Maria Socorro Medina Dominguez
Rest in Love & Peace
Feb. 7, 1941- Feb. 26, 2023
A Woman of Strength, Love & Faith
3/26/2023
From the Medina family,
It is with great sorrow and love that we share that our beautiful wife, mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, sister, aunt, friend, left us on Sunday (26 February) at home surrounded by loved ones. She was the strength of all of us, grace and beauty and a fighter. She had been ill, with complications for years of kidney and heart problems. Still, her will to live was strongly fueled by faith, family, and love.
Services will be on Saturday. March 18th at the Queen of Heaven Cemetery, Lafayette CA Details to come.
Services will be live streamed for those loved ones who cannot attend.
Condolences can be sent to her home, she shared with her husband of 58 years, Erasmo Medina at 5099 Murchio Drive, Concord, Ca. 94521
We thank you for lifting her up in prayer, thoughts and well wishes. She touched all of us and will always be with us. From the Medina Family,
It is with heavy hearts and love that we share that our beautiful wife, mother, grandmother, mother in law, sister, aunt, friend, left us Sunday (Feb. 26) at home surrounded by loved ones. She was the strength of us all, grace and beauty and a fighter. She had been ill, complications from years of kidney and heart issues. Still her will to live was strong fed by faith, family and love.
Services will be Sat. March 18 at Queen of Heaven Cemetery, Lafayette CA. Details to come. The services will be live streamed for those loved ones who are unable to attend.
Condolences can be sent to her home, she shared with her husband of 58 years, Erasmo at 5099 Murchio Drive, Concord, Ca. 94521
We thank you for lifting her up in prayer, thoughts and well wishes. She touched us all and will always be with us.
About Maria, Mary, Coyo
About Maria Socorro Dominguez Medina
Maria Socorro Dominguez Medina left us on Sunday Feb. 26, 2023 leaving a legacy of love of family and strength. She was 82.
Having endured nearly 35 years of kidney illness resulting in two transplants, our “Coyo” pushed through with grace and few complaints - traits that serve us all to emulate.
Born in Brawley, Ca. on Feb. 7, 1941 to Fidela Montero and Manuel Dominguez she was the third of 10 children, with the infant death of Susana I, she was the oldest female. Starting while in elementary school, she carried much responsibility in that era, caring for her siblings and helping lead the household. She relished being the oldest, using that title to the fullest, often with humor.
The Dominguez family settled in San Francisco, her father finding work in the San Francisco Naval Shipyard.
The family spent summers picking fruit in the Santa Clara Valley to have spare money to pay for school clothes and making life-long family friends. The hard work ingrained humility, perseverance and empathy for those from the fields. She attended Paul Revere School on Cortland, then Catholic high school St. Paul for one year, opting for the freedom of public high school Balboa.
While she never learned to ride a bike, she instead tried to learn to drive Holly Park with her brother Fenando next to her and Susanna laid down in the back seat, ultimately Coyo realized it was best to be chauffeured.
She went to beauty school and worked as a hairdresser, taking her skills to Opodepe, Mexico, her mother’s pueblo, modernizing the women there with perms and haircuts.
Later, she gave haircuts to her children, friends of her children, her husband, sisters, and anyone who would take a seat in her kitchen table chair.
She met her husband, Erasmo, at a party in 1960 - captured on film thanks to technology. A love blossomed, marriage and family followed.
They raised their family of five children in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights, first Bartlett, Bocana then Benton in St. Mary’s Park. They were members of St. John’s parish, involved in school PTAs and athletic activities of their children.
With the early retirement of Erasmo in 1986, they moved to Sierra Vista, Arizona to be closer to a home they made across the border in Arizpe, Sonora. Realizing the severity of her illness, they moved to Visalia in 1987 and back to San Francisco when she had her first kidney transplant in 2000.
They later settled in their family home in Concord. Family was the center of her life, staying home, holding down the house and giving her children everything they needed to thrive. Filling her house with love, food, conversation. Memories abound of her sharing her bed to watch Dynasty, PBS detective shows (Cristina), Monk, nightly Jeopardy, and more. She read the newspaper with her favorite mug filled with her morning coffee alongside her husband, together they kept up on news and other happenings.
Coyo was a natural chef, though home cook suited her, who made the best rice/arroz con pollo, empanadas, albondigas, caldo de papa, and flour tortillas - family recipes that are carried on through her grandchildren.
She enjoyed her garden, carefully tending her orchids, colorful roses, bushy hydrangeas and gladiolas, insisting on sharing cuttings.
She loved music - from Kenny Rogers, to Motown and Frankie Valle, and enjoyed waking her children up on lazy weekend mornings with salsa and accordian-driven ranchera music.
She loved shopping, scoring deals, showing her jewelry adorned in turquoise and silver. There was no age limit to her sense of class and fashion.
She will be remembered as a loving wife, mother, sister, aunt, godmother, sister in law, friend and neighbor receiving everyone with open arms and a home-cooked meal.
As Nana (grandmother) to 15 grandchildren, she adored each of them in her special way, all having been rocked in her arms to the same songs she made up.
She was President of the Dominguez Sisters Club.
She is survived by her husband Erasmo, children Monica (Anthony) Campos, Ruben (Rosy) Medina, Raul (Alicia) Medina; Cristina Dirksen (Douglas) and Gabriel (Gina) Medina; sisters Susana (Juan) Leon, Lupe (Alberto) Zamudio, Ramona (Mario) Aviles; brother Fernando (Sylvia); grandchildren Jaquelyn, Ruben Jr., Alex, Klaryssa, Gaby Medina, Sofia, Kalina, Nicolas Campos, Sienna Medina, Mariessa, Ruby, Viviana Dirksen, Katalina, Natasha, Jessica Medina
She was a dear sister in law, friend and "mom" to many of her childrens’ friends.
