Jessie P. Covarrubias, beloved wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, went home to our Holy Father peacefully on May 13, 2013. She was 93 years old. Born Jessica Agnes-Pardo Leon on August 28, 1919, in Glendale, Arizona, to Faustino and Rosaria (Pardo) Leon, she was the second of six children, all of whom preceded her in death.
Jessie moved to Santa Maria in 1935 when she was 16, then lived in Santa Barbara until she met and married her husband, Arthur Covarrubias Sr., a local musician, in 1939. He later owned Radiotone Music on Victoria Street. They were married for 52 years until his passing in 1991. Jessie loved to dance and enjoyed going to El Paseo, where her future husband (unknowingly at the time) played with his band. After her children were grown, she took a part-time job as a yard duty teacher at Adams School and was known as a loving and patient grandmother figure. Everyone young and old called her “Nana.”
Jessie is survived by seven children, William, Arthur Jr., Robert, Lynda, James, Frank and Barbara; 21 grandchildren; 33 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.
She was blessed to have lived a long and fruitful life and we were blessed to have had her in our lives for so long. A special thank you to the staff at the Lompoc Comprehensive Care Center for providing her loving care in her final days.
A viewing will be held from 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday, May 23, 2013, at Welch-Ryce-Haider Funeral Chapel, 15 E. Sola St. in Santa Barbara, with a Rosary to follow from 3 to 4 p.m. A Funeral Mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, May 24, 2013, at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church, 21 E. Sola St.