Celia Mae Garcia

COOLIDGE - Celia Mae Garcia, 77, of Coolidge died on April 25, 2014, in Gilbert.

The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Coolidge Church of the Nazarene, with Pastor Jerry Leastman officiating. Burial will be in Heritage Valley Memorial Park.

Mrs. Garcia was born on Feb. 2, 1937, in McNeal at the home of her parents, Cecil and Edith Woolridge. She attended the two-room schoolhouse in McNeal for eight years, then rode the bus 20-plus miles to Douglas High School, where she graduated. She was a very soft-hearted little girl who even hesitated to step on a weed. She lived for the Lord after hearing an evangelist when she was about 8. She always loved animals and once took a ground squirrel to school in her pocket. She enjoyed training animals.

She went to the future Northern Arizona University after high school and met Raul Garcia in a Sunday school class. They were married in October of the following year. She loved people and always wanted to learn the names of those in church, carrying a small notebook to write them down in case she forgot. She loved children and helped in children’s church for years. She enjoyed Christian fellowship.

The couple had four sons and a daughter, Karlos, Leo, Jon, Marvin and Linda.

J. Warren Funeral Services, Cole & Maud Coolidge Chapel is in charge of arrangements.