Obituary of Eugenia Califa

EUGENIA CALIFA (July 6, 1921- September 14, 2012) Alma Eugenia Stephens Califa was born July 6, 1921, near Myakka City, Florida, to loving parents Fred and Ethel Stephens. She met Paul Alam Califa while he was stationed in Florida with the U.S. Army during the mid-1940s. They married and moved to Texas where they had five daughters. Paul and Eugenia owned Paul Califa Dry Goods stores in Santa Rosa, La Mesa, and McAllen. As a farm girl raised during the Great Depression, she was instilled with strong values including unqualified love for her family, self reliance, hard work, and appreciation of life's simple joys. Besides running the family business, she was a wonderful homemaker, sewing beautiful clothes for her daughters, preparing awesome family meals, and keeping a lovely garden and yard (her daughters remember her many hours spent pushing a lawn mower in the Texas heat). She was a very strong wife and mother, with a spine of steel upon which her family could always rely. The example of her strength was a constant source of inspiration for her family. Her daughters hope to honor her life by treating others with compassion and love, and by carrying the burdens of life with the dignity and strength of her example. Eugenia is survived by her daughters Catherine Miller (and her husband Ralph), Ethel Dawson, Stephany Califa, Susan Califa (and husband Mark Staskauskas), and Patricia Califa; grandchildren Billy Paul, Thomas, and Molly; and great-grandchildren Paul, Sophia, Zachary, Violet, Phoenix, Orchid, and Aspen. In eternal life she joins her husband Paul, parents Fred and Ethel, brother Kline, sister Lydia, and grandsons Luke and Aaron. Visitation will be from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a 7 p.m. rosary, today, September 16, 2012, at Legacy Chapels, 4610 S. Jackson Rd, (956) 618-5900, in Edinburg. A live webcast of the rosary can be viewed at www.legacychapelsrgv.com. A chapel service will be 10 a.m. Monday, September 17, 2012, at Legacy Chapels. Interment will follow at Valley Memorial Gardens in Mission. In lieu of flowers donations can be made in memory of Eugenia Califa to Houston Hospice 1905 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, Texas 77030, houstonhospice.org. Funeral services are under the direction of Legacy Chapels in Edinburg. Sign the guestbook at www.themonitor.com/obituaries