Cecilia Rodriguez celebrating her birthday the last time she saw her mom and sister in the same room.
All lived in their space in Tucson. Su close-knit circle of relatives is a member of the Pascua Yaqui tribe, a small tribe in northern Mexico with communities near Tucson and Guadalupe, south of Phoenix.
It was March 11, when other people were still gathering, hugging and celebrating together.
COVID-19 declared a global pandemic on the same day.
His mother and sister became some of the first victims of the COVID-19 pandemic in Arizona days later.
At 78, Virginia Vasquez enjoyed each of her 16 grandchildren and never forgot a birthday. Rodriguez said his mother makes sure to give his grandchildren a present and make his day special.
He’s the kind of user his mom Array Rodriguez said. The one who sought the most productive life for those he enjoyed.
“She did a lot of things out of love for her family,” Rodriguez said. “She was there to help. If you needed anything, she was there. You can ask her anything and she’d help you. “
Rodriguez said his 9-year-old son was pampered by his mother, who brought him his favorite Subway sandwich almost every day.
“She liked to spend time with him, probably because he was the youngest,” Rodriguez said. “Then they pampered him. He spent nine years with her. “
Rodríguez said her mother had babysitting jobs, but more commonly spent her time searching for her children and the space they grew up in.
The family circle spent a vacation visiting beaches in Mexico and organized day trips to barbecue in the Arizona desert. Rodríguez said her mother made the most productive tamales.
“I don’t know what he did,” Rodríguez said. “She didn’t like that none of us helped her. But his touch or whatever he put on was just amazing.
Rodríguez said that her mother is the life of the children and loves to celebrate holidays like Halloween or the 4th of July with her family.
His favorite holiday, however, Easter.
Vásquez enjoyed participating in the Easter ceremonies organized with other members of the Pascua Yaqui tribe. The ceremonies are a mix of Catholic and Native American traditions passed down for more than 400 years.
Roles come with Pharisees, soldiers, greetings and dancers in a rite that ends with a florid procession on Easter morning.
“She spent every year and every year attending in the kitchen and attending with food, making food,” Rodriguez said. “All to help with the ceremony. “
Rodríguez said the rite was a reenactment of when Jesus Christ captured and crucified through the Romans, with costumes and masks made by themselves.
The closest sister of Diana Pallanes Rodríguez.
His other siblings were between 8 and 10 years older than the two, while Pallanes was only two years older than Rodríguez.
“I am not forgetting my sisters and brothers who grew up with them,” Rodríguez said. “But I do it because we say we were older. We went to school in combination; actually, we went to the best school in combination.
Rodriguez said her sister can be quite stubborn, but that the two would reconcile after an argument. Although the two don’t hang out much at school due to other teams of friends and classes, Rodriguez said they spend a lot of time together. on outings from the family circle and closer as they become adults.
“We had a good time together,” Rodriguez said. “You know, just hanging out with the family circle and passing out with our friends. “
Rodriguez said Pallanes had children or other significant people, but that he really enjoyed Rodriguez’s son, who jokingly called him “brat aunt” because Pallanes made fun of him.
“It’s for love, ” said Rodriguez.
Pallanes spent a lot of time with his mother. The two attended church facilities and Easter ceremonies together. Rodriguez said Pallanes was eventually diagnosed with diabetes and had been on dialysis for the past several years due to headaches similar to the disease.
Rodríguez said he moved to Pallanes with her in the last months of her life because her physical condition deteriorated.
Rodriguez’s birthday the last time he saw his sister.
Pallanes developed symptoms of COVID-19 shortly after and was admitted to the hospital.
Rodríguez believes that Pallanes contracted COVID-19 at one of his dialysis appointments and inadvertently inflamed his mother while she was asymptomatic.
Pallanes spent nearly two weeks in the hospital before dying of headaches from the disease on March 24.
While dealing with the loss of his sister, Rodríguez continued to check to convince his mother to go to the hospital. His mother was diabetic and had not eaten for 4 days. He suffered from aches and pains and had recently fallen.
Rodriguez eventually called 911 to help his mother, but said paramedics had done little more than explain to Vasquez that eating and staying hydrated was vital.
Vasquez died at home on March 27.
The tribe announced on April 1 that two women living on the reservation were its first members to die from COVID-19, at which time it showed that fewer than 30 Arizonans had died from the disease.
Pallanes and Vasquez were among the first Arizonans and in all likelihood the first Easter Yaqui to die of the disease.
According to tribe officials, nearly 400 members of the Yacqui Passover tribe in Tucson rule tested positive for COVID-19 on August 11, of which 10 died.
Rodríguez is still in mourning and knows what to think about the death of his family.
Although she didn’t think much could have been done to prevent her sister from contracting COVID-19, Rodriguez said she was frustrated that the paramedics who examined her mother did not feel that hospitalization was necessary.
“I had no idea it would have been enough for them to take her away,” Rodriguez said. “I know my mom already had kidney problems. So I don’t know what the final results would have been anyway, but I think they welcomed it no matter what.
But those were the early days of the pandemic: Governor Doug Ducey hadn’t even issued a stay-at-home order yet.
Although her death weighs heavily on Rodriguez’s heart, she said she is comfortable in the confidence that she enjoyed eternal peace in heaven.
Contact journalist Perry Vandell at 602-444-2474 or perry. vandell@gannett. com. Follow him on Twitter @PerryVandell.
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