Theresa Aguilar Funeral & Memorial Fund
Donation protected
Theresa R. Aguilar Funeral & Memorial Fund
August 3, 1965 - February 17th, 2022
Hi, my name is Christina, aka Embry Blue. I am Theresa’s oldest daughter of her five children; Mark, myself, Edward III, Renee & Alec. She was known as Theresa, but we called her Mother Theresa. She was only 56 years of age; she has passed away due to multiple organ failures. Her wish was for all of her children to see her and to be buried with her father. We honored her first wish. By a series of miraculous events, all five of her children, her mother Petra Leon, her life partner Paul Raines were able to be with her on her last days. She was unconscious, but we were all there every day of her last week in the hospital. The day she moved out of this world, we covered her in white, and red roses played her favorite music loudly, and spent hours with her as she left us on Thursday, February 17th at 4:01 pm.
We are still in the grieving process, and it’s been challenging to believe this new reality without her in it. We are doing our best to move forward in honoring her memory and providing her with an honorable memorial service and burial at Memorial Gardens with her father. He just passed away this last year. The costs for the services and burial are beyond what we can afford. We ask that anyone who loved her please consider donating to this fund to honor her memory and her wishes to be buried with her father. And please come out to Hot Springs, AR.
Services will be held on Saturday, May 28th, 2022.
Details will be provided when available.
An explanation of the costs involved are below:
• Memorial Event Space = $595
• Flowers = $300
• Memorial Gardens Made Grave Marker = $1,992
(Looking for alternatives, they also have rules on what can be placed there. Can be paid for later )
• Gofund me 2.9% transaction fee for using platform = $131
• Burial Urn Vault = $180 (Paid by You. 3/14 - Thank you!)
• Weekend Graveside Service Fee = $150 (Paid by You. 3/14 - Thank you!)
• Graveside Service & Burial = $445 (Paid by You. 3/10 - Thank you!)
• Cemetery Plot next to Father = $1200 (Paid by family members privately. 3/10 - Thank you!)
• Perpetual Care, Admin Fee & Cemetery Deed = $265 (Paid by You. 3/10 - Thank you!)
Christina’s obituary written for mom on 3/5/22:
Mom was incredibly complex, lovable, difficult, beautiful and generous. She was the youngest of 5 siblings to Nash & Petra Leon. Her siblings are Nash Leon Jr., Laura Fuentes, Ray Leon and Johnny Leon. The way I would describe my mom to people was; she’s like my sister, she’s wild, she has the purest most beautiful soul I’ve ever known but she’s very troubled by the world. Her favorite actor was John Travolta, we even jokingly suggested we’d help her change her last name to Travolta. Theresa Travolta, I would have done it. Every Christmas, she insisted that we all watch “It’s a Wonderful Life”, because we never know what we have until we are gone. :( She loved the Christopher Reeve film “Somewhere in Time”, and seemed to have a deep connection with it. For all of us; she played the original “Twilight Zone” series and made homemade pizza.
Momma T loved music, if the song had emotions she could feel and connect to, she loved it. Whether they were about freedom or pain. You could catch her making friends easily and dancing to music whenever she had the chance to be herself and hangout. She lived for freedom, anything that could allow her spirit to flow. We created a playlist on Spotify and played this list on the day she left us. Please feel free to listen on Spotify here: Mother Theresa Feb 17
She was always looking for something real or something good. She couldn’t understand what made people awful, and these awful people made her life difficult and miserable. I will not forgive them. She was extremely empathetic and felt the pain of others immediately. No matter how much pain she was in or how hard her life was, she gave herself and anything she had to others without hesitation. Even the shirt off her back.
It took me some time to come around to her after going through my adolescence without her and I began to rebuild our relationship. I began to understand what happened to her and I began to forgive her. I was able to come to peace with how things were and wanted to do my best to get to a place in my life where I could provide for her. But as life has it, there are no plans and you only have now to spend time with the ones you love. She truly was a beautiful person, and I know I will be around in the next life with her. In this life, my time with her was so abrupt right from the beginning. I tried to stay with her and visit when I could. Every time I called her, she said, “I’m putting away some coffee for you and getting the room ready.”
