Emerlinda Salas Gomez, age 64, of Corcoran, California passed away on Tuesday evening, June 22, 2021, in Visalia, California.
She was born May 31, 1957, in Hanford, California to Ruth Ortiz Salas and Antonio Salas.
Emerlinda is preceded in death by her mother Ruth Salas, father Antonio Salas, brothers Richard Salas and Genaro “Gary” Salas.
Emerlinda was a faithful wife, great mother and grandma. She enjoyed her family, gardening and her animals.
She attended school in Corcoran and attended classes at West Hills College. To some she was known as “Linda” but to most she will be remembered as “Mrs. Gomez”. Emerlinda worked with many students for the span of 20 years at almost every school site in Corcoran. She will be best remembered as a kind and gentle woman. Along with working on campus at the school sites, she had the opportunity to watch her boys grow up in high school and play sports.
As the matriarch of her family, Emerlinda showed her love to her family by keeping family get togethers and weekend dinners a ritual. She loved to cook and also loved to shop for the kids in the family. If you were a girl in the family, she inevitably would buy dresses for the holidays. For the boys in the family she kept the tradition of making sure that all the boys always had their package of socks and underwear. It just wasn’t a birthday or Christmas without the package of socks and underwear. It was without question, Grandma Linda loved her children and seen to it that each of them always had a little something when they came over to visit.
If Grandma Linda wasn’t shopping she was cooking. She loved to cook for her family in a big way. Birthdays, Holidays, weekends and really just about any reason she would cook for her family. She was best known for her famous Birria, Pozole, Menudo, pineapple upside down cake and her homemade “tostado chiles and salsas”. For those that were friends, she made them feel like family. Asking them to sit, stay and eat.
For those that knew her well, knew how much she loved to talk about her plants and animals. She shared her plant cuttings and loved to talk about her parrots, finches, chickens, llamas, and emus that she raised on the farm.
Emerlinda is survived by her four children and their spouses: two daughters, Rosalinda Gomez, Maria “Lulu” Gomez Honley and two sons Salvador “Sal” Gomez, Jr., and Vincente “Tito” Gomez. She is also survived by her 10 precious grandchildren, her brothers, Raymond Salas and Marcos Banuelos. She leaves many other family members and friends who will miss her dearly
Visitation was held Tuesday, June 29 at Bledsoe Family Peoples Funeral Chapel from 3-6 p.m. with Rosary being held at 5 p.m.
Mass services were held Wednesday, June 30 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church at 9 a.m. Burial followed at Corcoran Cemetery District.
