Maria Celestina Rodriguez de Bardales, a homemaker from San Vicente, El Salvador, whose kitchen turned out pupusas and tamales for a family that now reaches across four generations, died on September 22 with her family around her. She was 80. Her funeral Mass will be at Immaculate Conception Church in Revere.
She was born on April 14, 1946, in Santa Gertrudis, in the department of San Vicente, the daughter of Jose Cupertino Rodriguez and Ana Francisca Valladares. She was married for more than 50 years to Felix Alejandro Bardales, who died before her. Her family describes a home that was always open to relatives and friends, a strong Catholic faith, and close ties to her parish community.
Her children are Ana Lidia Martinez and her husband Pablo of Malden; Norma Elena Montano of Somerville; Rina Estela Granados of Malden; Elmer Orlando Bardales of Billerica; Rafael Amilcar Bardales and his wife Rina Ruiz Bardales of Texas; Gilma Roxana Vega and her husband Sandor of Everett; Mario Alberto Bardales of Westborough; and Marvin Alexander Bardales. She leaves 18 grandchildren, among them Emily Mejia, Samuel and Giselle Martinez, and Brandon and Nicholas Vega, and three great-grandchildren, Imelda Mejia, Jose “Max” Mejia and Ulma “Susi” Mejia. A grandson, Emmanuel Antonio Martinez, died before her. She was one of eleven children of the Rodriguez family, and she also leaves many nieces and nephews.
Visitation is Tuesday, September 29 from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Paul Buonfiglio & Sons Funeral Home, 128 Revere Street, Revere, followed by a Mass at noon at Immaculate Conception Church in Revere. Burial will be at Woodlawn Cemetery.
The family published the obituary in both English and Spanish; the full text, in both languages, is on the funeral home’s page.
Compiled from information published by Paul Buonfiglio & Sons-Bruno Funeral Home, 128 Revere Street, Revere. Photograph courtesy of the family via Buonfiglio Funeral Home. This is our own summary, not the family’s obituary; read the full obituary and leave a condolence at the funeral home’s page on Legacy.com. Corrections: we will fix any error promptly.