Teresa Hernandez

November 29, 1944 - March 11, 2022

Teresa Vargas Hernández passed away in the early morning of March 11th. She was born in 1944 in Eagle Pass, Texas as the ninth out of thirteen children of Estanislado and Adela Vargas. Her family moved to the Yakima Valley as migrant workers in the 1950s. Teresa was a skilled worker who would often regale her family with memories of different methods for picking crops as varied as potatoes and baby’s breath flowers. In 1964, Teresa married Francisco Hernández Dueñes of Piedras Negras, Coahuila. Frank always told the story of the chase after Teresa and the way that she would endlessly make small jokes at his expense. He has called it his greatest achievement getting such a beautiful woman to marry him and he would spend the next 50 years and more proving that he deserved her. Teresa and Frank have a large family, including Maria Linda, Frank Jr., Emeterio and Debbie, Jacinto and Melissa, and Rebeca. The family lived in La Grande, Oregon before settling in Wapato where she worked as a cook in local schools. Teresa also has a large, loving group of grandchildren, including Alfredo Vargas Hernández and Kamri Contreras of Wapato; Faith Hernández and Michael Hernández of Alabama; Katie and Eric Boley of Georgia; Olivia Hernández and Charlie Hitchcock, Graciella Hernández, and Solomon Hernández and Kalib Eddings of Yakima; and Erica Pina of Grandview, and three great grandchildren. While Teresa was an amazing mother and grandmother, she also was a dear friend, caretaker and mother figure to her own siblings, Frank’s siblings, her nieces and nephews, and to the many friends of her own children and grandchildren. Teresa’s family has lived in the same house in Wapato for decades, known to neighbors, friends, and family members far and wide as a home where we could all gather for cookouts, Easter egg hunts, countless swinging piñatas at birthday parties, cookies and tamales every Christmas Eve, and to admire her yard full of exquisitely beautiful roses and tulips. To be invited to sit at Teresa’s kitchen table meant to be invited to a world of laughter, love, fantastically great meals, and lots of jokes and gossip. Teresa had the best sense of humor, often sending those gathered around her table into fits of giggles with the smallest expression or quietly delivered dry joke. Her children and grandchildren have always remembered hours and hours around the table with her, making meals together and often asking her to expertly fix misshapen tortillas on cherished weekend visits. Teresa was a sister, a mother, a tía, a godmother, and an abuelita who was always the first place to seek the warmest hug, a kind reassurance, a candy or sweet bread, and especially lots of jokes that would keep us laughing all day. If you have attended any sporting events across the Yakima Valley–or across the Pacific Northwest–over the last several decades, you have certainly seen Teresa cheering for her family at the sidelines. Whether it was teams at Wapato, Eisenhower, Davis, Clark College, Eastern Washington University, or countless softball tournaments at Kiwanis Field. If you are her family, then she was your biggest fan. Teresa was always so proud to be a military mom, with sons serving in the U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps. She was also proud to have seen her children and grandchildren graduate with many degrees, including from Heritage University, University of Washington, Eastern Washington University, Bob Jones University, Pensacola Christian College, University of West Georgia, and University of Alabama in Huntsville. Teresa is preceded in death by her parents, her daughter Rebeca, and her siblings Irma, Petra, Ignacio, Juanita, Catarina, Narcisa, Anastacia, Maria, and Esiquio. She is survived by her husband, children and grandchildren, and her siblings Marie, Berta, and Jose. To be Teresa’s family meant to be loved so fiercely. Teresa held the roots of our family and her unconditional love will continue to grow and endlessly bloom with all of us who are blessed enough to have been cared for by her.