Santos Sanchez Suaste

Santos Sanchez Suaste

October 28, 1925 ~ August 6, 2022

Santos Sanchez Suaste, age 96, entered eternal rest on Saturday, August 6, 2022, at the home of her daughter in Austin, Texas.  She was born on October 28, 1925, in Matagorda, daughter of the late Manuel Sanchez and Jacinta Montelongo Sanchez. 

Mrs. Suaste was a resident of Wharton County since 1938, having lived mostly in Boling and Wharton, and until the last five years in Austin.  She attended Iago and Boling schools and made a decision to forego her last year of school to help care for her siblings, when their mother took ill.  At the age of 18, she married Francisco Suaste while in the US Army, on October 6, 1943.  Once Frank was out of the Army and back in Boling, Santos and Frank accepted his Blanco siblings into their home for approximately 2 years, to care for them after his mother passed away.  They were married 63 years when she lost her devoted husband in late April of 2007.

Santos, for many years was fondly known as Suaste, completed and graduated the Vocational Nursing Course of Study at Wharton County Junior College on September 18, 1961, followed by the Texas Board of Nursing licensing after having her four children.  Before and after child number five, she began as a rural visiting nurse in her early years of nursing, moved into surgery where she worked alongside Dr. Robert B. Caraway, Jr., for the remainder of her nursing career.  Suaste worked at Rugeley and Blassingame Clinic before it became South Texas Medical Clinic all the while for Dr. Caraway, where they would spend dedicated and tireless years working with MD Anderson in the detection, prevention, and treatment of cancer, with a large primary focus on breast cancer.  She retired in 1989 and spent the remaining last year conducting research for Baylor College of Medicine in the Texas Medical Center.  She was a long-standing acting member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, Legion of Mary, Guadalupana Society, The Catholic Daughters of the Americas, the Gulf Coast Medical Center Active Advantage group, as a Eucharistic Minister, served the nursing homes and home-bound communities, and countless hours of devoted volunteer services for Toys for Tots, St. Thomas Thrift Shop, and the Wharton County Library.  She was an avid reader, storyteller, prankster, homemaker, lover of plants and flowers, with an incredible instinct and deep fondness for blooming African Violets; supporter of music and the arts and enjoyed the fulfillment of service and mentorship to the youth and her Mexican American culture.

Funeral mass services are being held under the care of the Wharton Funeral Home on Saturday, September 10, 2022, at Holy Family Catholic Church beginning with a Rosary led by The Catholic Daughters of the Americas at 10:30 a.m., with Father Dan Porter officiating.  Graveside services and interment follow in Evergreen Memorial Park Cemetery.

Survivors include daughters Gloria S Martinez of Rosharon, Barbara J Suaste of El Paso, M Renee Suaste of Austin, and son M Benjamin Suaste of Alexandria, VA; sisters, Lucia San Miguel of Manvel and Genoveva Torres of Houston; brothers, Ben Torres of Missouri City and Genaro Torres of Manvel; grandchildren, Averie M Cervantes and husband Thomas, and Kisha M Ransom and husband Joey; great-grandchildren, Andrea M Acuna, Gabriella M, Ernesto I, Jr., Rocco Villalobos, and Eduardo Villescas, Jr., with numerous adoring nephews and nieces, and countless committed friends who lovingly maintained contact with her during her twilight years in Austin.

Besides her parents and her Dad, Manuel C. Torres, Mrs. Suaste was preceded in death by sons, Abel Suaste, on Dec. 5, 1990 and David Suaste, on Sept. 14, 2019; and brothers, Edmundo and Isiderio Sanchez, Charles M and Astolfo Torres; sisters, Edulia M Sanchez, Angela Sepeda, and Margarita Torres.

Pallbearers are Ben and Genaro Torres, Anthony Sanchez, Francisco Sanchez, Jr., Jim Nickolyn, and Honorary Pallbearer Posthumously, Dr. Robert B. Caraway, Jr.

In lieu of flowers and plants, if desiring, memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, PO Box 632008, Houston, TX 77263. 

Condolences may be left for the family at www.whartonfuneralhome.com

Services under the direction of

Wharton Funeral Home

515 E. Boling Hwy.

Wharton, TX 77488

(979) 532-3410