Our sweet, loving "Mom Mary" passed November 27, 2024, after 100 years and two months of making this world a better place with her kindness.

Mary Zamora as born in Winslow, Arizona, one of 15 children born to Antonio and Asencion Zamora. She was a "Harvey Girl" at La Posada Hotel in Winslow, preparing and serving meals for the troop trains bringing soldiers cross-country during World War II. Two sisters joined her as Harvey Girls. Her brother Lorenzo became the bellhop and personal chauffeur to Mary Colter, architect of La Posada and many Grand Canyon and national park hotels.

The Zamora family spoke Spanish as did everyone else, except at school where English-only was enforced with a paddle. Their self-built home was across the street from the La Posada Hotel train stop.

The Zamora's often visited the original family spread in New Mexico. It dates to the 1500s when the Ulibarri family settled a 40,000-acre ranch along the Rio Grande River just south of Albuquerque. Later, after the Spanish soldiers came, two Ulibarri brothers married with two Zamora sisters, creating a long line of descendants known for their hospitality, kindly dispositions, blue eyes, blond hair and height.

Mary said her cousins would be partners in crime during those visits. They would go by moonlight into the prized watermelon patch by the tree in the front yard. They ate the insides through a little hole on the bottom, and replaced the watermelon with the hole face-down. When their grandmother realized the melons were hollow, she chased them with a broom, careful not to catch them.

Mary counted one cousin, Aurora Baca, as her best friend forever. Aurora settled in Santa Fe and became a nationally recognized pottery artist, with many pieces in museum collections.  In those days women were not allowed to travel without a man in the car, so the ladies outfitted the car with a male mannequin so they could drive safely between California and New Mexico.

In 2016, Mary and her children enjoyed a wonderful trip to the old family homestead, thanks to cousins Fil and Eustacia Ulibarri. Phil drove his huge Silverado all around the family lands with Mary giggling in the front seat. The original house is long-gone from the many floods, but the tree in the front yard still stands.

In Winslow, Mary first married Max Peralta who died young of an aneurysm. After WWII the Winslow branch of the family moved to Los Angeles, where Mary met her second husband, Jose Del Rayo Valles. Her sister Rena introduced them at a funeral. Jose was an accomplished chef at Tom Bergin's Irish Pub on Fairfax Avenue.[sp1]

The couple lived on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles for more than 40 years.  They bought several bungalows in their neighborhood, fixing and renting them. Mary taught herself to keep meticulous books, and she could drywall, paint, fix roofs and do plumbing and electric.

She also read thousands of books and magazines to supplement her elementary school education. Mary excelled at home crafts including dress-making, crochet, and knitting. Her talents as a doll-maker, repairer and seamstress led to her neighborhood title as the "Doll Doctor."  She always had a doll for any child in need.

As ever, Mary loved children, especially babies. That love led her and her husband Jose to have a son and daughter, born two months apart. John Joseph Valles was born in August, 1957, and Molly Marie was born in October, 1957.

Mary and Joe adopted Molly Marie at age 5 after many months of her living with them. The biological mother was an old family friend who could not care for Molly.  It was unusual in those days to have an open adoption, yet that's what it was.

On the rare occasions when Mary couldn't watch the children, John Joseph and Molly Marie have fond memories of sitting in the kitchen of Tom Bergin's Irish pub where they would be given the task of separating beans. Mr. [sp2] Bergin would give them a quarter.

Mary's adventures include the entire family riding bikes on the smooth 10 Freeway before it opened to traffic in 1964. The family went every summer to the mountains to camp and harvest pinions. They also loved to sell things at the flea market, using an old penny cash register from a drugstore. They mostly drove old VW Kombi vans and Beetles, which Jose kept in working order. They also catered several family weddings.

Her siblings had formal Spanish names and we list the every-day versions as well. The eldest Sadie Zamora, Rena, Lorenzo, Augie, Tony, and youngest sibling Molly. As the last of the sibs, Mom entertained us all with tales of the family.

Mary often said her happiest days were spent enjoying get-togethers with her extended family. She is survived by her little niece, Cecelia McCalman, 83, of Hemet and little nephew Victor Zamora, 81, of La Mirada. We count more than 13 grand nieces and nephews, 20-plus greats, 13-plus great-greats and 4-plus great-great-greats in Southern California and New Mexico.

Catholic service is scheduled for 10 a.m. December 20 at McCormick and Sons Mortuary in Aliso Viejo. Burial will follow at 1:30 p.m. at the VA Cemetery in Riverside. She will be interred with Jose, a WWII veteran.