Helen Garza became known as a community organizer through her volunteer work at a church, school and hospital, family and friends said. At Our Lady of Guadalupe School in Chicago, she planned special events and worked in the classrooms for 18 years. Mrs. Garza, 74, of the Southeast Side, died of complications from diabetes and kidney failure Sunday, Dec. 10, in ManorCare nursing home in South Holland. When she was 21 years old, she moved to Chicago and met her husband, Ramiro, who would be her partner for 52 years. She was in her early 40s when members of the Latin American Senior Citizens Club asked her to serve as their treasurer. She helped arrange trips for them to Spain, Africa, Venezuela, the Caribbean and Hawaii. “People knew my mother was an organizer. She enjoyed people,” said her daughter Yolanda. In February, administrators at Our Lady of Guadalupe School recognized Mrs. Garza with a Lifetime Achievement Award. She also worked for 14 years as a volunteer at Trinity Hospital. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by two sons, Ramiro Garza Jr. and Raul; three other daughters, Gloria Ortiz, Rebecca Lelo and Diane Aguilar; two brothers, Louis Rodriguez and Robert Rodriguez; three sisters, Bertha Stratton, Connie Finch and Mary Dilts; 15 grandchildren; and a great-grandchild. Visitation will be from 2 to 9 p.m. Wednesday and a memorial service will be held at 8:45 a.m. Thursday at Ruzich Funeral Home, 9725 S. Commercial Ave., Chicago. A mass will be said at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, 3200 E. 91st St., Chicago.
