Vita Jimenez

Vita Jimenez, age 84, of Willmar, died Tuesday evening, September 7, at the Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar.

Services will be held 10:30 A.M., Friday, September 11, at the Church of St. Mary with Fr. Brian Mandel officiating. The interment will be in the church cemetery. Visitation will be from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M. Thursday, September 10, at Peterson Brothers Funeral Home in Willmar and one hour prior to the services at the church on Friday. There will be a Parish Prayer service at 7:00 P.M. Thursday at the funeral home.

Vita Jimenez was born on June 15, 1925, in Indio, California, the daughter of Pablo and Petra (Olvera) Garcia. She grew up and attended school in Indio. Her family moved to Zacatecas, Mexico, when she was around 11 years old. For several years she worked in California and in Mexico as a migrant worker with her brother. She was married to Manuel Jimenez and they made their home in Juarez, Mexico. Vita moved to Litchield, Minnesota, in 1989 to be with her children. She later moved to Willmar in 1994 and has been a member of the Church of St. Mary since. Vita loved to cook and having her family around her. She took great pride in seeing the grandchildren grow and become young men and women.

She is survived by five sons: Juan (and Josefina) Jimenez of Litchfield, Manuel (and Eugenia) Jimenez of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Adrian (and Joanne) Jimenez of Willmar, Jose Luis Jimenez of Willmar and Rafael (and Magdalena) Jimenez of Litchfield and two daughters: Hortencia Sanchez of Baja California, Mexico and Rosario (and Daniel) Ibarra of Litchfield. Also surviving are 33 grandchildren; many great-grandchildren; four nephews and two nieces. Vita was preceded in death by her parents; her husband: Manuel in 1999; one son: Francisco; two daughters: Rosalva and Leticia; one son-in-law: Antonio Sanchez; three brothers and two sisters.