These are the only photos of me and brother Mark from my childhood with her alone. (Thank you, Olympia for sending them.)
She loved animals, her favorite being “Lucy” her pug. There were always at least 2-4 dogs at her house because she said yes to helping anyone’s pets needing shelter or for that matter any human needing shelter. Even strangers. I was always sad that she could never see or be involved in any of the art I was making. But there was this one time she took the greyhound to New York City by herself from Arkansas. When we picked her up from the greyhound, within 10 minutes she was in front of the Today show yelling at the camera “First Timer!” She giggled knowing that her dad would probably see her and maybe she would be in trouble for being in New York. She saw my art at MF Gallery in Brooklyn and met my friends! Then on her way out of town, she fell down on an escalator and we rode in the ambulance to the hospital and she stayed a little longer. Yes, that was Mother Theresa. Unpredictable, fragile, lovable and a whirlwind.
The best gift she ever gave me was the freedom of never having any expectations of what I was doing with my life and she was very proud of me for being so independent and doing what I wanted. Her gift to me was unconditional support of my expressions and never judging me.
Her accomplishments were her children; Mark Jr. Myself, Edward III, Renee & Alec. She adored her grandchildren from Renee; Stella Mae, Sterling Grey, Lux Alfredo and Ezekial Eli. And she was so very excited to get the news of Alec’s first child coming this year.
She had many accidents that were very serious in the last 5 years, and it was miraculous that she survived them all. She was strong to survive the years of abuse and mistreatment she withstood from the fathers of her children, to then continue to be a loving person. She lived a life of constant relocation and always figured out a way to provide for her children. She looked out for her parents, and her parents looked out for her, they were incredibly close; Nash & Petra Leon. One of her favorite quotes was, “Better to Laugh, than Cry!” Or whenever anyone said good luck, she said “I hope so, we need it!”
In the last month of her life, she was recovering from multiple rib fractures she had sustained from a fall. She was bedridden and I was trying to think of a way for her to keep her head up and stay occupied. She began talking about really enjoying painting when she was a kid. I sent her the movie “Frida”, and told her that she was the next Frida. She dove right into it and became a painting machine. She said it took her mind off of the misery and the bad things. She continued to paint up until she was taken to the hospital for the very last time. These paintings we will cherish forever, you just never know when you will have your last words with your loved one. :(
The last thing I can remember after visiting her home, was looking at the chair she sat in that was empty with her pile of tiny canvases and her paint set on a TV tray. ..
(Looking for alternatives, they also have rules on what can be placed there. Can be paid for later )
• Gofund me 2.9% transaction fee for using platform = $131
• Burial Urn Vault = $180 (Paid by You. 3/14 - Thank you!)
• Weekend Graveside Service Fee = $150 (Paid by You. 3/14 - Thank you!)
• Graveside Service & Burial = $445 (Paid by You. 3/10 - Thank you!)
• Cemetery Plot next to Father = $1200 (Paid by family members privately. 3/10 - Thank you!)
• Perpetual Care, Admin Fee & Cemetery Deed = $265 (Paid by You. 3/10 - Thank you!)
Christina’s obituary written for mom on 3/5/22:
Mom was incredibly complex, lovable, difficult, beautiful and generous. She was the youngest of 5 siblings to Nash & Petra Leon. Her siblings are Nash Leon Jr., Laura Fuentes, Ray Leon and Johnny Leon. The way I would describe my mom to people was; she’s like my sister, she’s wild, she has the purest most beautiful soul I’ve ever known but she’s very troubled by the world. Her favorite actor was John Travolta, we even jokingly suggested we’d help her change her last name to Travolta. Theresa Travolta, I would have done it. Every Christmas, she insisted that we all watch “It’s a Wonderful Life”, because we never know what we have until we are gone. :( She loved the Christopher Reeve film “Somewhere in Time”, and seemed to have a deep connection with it. For all of us; she played the original “Twilight Zone” series and made homemade pizza.
