Yolanda Celaya Evans

Life Legacy Yolanda M. Celaya Evans, 65, passed away peacefully Tuesday evening, March 6th, surrounded by family. She was the most beautiful woman, inside and out, that her husband has ever met. Yolanda was born October 11, 1952, in Salinas to Ernest and Lorrie Celaya. She was brought up in Gonzales. She cherished memories of many happy days of carefree playing with numerous cousins who lived close by; of going with families to the Santa Cruz beach each summer for swimming and fireworks; and of just her family packing up and travelling around California on weekends. She loved school and reading. In high school she developed a strong interest in science and enrolled in all the science courses available. She dreamed of becoming a Zoologist and studying African wildlife. High school counselors encouraged her to go to college but life developed otherwise for a while. After graduation she joined her mother at working in a produce shed for seven years. In the Spring of 1978, she started attending Hartnell Community College. Her business courses there enabled her to get a Personnel Secretary job with the Monterey County Office of Education (MCOE). With that job, education was once again put on the backburner but, four years later, she returned to Hartnell while working and earned her Associated Arts Degree in 1987. During the same time, she earned two promotions at MCOE – first to Personnel Technician and then to Personnel Analyst. Her MCOE positions provide the means and opportunity to travel through Europe with a tour group, and with her mother to Hawaii and Mexico. In 1985 she attended a three-day Catholic Crusillo and renewed her faith. She also met a lady who was her best friend until the last. In 1991, her husband of almost 25 years came into her life. They started dating in 1992. Both were coming from prior relationships gone bad so they dated for a year before marrying on March 28, 1993. Their honeymoon consisted of “Yoly” taking her mother on a pre-planned trip to Hawaii. She made it up to him by going on a “real” honeymoon by car with his dog to meet his mother in his home state of Oklahoma that summer. They made five more trips to Oklahoma before she put her foot down. Yolanda took time off from MCOE in the mid-90’s and volunteered at the Monterey SPCA wildlife center for several years. She worked long hours and loved every minute of it. She then went back to work at MCOE and to school. She earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in the College of Professional Studies from the University of San Francisco, then earned a Special Education Teaching Certificate from San Jose State University. She completed her working life as a Special Education Teacher for approximately six years. Yolanda loved her family and was devoted to them. Each day she would stop by on her way home from teaching in King City to check in with and help them before continuing up to San Jose to work on her teaching certificate. Her father’s health started failing, and he passed away in 2005. Yolanda quit working in 2006 to care for her ailing mother and her brother, but she and her husband also travelled extensively, going to Sweden; Norway; China; Russia; the British Isles; Spain; Morocco; Portugal; Greece; and Italy. They also traveled extensively in the United States, going to the eastern seaboard, southern states, several national parks, and Alaska. She fulfilled a dream of seeing the northern lights in Alaska but she never got to see the mountain gorillas in Africa. Yolanda was preceded in death by her father, Ernest Celaya, and mother, Lorenza Celaya. She is survived by her older brother, Ernest R. Celaya, husband Thad H. Evans; step-daughter Claudia I. McGuire and husband Shane; step-son Aleks W. Evans, wife Mercedes and grandson Aarik; and numerous cousins. Her husband would like to thank the staff of Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital, especially the ICU staff and surgeons, for their care and work in trying to save her life. A Memorial Mass will take place on Wednesday, March 14, 2018 11am at St. Theodore's Catholic Church 116 S. Belden St. Gonzales, CA 93926. Donations may be made to the Hartnell College Foundation, c/o the Yolanda Celaya-Evans Endowed Scholarship Fund, 411 Central Ave, Salinas, CA 93901.