Alicia Dovalina Salinas

Alicia Dovalina Salinas entered into Eternal Rest on June 27, 2022 at the blessed age of 105.  Born on March 24, 1917 to parents Lazaro and Maria Gonzalez Dovalina, Alicia was the fourth child and the first-born girl. She took pride in knowing about her family’s long and well-established roots and its impact on the Laredo community where she thrived in her educational, occupational, and social endeavors. On her parental side, Alicia was a descendant of Captain Jose Vasquez Borrego, who in 1750, established the Spanish settlement of Dolores. On her maternal side, she was a descendant of Don Tomas Sanchez who settled Laredo in 1755.

Alicia’s life unfolded close to the downtown area, with the Rio Grande River as the southern boundary, she attended Laredo High School in the 1930s and entered the retail sales workforce as a teenager.  On September 24, 1945, Alicia Margarita Dovalina married Clemente Salinas, a decorated World War II veteran. They had four children: Clemente, Alicia Margarita, Adriana Laura and Javier Francisco. 

Alicia was preceded in death by two of her children, Javier Francisco and Adriana Laura; husband, Clemente Salinas; all of her siblings and their spouses, Ernesto Dovalina (Angelina), Fernando Dovalina (Anita), Alfredo Dovalina (Amelia), Olivia Rodriguez (Raul), Lazaro Dovalina, Esther Moreno (Alejandro), and Celia Dovalina.

Securing a good education and ensuring the well-being of her children became Alicia’s greatest hope, purpose and mission, which she relentlessly pursued.  Thanks to her faith, family and friends, she shepherded her children by ensuring they receive pre-kindergarten and summer enrichment at the neighborhood escuelita that Angelita Peralta Sifuentes ran, charging twenty-five cents per week. Her children received the Holy Sacraments of the Catholic church and learned through her example numerous character and social traits, including those of honesty, integrity, respect, responsibility and resourcefulness. These lessons surfaced naturally when Alicia found employment as her two eldest children entered junior high school.  She was employed at Varden’s for three years, followed by fifteen years as a sales associate in the Special Occasion Apparel Department at Hachar’s Department Store. These were a perfect match for her positive, friendly, knowledgeable and helpful personality.  Oh, how she delighted in outfitting her clients, including brides, their mothers, and socialites.

Working downtown afforded Alicia the opportunity to help her children by providing special contact persons and stores for their school needs, such as sporting and camping goods, uniforms or print materials. Special occasion clothing for proms, state conferences, graduations and weddings were secured on sale or clearance and with a hefty employee discount.  On basketball home game nights, she took the bus from downtown to Martin High School to support her son Clemente and the other Martin High basketball players.  Upon his graduation, she presented him with a scrapbook of all the newspaper columns published during his playing career.

At the age of sixty Alicia officially retired from Hachar’s and was the recipient of a cash award through the company’s profit-sharing plan.  Her retirement allowed her to focus on her faith, help her neighbors and travel with the Laredo Travel Club.  For thirty-five years, she actively participated in the daily mass. Alicia served Saint Augustine Church as a member of the choir, the Altar Society, and as a Eucharistic minister.  Of all the places and cultural events, she experienced. Alicia most cherished having traveled to Mexico City and, later to Washington DC, to attend mass presided by Pope John Paul II.  

She is survived by her son, Clemente Salinas (Diana) and daughter, Alicia S. Sosa, Ph.D. (Frank); grandchildren, Patricia S. Criddle (James) and Heraldo Salinas (Wendy); and great-grandchildren, Emily Criddle, Aly, Aldo, Aiden, and Avery Salinas. She is also survived by numerous nieces, nephews, and several first cousins whom she remembered on their birthdays and in her daily prayers. Alicia was a positive and significant influence in the lives of her children, relatives, friends, and neighbors. Her devotion, love and care shall live in our hearts for generations to come.        

The family will be receiving condolences on Friday evening, July 1, 2022 from 5 to 9 p.m. at Joe Jackson North Funeral Chapels & Cremation Services, 1410 Jacaman Rd.; where a Vigil for the Deceased and Rosary will commence at 7 p.m.

Funeral Services will be conducted on Saturday morning, July 2, 2022 departing at 10 a.m. from Joe Jackson North Funeral Chapels to St. John Neuman Catholic Church for a Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30 a.m.

Rite of Committal and Interment will follow at the family plot of the Calvary Catholic Cemetery.

You may express your condolences, share your favorite memories, and sign the guestbook online at: www.joejacksonfuneralchapels.com.

Arrangements have been entrusted to the care and direction of the funeral service professionals at Joe Jackson North Funeral Chapels & Cremation Services, 1410 Jacaman Rd., Laredo, Texas 78041; (956)722-8850.