Maria Arredóndo de Araujo
Maria De Jesús Arredóndo de Araujo, 93, passed away peacefully surrounded by her children on April 7, 2025, in San Francisco, CA. Maria leaves behind: her Son, Victor Araujo, Jr., and, wife, Eleanor Araujo, Daughter, Patricia Araujo-Dozier, and, son-in-law, Christopher Dozier, Daughter, Leticia Araujo-Pérez, and, son-in-law, J. Guadalupe Pérez, and, Son, Martin Araujo, and, wife, Linda Araujo, along with her ten grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
Maria was born in Sinalóa, Sinalóa, México. Her parents were Ponsiáno Arredóndo and Maria De Jesús Rubío Chavira from Llano Grande de Léyva, Sinalóa, México. At the age of 4, Maria’s parents migrated to Guasave, Sínalóa, México, where she grew up in a farm land area milking and raising cows, riding horses, and cultivating food from the earth making traditional Mexican foods such as grinding kernels of corn forming masa dough into home made rustic tortillas. She was very fond of a white horse whom she loved dearly and would give it treats by feeding it carrots and cubes of sugar when they had their special outings together.
At the age of 10, Maria lost her father who got struck by lightning as he tried to hide under a tree in a fierce torrential storm. That was one of her first main turning points in her life. The family lost the farm and mom had to leave elementary school as she had to help in assisting in making ends meet for herself and her siblings. Once she became a teenager, she interned with one of her older sisters, who was a maternity nurse, learning how to give injections to patients and assisting physicians in doctor’s offices. She also had a niche of being able to heal people using her innate indigenous traditional practices of curanderismo being handed down to her by the generations instinctively using her thumbs to massage and quickly heal swollen ankles.
She met our father, Victor León Araujo, when she was 20. Dad legally immigrated and became a resident of the United States on February 14, 1957, and he returned to México to marry his wife, Maria, on July 12, 1959. A few months later, she legally immigrated to America from México riding into California on a Greyhound Bus overhearing others repeating the phrase, “Can I have my luggage, please?” Mom didn’t know a lick of English but she practiced and practiced the phonetic sounds of the words and repeated the phrase, “Can I have my luggage, please?” — a story she would happily share for many years. In 1964, mom and dad bought their humble home in the SF Bernal Heights neighborhood raising their family there. They were married for 62 years until dad passed away on March 7, 2023, where, thereafter, mom couldn’t recover from her broken heart.
As young children, we saw mom work hard as a caretaker of the elderly helping dad make ends meet to support their four children. Mom eventually decided to take ESL classes at the local church. Per encouragement of our dad, she interviewed and was hired to work as a hostess for the San Francisco prestigious law firm of Morrison and Foerster. She was a dedicated and loyal employee, who worked at the law firm, for many years. Mom made endearing friendships with super lawyers and staff members who were incredibly kind to our mom as she spoke fondly of her experiences working at MOFO for many years after she had retired.
Maria loved receiving flowers, gardening with dad outside in our front yard, singing romantic songs, playing with her grandchildren, journaling her feelings, watching her novelas, and telling comical Spanish jokes. Mom will be sorely missed. However, we are comforted in knowing that she is now resting in peace as she is now reunited with our dad.
Formal Wake Service will be held on Monday, April 21st, 2025 @ 2 p.m @ Driscoll’s Valencia Street Mortuary. (Visiting hours will be from 1 to 6 p.m.) On Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025, mass will be held @ 11 a.m. at the Most Holy Redeemer Church @ 100 Diamond in San Francisco with burial service to follow @ Skylawn Memorial Park @ 1 p.m. in San Mateo.