Marcia “Guita” Jimenez, 95, died on Jan. 23, 2025 in Dallas, Texas. Born Marcia Barradas on Oct. 18, 1929 in Chicuasen-Actopan, Veracruz, Mexico, to Jose Maria Barradas and Gregoria Barradas, she grew up alongside her younger sisters, Sofia and Teresa in Veracruz, eventually moving to the city of Orizaba. Along the way, she met her stepsiblings, Piedad, Martha, Guillermo and Felipe and was a great older sister to all of them.
Trained as a medical assistant, her love for fashion inspired her to start a very successful business as a dress designer and seamstress in Orizaba, pioneering the practice of making custom garments for the women of her town. She met and married Jose “Pepe” Jimenez in 1952 in Orizaba and followed him to the United States, where they established a new life for themselves and their children in Chicago and Oak Park. Initially, she continued her work in the design district in Chicago, but eventually she and Pepe started their own businesses, including a grocery store and the Azteca de Oro Laundromat, epitomizing their American Dream.
She loved dancing and to her “El baile para mi era todo!” (Dancing for me was everything!) Fun included watching novelas, cooking, and sewing outfits for members of her family. Her unique recipes, including chiles rellenos, carne asada, mole, and pipian, are unsurpassed. She had the unique gift of being able to look at a dress or suit in a fashion magazine and subsequently create her own couture design for her clientele. She was a life force to her family and friends. Definitely the Queen Bee, not surprisingly she survived all her younger siblings who preceded her in death, along with her parents and her husband.
Marcia is survived by her daughter, Mayra Jimenez Thompson MD; her sons, Jose W. Jimenez Esq., and J. Cesar Jimenez MBA, as well as her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to the St Paul Medical Clinic of Lancaster, Texas, and the Catholic Pro-Life Community in Dallas, Texas.
Visitation was held on Feb. 8 at Russo’s Hillside Chapels in Hillside, followed by a chapel funeral service, with interment at Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery.