Maria Jesus Diaz Aguilar

Maria Jesus Diaz Aguilar, a devoted wife, sister, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother passed away peacefully on July 1, 2024 at the age of 89.

Born in Oakland, California on November 15, 1934, Marie will be remembered for her warmth, kindness, strength, determination, work ethic, cooking, baking and her love for her cats. But most memorable to her children and their friends are her tamales! No holiday season was complete without a month of tamale making, a tradition she passed on to her children and now grandchildren. Her grandchildren will remember Grandma Marie for her oatmeal cookies, of which she always had a good supply when they came to visit. Marie spent her career with the State of California working her way up from an entry level position to supervisor. Along with her full-time career Marie also raised five kids and attended Sacramento City College. As a mom, Marie kept busy attending her children’s sporting events, taking cake decorating classes so her children would have homemade and beautifully decorated birthday cakes, doing endless late night loads of laundry and spending many hours on her sewing machine making clothes from patterns and mending a lot of holes and tears. Marie loved to make her home a place for her children and their friends to gather, cook at all hours of the night and have great belly laughs. During these times she would just shake her head and give her little smile with a twinkle in her eye. As a grandmother, Marie was always there to jump in and lend a helping hand and a loving heart. Marie liked to relax either reading her romance novels or watching war movies, quite the dichotomy.

Marie is preceded in death by her husband, Apolinar James Aguilar, her daughter Felicia Ann, her parents, brother and sister. She is survived by her children Lenore (Jeff), Dennis (Claudia), Sean (Christine), Michelle (Chris) and René (Richard); one granddaughter; nine grandsons; one great-granddaughter and many nieces and nephews.

Services will be held on Wednesday, July 31 at St. Mary’s Cemetery, Sacramento, CA with 9:10am visitation, 10:00am Mass, 11:00am gravesite committal, and reception to immediately follow.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations to Susan G. Komen, a cause we know would be close to Marie’s heart.