Mary Louise Coronado's Obituary
Mary Lou Coronado passed away peacefully, holding her son’s hand on the morning of April 6, 2026. Mary Lou had recently turned 94 years old (born: Mar 13, 1932). She grew up on a ranch near Clifton Arizona, the only daughter of Vicente Fernandez and Avelina Cascarelli. She loved her parents very much and loved life on their ranch. Her mother passed away from complications of an operation when Mary Lou was 13 years old. She then moved to Montebello, California, to live with her three Fernandez aunts. After 3 years in California, she moved back to Clifton to live with her Uncle Al Fernandez and his wife Pickie. It was in Clifton, during her senior year in high school, that she met the love of her life, Ben Coronado. They dated for a short time and fell in love. Mary Lou planned to go to college at ASU, but at the end of her senior year she and Ben ended up eloping. This was 1950. Mary Lou was 18 years old. By the age of 21 she had three children under the age of 3: Evelyn, Ron and Chris. Ben worked in the Morenci copper mine and the irregular hours of shift work were very difficult on their young family. Three years later in 1956, when she was 24 years old, she and Ben moved their family to Tucson Arizona. The two main reasons for the move were to have better employment conditions for her husband and to give their children a catholic education. To that end they bought a house directly across the street from the catholic high school so her kids could walk to school. She skimped and saved to send their kids to Saints Peter and Paul grade school. And then she saved some more to make sure they could attend Salpointe Catholic. She was 32 years old when she had her 4th child, Mario. At the age of 40, the youngest, Anthony was born. By the time Anthony graduated Salpointe Ben and Mary Lou had been married 40 years. More than two thirds of her life had been devoted to her family and to the faith she knew they would need. In those 40 years she volunteered at the schools and at the church. She chaired several school festival committees, she monitored the playgrounds at lunch, she raised funds. Mary Lou started the first women’s auxiliary for the Knights of Columbus – the Columbiettes. She was extremely proud of being its founder and she was extremely proud of all the work they did to support the Knights. She was the one that discovered the little Irish priest that served the people on the Yaqui Indian reservation, and it was she that “influenced” Ben and the Knights to build them a church. She was named Columbiette of the Year for her work on the project. When all the kids left home, she went back to an earlier passion and discovered a new one. She always wanted to be a writer, and she said she was going to study English in college. She wrote stories for her grandchildren. She self-published a book called “Brandon’s Angel”, and she wrote poetry that would appear in the monthly newsletter of the Knights of Columbus. Her new passion was painting, and she eventually sold a few pieces at a little shop down on Sixth Ave. It was a joy for her, and she ended up painting anything that didn’t move, tiles, gourds, planters. And of course, she and Ben travelled - extensively. It was so very impressive how much of the world they saw. It is an overwhelming tragedy for any parent to outlive their child. No mother should ever have to bury their own son or daughter. Mary Lou had to endure that unimaginable loss not once, but twice. Her oldest, Evelyn, who was named after her own mother Avelina, passed away in 1972 at the age of 21. Her son Chris died suddenly in 2007. She carried them in her heart to Mass every Sunday, and every Sunday, she would remember them and become emotional. It happened weekly, for more than 10 years. But she never stopped going to church. And she never stopped praying the rosary – often several times a day. She kept one under her pillow for when she woke up in the middle of the night thinking of them. Ben died in 2018. They had been married 68 years. The time since his passing was the toughest in her life. As her dementia grew worse, her world grew smaller. In the eight years since Ben passed, there has been so much love waiting for her; her uncles and aunts, her strong father and tender mother, her daughter-in-law, her sweet little girl and her beautiful boy. And of course, the love of her life, Ben. On the morning of April 6th there was soft music playing in her room. Anthony held her hand and told her we all loved her and it was okay to go see Dad, Evelyn and Chris. It was very peaceful. She is survived by her sons Ron (Sherri), Mario (Theresa) and Anthony, Diana Drury (Darren) and her grandchildren Joseph, Courtney, Evie, Anna and Brandon. Visitation will be at Evergreen Mortuary on April 30 from 5-8pm. A funeral mass will be held at St. Francis Cabrini Catholic Church on May 1st at 10am.
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