Obituary of Rocio Escobar

On October 11th, 1976 the story of my sister began. Rocio Escobar was the 10th child of a great big loving family, and was adored by all of us, her brothers, and sisters. I remember that even though she was born with lots and lots of dark hair, soon it turned gold like the sun and straight as a pin. It was the first clue that Chio, as we all affectionately called her, would always somehow keep us guessing. Eleven months later her brother, and partner in crime, Art was born, and it wasn’t long before they were inseparable. We still don’t know who exactly the mastermind of all their elaborate and mischievous undertakings was, but we know for a fact they shared that creative energy in all that they did together. It’s truly a blessing to be born back-to-back with your best friend and have them all through your childhood. Chio graduated from Southeast High School in Lincoln, Nebraska and then came to live in Greeley, Colorado. After trying out college and classes at UNC, she found that practical hands-on labor was more her style and joined AmeriCorps. Through that she found so many new experiences and friends, many that endured through her last days for whom she was so grateful. Nicole Salazar was like family to her, truly a precious friend. In the late 90s, through her experiences at UNC, she met Desirae Kapuras with whom she would establish a lasting relationship. In 2007 she moved to Hawaii to serve as a nanny for Kainoa, Desirae’s sister’s third son, a job she enjoyed so much as she would become intertwined with the Kapuras family. She once again found her family expanding as she shared life with those living on the beautiful Hawaiian shores, creating memories there that she would cherish all her days and spoke to us often about, such as learning to speak pidgin English and swimming in the crystal blue waters of the ocean. Though she was able to see and experience so much beauty out on the islands of Hawaii, she would also face many of her hardest struggles. While working at the pre-school and the little children she loved so much, she suffered a work-related injury that left her with 3 damaged discs in her back. The pain was excruciating and felt never-ending, and Chio struggled to manage the pain and the complications that went with it, often feeling hopeless and helpless. It was a dark time for both her and our family, and we suffered much during those trying times while she was far away, but we all prayed constantly for her to come to Jesus and surrender to Him. We knew that even though we couldn’t be there with her, our Heavenly Father would sustain her. While living in Hawaii, she had strayed from the Lord and never expected to come face to face with Him after going through an extensive back surgery. There was a particular night during the recovery process when she was in extreme pain. Forced to lie flat in a bed for three days without being able to move and suffering from severe drug reactions and cramps, she cried out to the Lord. He answered in a miraculous way. That moment started a new, love relationship with Jesus that was to take many twists and turns in the years to come. Every time she strayed from Him, He would find a way to call her back to Him full of compassion and forgiveness. She used to love to talk about how Jesus had found her while she was not looking for him, how he chased her down with his all-encompassing love. It was an answer to her prayers and ours. Now full of the love of Jesus, she found her life’s passion after she volunteered for Pathways to Health in Los Angeles, at the urging of her friend Melody Pierson. There she experienced serving people that she convinced others to join in with her, truly discovering the joy that life could be. During this time, she met another wonderful friend that was to impact her life, Kat Wong. Another honorary member of the Escobar family, who would help us so much in the next few years. And we would certainly need it. It was during this time, in December of 2017 while living in Colorado Springs with Kat, Chio found that she had stage four ovarian cancer. The doctors urged her to act quickly so she did as we rallied to her side. After invasive surgery, on January 2nd 2018 her sister Lupita came to help nurse her back to health and help in her recovery, but it wouldn’t be an easy road. The past few years found her doing several rounds of chemotherapy, radiation treatment, and natural remedies. She would stay both at Eden Valley Institute and later in Oklahoma determined to survive and continue her life as long as she was able to. Her body suffered a lot, but her heart remained strong and because of her determination and love, we were able to enjoy many more years with her in our lives. We cherished every moment, and so did she. More than anything, Chio loved her family and friends fiercely. At the end, it was her body that failed, not her heart and her heart was so full of love it seeped out of each of her pores, filled each of her breaths. It was with this love that she cared for her nieces and nephews, each one being special to her, and her ardent desire was to see them living for the Lord. She often said that when the Lord rescued her, she had neither prayed for that nor was she interested in it, yet he found a way to reach her and pursued her fervently. Our prayers for her were answered, and even though she lost the fight against cancer, Jesus won the battle for her soul. Her prayers at night included all her family and friends by name, and that list kept growing until it would take an hour to be able to include them all. It was a list she held close to her heart. It is our prayer and hope that you will remember this about Chio; if she was in your life, you can bet she was praying for you to come to Jesus and find eternal life. Thank you all so much for being here, for loving Chio and allowing yourself to be loved by her as well. Today we mourn the absence of her, the loss of her hugs and the warmth of her smile, the way that her laughter could spread through the whole room until we all joined in. But our loss is His gain, and the comfort of knowing so much of her love came from Him means that we don’t have wait to long to feel it again.