Last Updated on October 24, 2016 by CCAR Staff
Optimistic. Inspiring. A strong woman who overcame obstacles and made sure to teach younger generations to do the same.
That’s how relatives described Zoila Margarita Aguilera: an active 72-year-old great-grandmother who was on one of her regular jaunts to a local casino with a good friend and relative, Yolanda Mendoza, when their bus crashed Sunday near Palm Springs. Both women died.
The women were heading back to Los Angeles when their tour bus slammed into the back of a semi-truck on Interstate 10 before dawn Sunday. Thirteen people were killed and another 31 were injured. Authorities are investigating the cause of the accident.
“She was tough, amazing. Even in her bad days, it was always a good day for her,” said Aguilera’s grandson, Ricardo Mendoza, 20, who flew in with his family from Ohio after hearing of the accident.
A native of El Salvador who had lived in L.A. since 1972, Aguilera was a retired cook and caregiver “enjoying her retirement,” Mendoza said.
Family members on Monday remembered her as an outspoken woman who maintained a positive outlook no matter what.
“Any obstacle, she would say: ‘don’t worry about it,’” recalled grandson Chris Ramirez, 18, who lives with his family in the back part of a duplex that backed his grandmother’s home in Los Angeles. “She told it like it was. And she taught me that hard work pays off.”
Jacquelynn Ochoa, a niece who lives in Rancho Cucamonga, said: “She would empower everyone.”
“She always had the time to listen to you,” Ochoa said from her aunt’s home, where two large candles were lit in remembrance inside the living room.
“I’m so sad. I’m going to graduate in December and she won’t be here. She was like a second mom to me,” Ochoa said. “All my cousins would say the same: she was like our second mom.”
Aguilera is survived by a large family, including six children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Services are pending.
