Yolanda C. Carrillo; 43-Year Oxnard Resident

Yolanda Cecila Carrillo, an Oxnard homemaker and mother of six, died Friday of kidney failure. It was her 55th birthday.

Carrillo was born Yolanda Campa on Dec. 11, 1943, in Los Angeles, where she lived with her family until her father died when she was 12. Her mother then moved the family to Oxnard.

Later, Campa met and eventually married Juan Carrillo. While he worked in the fields, she stayed home to raise their children.

To help put her youngsters through private school at Our Lady of Guadalupe, she worked as a cook in the kitchen.

“She was always in a good mood, always smiling, always doing what was best for us,” daughter Toni Cedillos said Sunday from her Oxnard home.

But after her husband died two years ago of cancer, Yolanda’s health began to decline. And after battling problems with her kidneys for more than a year, she was hospitalized three months ago.

“What I learned from her was never to give up. When you have something to say, say it,” Cedillos said. “Always look up, not to look down.”

A viewing will be held next Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Conrad & Carroll Mortuary, Oxnard. On Dec. 21, there will be a funeral Mass at 9 a.m. at St. Anthony’s Church, Oxnard. A graveside service at 11 a.m. will follow at Santa Clara Cemetery in Oxnard.

In addition to Cedillos, Carrillo is survived by daughters Rosa Carrillo and Virgie Carrillo, and sons Steve, Juan David and Chava Carrillo, all of Oxnard, and her mother, Cecilia Campa; brothers Martin Campa and Joe Campa, and sister Emma Chavez, all of Los Angeles.