Momma T loved music, if the song had emotions she could feel and connect to, she loved it. Whether they were about freedom or pain. You could catch her making friends easily and dancing to music whenever she had the chance to be herself and hangout. She lived for freedom, anything that could allow her spirit to flow. We created a playlist on Spotify and played this list on the day she left us. Please feel free to listen on Spotify here: Mother Theresa Feb 17
She was always looking for something real or something good. She couldn’t understand what made people awful, and these awful people made her life difficult and miserable. I will not forgive them. She was extremely empathetic and felt the pain of others immediately. No matter how much pain she was in or how hard her life was, she gave herself and anything she had to others without hesitation. Even the shirt off her back.
It took me some time to come around to her after going through my adolescence without her and I began to rebuild our relationship. I began to understand what happened to her and I began to forgive her. I was able to come to peace with how things were and wanted to do my best to get to a place in my life where I could provide for her. But as life has it, there are no plans and you only have now to spend time with the ones you love. She truly was a beautiful person, and I know I will be around in the next life with her. In this life, my time with her was so abrupt right from the beginning. I tried to stay with her and visit when I could. Every time I called her, she said, “I’m putting away some coffee for you and getting the room ready.”
These are the only photos of me and brother Mark from my childhood with her alone. (Thank you, Olympia for sending them.)
She loved animals, her favorite being “Lucy” her pug. There were always at least 2-4 dogs at her house because she said yes to helping anyone’s pets needing shelter or for that matter any human needing shelter. Even strangers. I was always sad that she could never see or be involved in any of the art I was making. But there was this one time she took the greyhound to New York City by herself from Arkansas. When we picked her up from the greyhound, within 10 minutes she was in front of the Today show yelling at the camera “First Timer!” She giggled knowing that her dad would probably see her and maybe she would be in trouble for being in New York. She saw my art at MF Gallery in Brooklyn and met my friends! Then on her way out of town, she fell down on an escalator and we rode in the ambulance to the hospital and she stayed a little longer. Yes, that was Mother Theresa. Unpredictable, fragile, lovable and a whirlwind.
The best gift she ever gave me was the freedom of never having any expectations of what I was doing with my life and she was very proud of me for being so independent and doing what I wanted. Her gift to me was unconditional support of my expressions and never judging me.
Her accomplishments were her children; Mark Jr. Myself, Edward III, Renee & Alec. She adored her grandchildren from Renee; Stella Mae, Sterling Grey, Lux Alfredo and Ezekial Eli. And she was so very excited to get the news of Alec’s first child coming this year.
She had many accidents that were very serious in the last 5 years, and it was miraculous that she survived them all. She was strong to survive the years of abuse and mistreatment she withstood from the fathers of her children, to then continue to be a loving person. She lived a life of constant relocation and always figured out a way to provide for her children. She looked out for her parents, and her parents looked out for her, they were incredibly close; Nash & Petra Leon. One of her favorite quotes was, “Better to Laugh, than Cry!” Or whenever anyone said good luck, she said “I hope so, we need it!”
In the last month of her life, she was recovering from multiple rib fractures she had sustained from a fall. She was bedridden and I was trying to think of a way for her to keep her head up and stay occupied. She began talking about really enjoying painting when she was a kid. I sent her the movie “Frida”, and told her that she was the next Frida. She dove right into it and became a painting machine. She said it took her mind off of the misery and the bad things. She continued to paint up until she was taken to the hospital for the very last time. These paintings we will cherish forever, you just never know when you will have your last words with your loved one. :(
The last thing I can remember after visiting her home, was looking at the chair she sat in that was empty with her pile of tiny canvases and her paint set on a TV tray. ..
Organizer
Embry Blue
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA