Darlene Portillo Sandoval

Darlene Portillo Sandoval, 79, of Burbank, CA, formally of Marfa, TX, passed away peacefully, with her family by her side, on May 2, 2026. She was surrounded by love.

Darlene was the beloved wife of Raul Sandoval. Loving mother to son Christopher M. Muñoz; wife April; son Erick R. Sandoval; daughters Michelle C. Bonilla and Krystyn Y. Sandoval; grandsons Ian Parel, Evan M. Muñoz, Andrew N. Perez, and Adam J. Sevilla; nephews Bryan Portillo and Daniel Curial; nieces Deborah M. Portillo and Naomi A. Chavez; great-nephew Jose A. Servin, Jr.; great-nieces Atheina B. Hooper and Ysenia S. De La Fuente.

As a young woman in her twenties, she followed her sister and brother out to Los Angeles and found work running messages between law firms in Downtown, Los Angeles. Soon after she saw an ad in the newspaper that led her to a job that lasted forty years - working for a major medical hospital, where she helped thousands of patients, first starting out as a nurse, then a doctor’s assistant, to winning multiple awards as a Sr. clerk in appointment service, assisting patients with obtaining the right doctors for their medical appointments. She was loved by the people she helped and her co-workers. She took pride and care in her work and treated all her ‘patients’, as she liked to call them, as if they were family.

She spent countless hours with her family enjoying their company – loving them every second she could get. She had a veracious laugh that would spark even larger laughter in others and had a wonderful sense of humor. She was wildly opinionated, feisty, yet incredibly sensitive, compassionate, generous, kind, and brought joy to so many. And, she was an incredibly loyal and loving friend. Darlene will be deeply missed.

She is preceded in death by her beloved parents, Fred T. Portillo and Evelyn S. Portillo; brothers Fred Portillo, Jr., Ismael S. Portillo, and Frank Samuel ‘Sammy’ Portillo; her most beloved sister, Hortencia Portillo; and her precious son, David J. Portillo.

A Funeral Mass will be held Friday, May 15, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. at Mary Immaculate Catholic Church, in Pacoima. Interment will immediately follow at Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles.

In lieu of flowers, a Tribute Gift in Darlene’s name can be donated in her honor and memory with Alzheimer’s Los Angeles .