Iluminada Aguilar Flores

November 29,1920 - November 24, 2020

Iluminada Aguilar Flores died peacefully of natural causes in her family's home in Costa Mesa, CA. She is survived by her sister Natividad; her nine children Lolita, Yolanda, Rodolfo, Teresita, Linda, Editha, Roberto, Rafael, and Elizabeth; their spouses Carmencita, Benito, Aristeo, Josefa, and Mar.; and among them 32 grandchildren, 47 great-grandchildren, and 12 great-great-grandchildren. She was born in Sumacab, Cabanatuan City, Philippines. She met her husband, Fortunato M. Flores, when she was 18 years old and they married shortly after on January 1, 1939. They first settled in Cabanatuan City to start their family and lived there until 1960. When they were able to acquire land in Quezon, Nueva Ecija, they began construction on their new home. She was a housewife and raised her eleven children while her husband worked as a truck driver. They eventually purchased rice fields near their home so that they can both farm the land and sell the product out of their home. She and her husband came to the United States in 1983 and lived in Bartlett, Illinois with their daughter Yolanda and her family. In 1989, they relocated to Los Angeles, California with Yolanda's family and also to be closer to their other daughter, Linda, and her family. She loved to bake and made a home-grown business selling hopia (a bean pastry) to family and friends. She was passionate about gardening and flowers, her favorite being roses of any color. She loved to spend time with family and was respected by many extended family and friends. She would spend winters in the Philippines and spring and summer in California, but in the past ten years she rarely went back to the Philippines. For the past ten years she made Costa Mesa her home. There her five children and their families would come and spend time with her and get together every weekend. She celebrated her 98th birthday in the Philippines with all her living children, family, and friends at a grand party befitting a matriarch. A memorial service is planned for December 18, 2020 at Forest Lawn Mortuary in Cypress, California.