BY FRANCISCO GUAJARDO
Rio Grande City native Heidi Saenz died on Aug. 3, 2020, unexpectedly taken by COVID-19. She took her last breath at the Resolute Health Hospital in New Braunfels, Texas, where she was taken because Starr County Memorial Hospital overflowed with patients.
Heidi left too early, at 41.
“She had so many things going for her,” said Heidi’s sister Jessica, who bore witness to Heidi’s entire life. “She often lacked self-confidence, but she was smart, fearless, beautiful, and just a great mom.”
Heidi’s mother Yvonne Saenz, a retired school nurse, admired Heidi’s masterful parenting skills.
“We didn’t dote on her when she was growing up. We were always working so our kids could have stuff that we didn’t have growing up,” Yvonne said. “But Heidi was beyond that. Her thinking was that what kids really need is love, not stuff. She gave her children all of her love,” she said.
As a mom, Heidi was a natural. She loved her kids and doted on them with intensity and care.
“My mom was my best friend,” said 25-year-old daughter Meagan. “She had me when she was young, so we kind of grew up together, and we did everything together. She was always there.”
“Every birthday and every holiday, she would always make it special,” Megan said. “On Easter, we’d wake up to the trail of little eggs and go outside to our little baskets. On Christmas, we’d go to sleep early and at midnight she’d make little bells as if Santa was here. Everything was always so special.”
And she was fearless. Jessica recalls the time someone stole their father’s car.
“Heidi got on Facebook and wrote ‘whoever you are, you will regret messing with the Saenz family. You hurt my father and you scared him. We’ll hunt you down,’” Jessica said.
“Heidi was a lady, but she was also from the barrio and wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty,” Jessica added. “She was an amazing person, a good sister, and a good mother. My sister was special.”
Heidi’s 9-year-old daughter Madison is mostly at a loss for words, as she wistfully thinks about her mother. “Maddie,” as the family calls her, is handling things as one would expect a young child would, but she’s keenly aware of the moment.
A few days after Maddie lost her mother, she lost her grandfather Julio Saenz, also due to complications from COVID-19. Maddie was close to both, so her collective loss has been especially profound.
But like her mother, Maddie appears strong, even as she attempts to make sense of her new reality. When asked to reflect on her mother Heidi, she deflects the question and instead offers news that her big sister Meagan just tested negative — after having previously contracted the virus.
Maddie’s understated manner speaks loudly. She can’t afford to lose anyone else.
Maddie is surviving, and she’s leaning on Meagan, her aunt Jessica and grandmother Yvonne. There’s deep sadness, but there’s great hope, too. Like her family, Maddie is excited to welcome Meagan’s baby, whose expected delivery is on Feb. 28.
“I was about five weeks pregnant when I told my mom,” said Meagan. “She was already sick. It was sad because I had just gotten my ultrasound, but she wasn’t able to hear the recording.”
The Saenzes are storytellers, so it’s inevitable Meagan’s baby will hear stories about her grandmother Heidi.
For now, Maddie shows off the stuffed leopard big-sister Meagan gave her for Christmas.
“Meagan is like my mom. She cares for me,” Maddie said.
In this pandemic moment, we would do well to care for each other — like Meagan cares for Maddie, and like Heidi cared for everyone.
Que en paz descanse Heidi Saenz. And may her father Julio Saenz rest in peace as well.
Francisco Guajardo, chief executive officer for the Museum of South Texas History at 200 N. Closner Blvd. in Edinburg, authored this story as part of an ongoing series entitled Bearing Witness. The museum’s effort aims to document some of the Rio Grande Valley lives lost to COVID-19. For more information about the museum, visit MOSTHistory.org.
