Carmen Varela

Carmen V. Varela, age 74, passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by her children, grandchildren, and great grandchild on May 18, 2020. She was born on July 30, 1945 but for the majority of her life we celebrated her life on a different day. She was born in Durango, Mexico and migrated to El Paso, Texas at the age of 17 where she came to join her brothers and sisters whom she eagerly awaited to meet. She married Arturo Varela, on October 14, 1963, and was married to him for 50-years until his passing in 2014. She worked for many years at Farrah, Robert Shaw, and C.R. Anthony’s until her retirement in the early 90’s. She dearly loved her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren and demonstrated her love for them through her unmatched cooking of traditional Mexican foods such as mole, menudo, flour tortillas, chiles rellenos and anything her loved ones desired. She loved to garden and had the gift of keeping everything around her alive. She was faithfully sought out by hummingbirds whom she kept fed and healthy for generations. She lived a life of service to her family, friends, and community by always doing what she could to help others in need. Carmen is survived by her sisters Alicia Nuñez and Norma Quintana; her brother Juan Villa; her children Diana Lopez and husband Jesse Lopez; Michael Anthony Varela and wife Natalia Varela; Maria Inez Wiley and husband Chris Wiley; Dr. Carmen Varela and Laura Varela and husband Gilbert Cuellar; her grandchildren Jesse, Andrea, Jonah, Michael, Irene, Victor, Brandon, Ixchel, Maya and Julia; her great grandchildren Dahjinae, Izak and Giovanni. All of these she loved and touched deeply. Carmen was a woman of faith and loved God and her church community. She lived her life believing that, “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). She attended Iglesia Bautista Trinity, located at 201 Cargill Street, El Paso, TX 79905. Per her wishes, there will be no funeral services. There will be a committal ceremony at Ft. Bliss in the latter part of 2020 or the early part of 2021, where her ashes will be laid to rest with her husband Arturo Varela. The date of the committal service will be held when it is safe for friends and family to gather together in remembrance of her life. Carmen’s kind and loving presence will be deeply missed and fondly remembered. Graveside Service will be at 9:30 AM, Friday, July 09, 2021 at Fort Bliss National Cemetery.