Piedad Pulido Amezaga took her last breaths peacefully and calmly while she lay sleeping at home in her bed early Sunday morning, Aug. 18, 2024.
She was born on Jan. 2, 1934 at the base of the Sierra Madre Mountains in the tiny dusty town of El Agostadero, in the state of Durango, Mexico. She was the third oldest in a family of seven siblings —two sisters and four brothers.
Piedad met her husband Rafael in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, in 1958, and they were married within months.
They decided they would make their lives in the United States, and sheer luck brought Piedad and Rafael to Santa Barbara.
They began their humble beginnings together as an “au pair” for Charles and Barbara Storke after answering a newspaper ad seeking such a couple. After a year with the Storke family, Piedad and Rafael went to work for Howard and Jeanne Vesey.
Piedad’s two children Aida and Rafael Jr. were her pride and joy; only to be surpassed later by her grandchildren Araceli, Maria, Magdalena and Rafa.
After saving their pennies and being as thrifty as possible Piedad and her family moved to the home on Santa Barbara Street where she would spend the next 52 years.
Once both kids were in school Piedad began working as head chef at the Little Town Club on Carrillo Street.
A typical weekly lunch menu there included such delicacies as chicken Veronique, lamb curry, qQuiche Lorraine, pork tenderloin piccata, and scalloped halibut. Piedad was by all accounts an extraordinary chef.
If you were lucky enough to be invited to one of her famous dinner parties, you realized the best food in Santa Barbara was there, at her home, and you would only hope to be invited back again.
Piedad loved to travel and in the 1990s they travelled to Russia, Spain and Peru, to name a few, along with their yearly pilgrimage to Mexico.
Piedad also loved her garden. Every plant, flower and tree was planted, raised and tended to by Piedad. She ripped out the front lawn and planted her own rose garden, which she started from rose cuttings. Her garden was her heaven on earth.
When her husband died in 2012 few people believed Piedad would last six months. She lasted 12 years reaching well into her 90th year. She got to see her grandchildren grow and begin college.
Piedad will be missed by many, her grandchildren Araceli, Maria, Magdalena and Rafa; her son Rafael and daughter Aida. She was loved by many and she leaves an exemplary legacy for her family.
A tremendous thank you to the caregivers that helped Piedad these past few years: Lupe, Rosa, Sandra, Mati, Guillermina, Rosa Maria, Ana, Mercedes, Lidia, Val and Pauline.
The Rosary service will take place at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 26, and the Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27, both at Our Lady of Sorrows Church. Interment will follow the Mass at Santa Barbara Cemetery.
Arrangements entrusted to Pueblo del Rey Funeral Services.