Maxine Jaquez Garcia; 60-Year County Resident

Maxine Jaquez Garcia, a resident of Ventura County for more than 60 years, died Sunday at St. John’s Regional Medical Center of complications from a brain tumor. She was 87.

Garcia was born June 9, 1909, in Durango, Mexico, of French and Italian ancestry.

After her mother died at the age of 28, she and a sister went to stay with an aunt and uncle, living a nomadic existence during a volatile period in Mexico’s history.

She lived for a time in New Mexico and also traveled to Arizona by wagon train. There, she learned to ride the wild horses common in the Southwestern wilderness.

“They were basically left to raise themselves,” said her daughter, Alicia Jaquez-Bryant of Ventura. “No schooling above the fifth grade. They didn’t speak any English.”

Garcia came to California about 1929 and settled in Oxnard, finding work in a packing plant.

She wed Raymond Garcia, and the couple were married for more than 50 years until his death in 1977.

The couple raised their two children in a two-bedroom house on Meta Street in Ventura as well as five nephews and nieces orphaned after the death of her sister.

“My mother basically just struggled to hold on and encouraged me to continue my schooling,” said Jaquez-Bryant, who went on to receive a doctorate and become the first educated woman in her family. “She was pretty amazing because she had so much will and spirit.”

In addition to Jaquez-Bryant, Garcia’s survivors include a brother, Ezequiel R. Jaquez Sr. of Camarillo, three grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. A son, Arthur Robert Garcia, preceded her in death.

Visitation is from 2 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Joseph P. Reardon Funeral Home, Ventura. Mass will be celebrated at 1 p.m. Friday at San Buenaventura Mission. Burial will follow at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park.