Carlos A. Armenta

Carlos A. Armenta 91, of San Antonio, Tx passed from this life to the next on August 5, 2024. He is now among the Communion of Saints seeking to achieve perfect salvation in its entirety, Heaven!

Carlos is survived by his wife of 70 years, Rose Marie Herrera Armenta. He is also survived by his daughters Belinda Bayerque (Frank), Barbara Leedy (Hal) and his grandchildren, Ryan Leedy (Jordan), Laura Stepp (Chris), and Monica Bayerque. Carlos also has 5 great-grandchildren, Zoey and Eric Stepp, Natalie, Emily and Benjamin Leedy; as well as a number of nieces and nephews.

Carlos was proud of his family. He would sit at family gatherings admiring his daughters, their husbands, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and then turn to our mother and say, “look at what we did!” He absolutely loved and enjoyed being around all of his family!

Once when he was at a meeting, he was talking to a fellow parishioner and the subject of marriage came up and he asked Carlos if he was married and for how long. He replied, “yes,” he was married and he said at that time, they were married 50 years! And the fellow parishioner asked, “To the same woman?” Carlos got a great laugh out of that conversation.

He worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad for over 35 years and enjoyed his work very much. He started out as an electrical apprentice and worked his way up to a company General Foreman. He would tell the story about how he, along with several other bilingual employees were selected to oversee a project with the Mexican Railroad to help them move their oil from their country to the U.S. via the railroad. He says he was offered this position as a liaison to Mexico which lasted several long months. Eventually, he began missing home. He told his boss that he wasn’t sure he wanted to continue the project because his daughters had moved away from home, leaving Rose, his wife, alone by herself and he didn’t like leaving her for this length of time. His boss said, “No problem, take her with you, we’ll pay for her to stay with you for the duration of the project;” and that’s what he did. He no longer had an excuse to not go, so he finished the project. This story exemplified his devotion to his marriage and how important he was to the company that he loved working for and how the Company appreciated his knowledge, skill and expertise.

Another story he liked to tell was how he was given the assignment of going to Chicago where new locomotives were built and how the Railroad sent him to Chicago to inspect, receive and pay for these million-dollar engines. He had to sign these checks to complete the deal and this was something that he never would have dreamed of doing early in his life or in his career.

He had an amazing way of bringing life back to seemingly dead plants, bushes and trees. All his family recognized his proverbial “green thumb” but those around him saw it more as a gift or talent that God had granted him. He absolutely loved being outside taking care of his garden and even mowing his lawn. While most people saw mowing and lawncare as a chore, he LIVED to be in his element taking care of all his flowers, plants and trees. He continued to enjoy these moments even through the last year of his life until his arthritic knees became too bad for him to cut the grass or water his beautiful garden.

When his daughters were young, they recognized that Dad could fix ANYTHING! He loved taking things apart…from cars to small home appliances. If it was broken, he would meticulously take it apart and diagnose what the problem was and make it work again. If he couldn’t fix it, it was time to replace it.

Carlos’ mother and father were very devout Catholics. Their faith was very important to them and they made sure he grew up with a similar devotion to God and to nourish the gift of faith. Up to the end of his life, he and Rose would pray the Rosary every day until they couldn’t. And they made sure they passed on their Catholic faith to all his family; daughters, grandchildren and great-grandchildren; that nothing is more important than faith in God and living an example of this blessing.

About a month before his passing, a Deacon visited with dad and blessed him with the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. During their conversation he told the Deacon that he felt so blessed by God for giving him a long life and how God’s Hand was evident in every aspect of his life. He often thanked God for blessing him with so many good things. It was apparent that as he reflected on his life, he could see how he was being led and cared for in every aspect of his and his family’s life. He also told the Deacon that after acknowledging what God had done for him, he was, “…ready to go.” He sometimes questioned why he was still here when he felt so “useless” because life toward the end was so different and difficult for him. Some of his family told him that God wasn’t finished with him yet and that he still had a lot to give to those of us closest to him. What he had to give was an example of acceptance and how to live our final days here on earth. We never heard him say he had any regrets, because he absolutely knew that God was leading him along the specific path of life that God had laid out for him. Oh, what a gift and blessing it is for us, his family to witness his acknowledgement of God and to be able to reflect on your life and be ready when God calls us to our Eternal Home. This attitude/acceptance is something that his family will never forget about him. He was ready when he was called. We should all pray that we can live up to this holy and blessed legacy.