Beatrice Garrido
July 23, 1931 - November 17, 2020
Obituary
Beatrice was born on July 23, 1931 in Hagatna, Guam. She was the oldest of nine children and one of four daughters. She had an adventurous childhood growing up during World War II, when the Japanese invaded the island of Guam. As a child, she grew up wise and was able to help her mother to support their family by purchasing the first refrigerator and television for her family and her first car! She has always shared her generous nature throughout her life to create a legacy of raising loving children by being a beloved wife, loving mother, and wonderful grandmother and great-grandmother. She will be greatly missed by her family, cousins and close friends. She joined her husband and parents peacefully on November 17, 2020, while surrounded by her closest family.
Beatrice is survived by her children and grandchildren: Yvonne & Michael Dunn (Joe & Angie Dunn and Michelle & Fernando Cordova); Demetri Garrido, Jr. (Andrew, Matthew Marissa & Summer Garrido); Joseph & Gina Garrido (Gabrielle, Danielle, Isabelle, Michael & Bingley Garrido) and Daniel & Tina Garrido (Mack & Sierra Garrido). She is also survived by her great-grandchildren: Roman & Cora Dunn and Fernando & Fresno Cordova; She leaves behind one brother and sister: Frank Rivera Flores (Guam) and Joann Flores Santos (Texas) and numerous family in the US and Guam.
Beatrice is preceded in death by her husband: Demetrio Aban Garrido; her parents: Jose Cabrera & Maria Rivera Flores; her daughter: Beatrice Nora Garrido; Her sisters: Rita Diaz & Maria Paulino, and brothers: Roberto, Vicente, Jose and Ignacio Flores.
Beatrice married Demetrio on Nov. 16, 1956, and they were married for almost 50 years, when she was widowed in 2006. She worked for the department of Taxation & Revenue for the Government of Guam for almost 20 years, while she raised their children on Guam until she retired and moved her family to California in 1973. In 1974, Beatrice and Demetrio opened Bea’s Café in Anacortes and successfully ran the business until they moved to Seattle to open Satellite Restaurant at Sea-Tac in 1980. She has lived with her family in the Seattle area for the last 40 yrs. Beatrice was a supportive wife to her hard working and industrious husband and they owned and operated several restaurants in the Washington State area. After retirement, Beatrice spent many hours caring for and sharing memories with her first grandchildren, spending the last 20 years of her life in recreation time with family and friends, traveling and most especially spending time with her nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Beatrice was a generous and maternal influence to her family and always opened her home to help close friends and family, especially Jojo Garrido from California.
Beatrice was very well respected and loved among family and friends. Her loving and maternal nature will be missed by many!
A Memorial Service and burial will be held at Bonney Watson in SeaTac on Wednesday, November 25, 2020 at noon, where she will be laid to rest together with her beloved husband and daughter at the outdoor mausoleum near the rose garden. She always loved planting rose gardens.
Mom, I love you! Thank you for being a loving, caring and devoted Mother! I will deeply and sincerely miss our talks and fun times together! You also taught me how to be a loving and caring father and I will be forever grateful for all that you have given me. You showed me how to have faith, embrace and believe in the Lord which has often given me the strength to endure when I had no more to give! Please don’t worry about us mom. I promise that I will take good care of your grandkids! You taught us well and how to make care of ourselves and each other! You have waited so many years too be, once again, reunited in heaven with Dad, our sister Nora, Nana, Tata and all of our relatives! I’m so happy for you mom, that must be such a fun reunion! Please have comfort in knowing that the pain and sorrow of having to part is nothing to the joy and elation of all of us and loved ones meeting once again! Until then, you will always be in our thoughts, hearts and prayers! Adios Nanan Mami! (Goodbye Our Beloved Mother!)
Hi everyone, my name is Marissa Garrido. I am the daughter of Demetri, Grandma’s first son. I know we are not gathered under the most joyous of circumstances, but I am sure that Grandma is looking down at us and is happy to see everyone together celebrating her and our family.
Whenever my Dad would take my brothers and I to Grandma’s house, we would get so excited to go. Of course, to see her, talk to her, and get those grandma hugs, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that our excitement wasn’t also fueled by the unlimited amount of Coca-Cola and candy that she’d have at the ready for her grandkids.
In elementary school, my school would have an event called “Hero Day”. Every student would write an essay about a hero in their life and then we would bring that person in to have lunch with us and stay for recess. Honestly, I haven’t thought of that memory in years, but now more than ever, I am so thankful to have the image of her and my dad, eating turkey sandwiches across from me on the playground, while I introduced her to my friends as the “best Grandma ever.” I don’t remember exactly what I wrote in that essay, but I hope it showed her just how much I loved and appreciated her.
My family and I were lucky enough to live with her for a few years when I was younger. This rocked! My dad has always been an awesome cook. But now he had to compete with Grandma who was unbeatable as she had, along with my Grandpa, taught him almost everything he knew about cooking.
I hate to say it but I didn’t truly reflect on those years until recently. Of course, the little moments stand out, like when the grandfather clock would chime and tell us all we’d stayed up too late and she would quietly come out to the living room and tell me to stop watching TV and go to bed. Or when we would sit together and do crosswords, with her using a ruler to draw in perfect lines instead of messily crossing out the words like I would. I also remember how she would surprise me, sometimes by telling my brothers and I fun and crazy stories from her life on Guam and other times by completely decimating us in games of Monopoly. She was either fantastic at that game, or more plausibly we were very bad at it…
What I learned most from that time, came just from watching her. She conducted herself with a sweet kindness I can only hope to gain with age. I remember seeing everyone here needing to talk to grandma because no one else in the family was as wise, accepting, or understanding as she was.
I’m young so this insight comes with lack of experience, but I think that what many fear in death is that they won’t be remembered. Thankfully, this is simply not possible in Grandma’s case.
When we use her recipes, we’ll taste her food. When we look through our closets and see the clothes she made or fixed for us, we’ll see her face. And when were at work or in class, we’ll know that our successes come from her and Grandpa’s sacrifices.
I ask that when you remember her in times like these you picture her how she would want to be pictured: surrounded by her loving kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids with a content smile on her face and hair that, just as she would’ve wanted, never fully turned gray.
We will always love you, Grandma. Thank you and God bless you for everything you’ve done to make us a stronger and more loving family.