Cristina G. Sanchez

December 7, 2020

MISSION - Cristina "Tina" Sanchez?of Mission, Texas, passed away on November 26, 2020 aged 71 at Mission Regional Medical Center, after a long battle with renal failure. Born December 19, 1948 in Mission, Texas, she was a lifelong resident of the Rio Grande Valley. Helping others came naturally and from a young age Tina displayed her nurturing nature, taking on the role of second mother to her younger sisters, when her parents divorced, and her mother went to work. Her strong maternal instincts would serve her well later in life. She would go on to raise three sons, and over the span of two decades foster at least three sets of sibling groups. By the time she was done, she had fostered more than fifty foster children, a number that would have been higher but for her failing health. Tina loved to sing, garden, doing crossword puzzles, and playing bingo with her sisters on Sunday. She especially loved spending time with her great-grandchildren and loved everything about Mother Nature. In the final year of her life her dog, Cody, became a constant companion and source of happiness. She was preceded in death by her parents, Juan Garcia and Aurora Garza Garcia, daughter Angelita Cantu, husband Jesus?Sanchez?and son Jesus Garcia. She is survived by her three biological sons, Jose Cantu, Jr. (Marybel), Juan Cantu (Ruben), Joel Cantu, and Matilde De Leon (Jerry), Delia, Lisa, Rogelio, Carlos, Jose, and Mike Garcia, Danny, Ashley, Jorge, Buddy, Myra, Juan De Dios, Lizbeth, Juan Emmanuel, and more than forty foster children. She is also survived by 17 grandchildren, 7 great-grandchildren, and her 7 sisters, Criselda, Zulema, Aida, Noemi, Emma, Cita, and Leticia. Visitation will be held at Ric Brown Family Funeral Home in Mission on Thursday, December 3, 2020, from 1:00 pm to 9:00 pm with a 7:00 pm rosary. A funeral mass will be held on Friday, December 4, 2020, at 2:00 pm at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Mission. Burial will follow at Valley Memorial Gardens in Mission.