Natividad Mercedes Avalos was a beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, and friend during her incredible 84 years of life. She passed away peacefully in the early hours of Monday, June 12, 2023, at her home in Spring, Texas.

Mercedes was born on September 8, 1938 in her home-country of Guatemala. She had 3 siblings, Estela, Blanca Luz, and Rene. In 1973, she made the difficult decision to migrate from Guatemala to Los Angeles, California. While saddened to leave her children behind, she was determined to provide her children with a potentially more successful and prosperous future. Following over a decade of sacrifice and arduous work, she was able to bring her adult children to the United States in 1988. Migrating to the states provided her children, and eventually their spouses, with the opportunity to start a new life and eventually start families of their own.

Mercedes also found true joy through nurturing and servitude. She found comfort in fostering her environment and experienced true happiness while gardening decorative florals to brighten up spaces or tending to vegetable and pepper plants that would be used in family meals.  With that, Mercedes enjoyed preparing meals for family, friends, and loves ones, ranging from simple breakfast pancakes to the complexity that is traditional Guatemalan tamales for the holidays.

Mercedes was a passionate and devout Catholic woman. She is often remembered by memories of her daily praying of the Rosary. She taught her grandchildren about Catholicism from an early age and would often provide her blessing as her family members traversed on their own life adventures.

Her family and loved ones will miss her and love her always. Her family is eternally grateful for her sacrifices, for if not for her, none of them would be where they are today.

Her legacy will continue as she is survived by her children Irma Yolanda, Jose Rolando, Silvia, Lisbeth, and Heydie, her grandchildren Christian, Debbie, Melanie, Shirley, Ivanna, Dereck, Giovanna, Alyson, Bryan, and Jose Angel, her niece Alma, her great-grandchildren, as well as additional family in California and Guatemala.