Aurora Benavidez Castro

Aurora passed away on the evening of February 25th from multiple organ failures.  She was 82 years old.

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Aurora was brought into this world by a midwife in Taft, Texas on April 13, 1943 to her mother, Maria Martinez (Villarreal, Soto) and her father, Maximo Benavidez Sr. (both from Edroy, Texas).  She was the first granddaughter of Jorge (George Sr.) and Thomasa Martinez.

She received her education from the nuns at the Catholic school in Taft until the fourth grade, then was unenrolled to work for her family in the fields and farms in the surrounding area.  She did go back to school in her twenties, while raising a daughter, and received her GED. 

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She married on May 26, 1969, and became a housewife.  After her children had grown into their teens, she joined the workforce, briefly, in the garment industry, but mostly as a housekeeper to help support her family.  She retired at the age of 63.  In the years in between and after, she volunteered in her church as a Sunday School teacher, a VBS teacher, and church General Secretary.  She was also involved in, and at one point the president of the Women’s Missionary Union in the Edroy chapter.  She was also recognized as one of the three original pillars along with Sister Candelaria Lopez (deceased) and Sister Nicolasa Martinez (deceased) in the formation and establishment of Primera Iglesia Bautista el Calvario of Edroy, where she remained a member from the day she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior and until the day the Lord called her home.  Her greatest joy was doing the Lord’s work through Vacation Bible School.  Every year that the church held one, she was there.  She would say that she would be too old to keep up with the children in class, but the Lord would always find a use for her.

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She is survived by her husband of 56 years, Jose S. Castro; her children, Hilda Benavidez, Genoveva Castro, Jose (Birdy) Castro Jr., and Esther Castro (Jesus Rodriguez); three grandchildren, Elizabeth Clarissa Dominguez, Jose (Joey) Castro III, and Makayla Hope Castro-Marker; her brothers and sisters, Jesusa Zamora, Rogelio (Margie) Villarreal, Armando (Adriana) Villarreal, Dominga Villareal, Maximo (Amparo) Benavidez, Guadalupe Sanchez, Florinda Benavidez, and Janie Martinez.

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She is also survived by her church family, her brothers and sisters in Christ, her prayer warrior team, nieces, nephews, cousins, the dozens and dozens of children that she taught and looked after as a babysitter, a Sunday School teacher and a Vacation Bible School teacher, and the many friends and people who she touched with her openness and her friendly smile.

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She was greatly loved and will be  greatly missed.

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Visitation will be held on Sunday, March 1, 2026 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. with a prayer service being held at 7 p.m. at Ritchea-Gonzales Funeral Home in Sinton.  Funeral service will be on Monday, March 2, 2026 at 10 a..m. at Primera Iglesia Bautista El Calvario in Edroy. Interment will follow in the Edroy Cemetery.

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