relatives in La Feria, Lyford, Weslaco, Sarita, Indian Lake, San Juan, Palacios, Santa Rosa, and Edcouch. Many stories were told and fond memories of the old days remembered with the relatives. The family always did things together, even after the long hours of working in the fields. Mom would make sure her boys were clean and properly dressed for church and outings to the towns we worked near. Back home, many Easters were held at Delta Lake Park for the boys to swim as the picnic food was prepared. Other outings, as permitted between work and school, included movies in the old cinemas of La Feria and Harlingen; drive in movies; and trips to the Brownsville Porter Zoo and South Padre Island. At home there were feasts of home raised chicken, pork, and barbacoa when relatives visited. Those were fun times of family, love, and merriment.
Church involvement: Herlinda was a life member of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Santa Rosa, seeing her boys make their First Holy Communions and serve as Alter Servers. A very strong Catholic all her life, she was the family leader helping her husband and sons become strong Catholics. In later life, she and Francisco were very active with church activities, especially the annual fall and spring fiestas. There they initiated the Aguas Frescas booth of delicious natural flavors, which to this day is very popular. Mom liked to compose artful poems and read them in church. She was well recognized for her poetic talent.
Cooking: Mom was an excellent cook and was known for her delicious Mexican dishes. Carne guisada, pollo con arroz, pan de campo, caldo de rez, frijoles, and holiday meals are examples. Her homemade tortillas were delicious along with her "chilito." The chile salsa would sometimes be "hot" that one spoonful would result in a lot of coughing. She would have "chile del monte" planted around the house year-long ready for her salsa. She'd have her sons hand pick the hot peppers, a chore they hated because the chile hotness would stay on the fingers burning their eyes and mouths. Her tasty Christmas tamales were a tradition and cooked by the female family members. Tasty bunuelos would be waiting for us on New Year's Day. Mom enjoyed baking different tasty pies for her awaiting hungry boys. When we worked in the fields, she got up before dawn and prepared our breakfast and lunch tacos. Eating delicious cold tacos under a shade tree or truck out in the middle of nowhere by our work fields created wonderful memories and our realization of how wonderful our mother was.
As senior citizens, she and Pancho spent many years attending the Esperanza Senior Center in La Feria. They enjoyed participating in the Center's happy social events. The staff there were special in their kindness.
A Wake (public viewing) will be held at Trinity Funeral Home in Harlingen on Friday, 1pm to 9pm, with a rosary at 7pm; funeral mass will be held in St. Mary's Catholic Church at Santa Rosa on Saturday August 10, 2019 at 10am. Herlinda's interment will be at Santo Nombre Cemetery after mass.
Special thanks: Trinity Home Health (Maria Terrazas her provider), La Esperanza Adult Day Care Center in La Feria, La Hacienda Healthcare Nursing Home in Harlingen, and Kindred Hospice.
Pallbearers: Sons-Rene, Ruben, Roel, and Raul.
Grandsons-Rene Francisco, Marco, Hugo, and Dante.