Stella Elizabeth Furtado

Feb 18, 1922-April 30, 2020

Stella Elizabeth Furtado passed away on April 30, 2020 at the age of 98. Her husband Joseph Furtado Sr., passed away in 2005. She is survived by her daughter Susan, and her son Joseph Jr., both of San Diego.

Stella was born and raised in Watsonville and lived there for 98 years. Joseph Sr. was also born and raised in Watsonville. She had just recently moved to San Diego so her children could care for her. Her only surviving relatives other than her children are nieces and nephews living in various cities throughout California.

She was one of 9 children born to Eulogio and Faustina Sanchez, who emigrated to California from Spain in the early 1900's. Her younger brother, Tony Sanchez, was head of the Spanish department at Watsonville High School for many years until his passing in 1975.

As a young girl, Stella enjoyed dancing, especially the jitterbug. She and her friends would go to the VFW hall in Watsonville, would frequently travel to San Juan Bautista and to Fort Ord to dance with the troops as they deployed for World War II. She often shared her concern that many of the GI's she was dancing with might never make it back home. It was at a dance in San Juan Bautista that she met our dad, who also loved dancing. They married in Washington state just before my dad went off to war.

Luckily, he came back. He was a farmer and Stella worked in the EA Hall cafeteria and later as the yard duty supervisor at the EA Hall playground for more than 20 years. Upon retirement, they traveled all over the world and especially loved taking their RV all over California for leisure and lots of fishing.

Published in The Pajaronian · May 13, 2020