Aurora Alonzo

Aurora C. Alonzo, also known as “Cookie,” was born  December 10, 1925 to parents Estevan Contreras of Mexico and Aurora Gonzales of Laredo, TX. As the eldest of seven sisters, she played a major role in the care taking of her siblings with the help of her beloved grandmother Gertrudis Gonzales while her mother strove to make a living as an artist and performer.
Aurora and husband José P. Rodriguez raised their eight children with strong faith-based beliefs. Aurora was a stay-at-home mom for many years until divorce returned her to the workforce. Aurora was the Lone Star Pavilion Pretzel Queen at the 1968 World’s Fair, a salad girl at the Little Red Barn, and finally a cashier at Sommers Drug Store – a job she truly loved until until she retired at the age of 62.

In December of 1975 Aurora married Edward G. Alonzo, a local country western musician and the reason for her first cowboy hat.

In March of 1980, Aurora became a born-again Christian, and immediately became involved at Livingway Christian Church, led by Steve and Becky Fender. She was particularly called to the ministry of helps, including street ministry, home ministry, and prayer ministry. Many people whom she prayed for received their healing. She loved to sing with all of her heart and joined the Living Praise Choir as a soprano for almost a decade, and was the feisty overprotective mother of disciples James and John in one of their first Easter musicals. Aurora had a strong giving spirit and gave of her heart, time, and money as a way to worship and serve her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Adventurous of heart, she loved to travel and was a regular visitor to the Gulf of Mexico to swim and fish. She was a fan of the Spurs, crime/detective movies, and boxing. She had an eye for beauty and loved music, dancing, laughter, animals, plants, reading, writing, cooking, gardening, and in her 50’s she even discovered her love for painting – teaching herself to create large-format oil paintings. Her home was her castle and she cared for it with pride and diligence, meticulously arranging her abode with a sharp eye for detail. 4’9″ inches of high energy, she gained the name Speedy Gonzales by those who experienced her Pentecostal church-running and her lead foot when driving. When she wasn’t moving at lightning-speed she would escape from it all by hiding away in her freezing room with the A/C unit on full-blast, and woe be it unto anyone who disturbed her peace.

Her name was a perfect description for her fiery and dramatic personality. She was full of explosive light with a heart of gold. Even as her health declined and she weakened in strength, she never lost her feisty spirit, her sense of humor, or her ability to instruct her caregivers with the exact position to pin the bedroom curtains. She gave her healthcare providers a lot of sass, and some of her favorite phrases towards the last years of her life included, ‘¡Apúrate! ‘¡Ya Vete! ¡Ya Vamanos!

Aurora was able to have her wish to live her final years in her own home and was lovingly cared for by her daughter and best friend, Maria Christina. Aurora loved all of her family and worried and prayed for them always.