Mary Dolores Vasquez

1932 - 2026

 

Mary Dolores Vasquez was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1932, to parents Santos and Angela Vasquez.  She passed away in Orange, California on July 2, 2026.

 

She is survived by her children: James Dean Mecum, Sherry Lynn (Mecum) Brom and Bob Ray Mecum; her grandchildren: Jennifer (Scott) Halsey, Michael Scott, Ashley (Mecum) Sherman and Jonathan Mecum; four great-grandchildren; and niece Cathy Vasquez and nephew David Vasquez. 

 

She is predeceased by her younger brother, Santos “Saint” Joseph Vasquez, ex-husband Harold Dean Mecum, parents Santos Vasquez and Angela Gonzales Vasquez, and grandparents José and Ernestina Vasquez.

 

Mary was raised in the home of her grandparents and parents, all residing in a small house on Leahy Avenue in Bellflower.   She and her brother attended Excelsior High School in Norwalk during the late 1940s.  Mary Dolores (or "Dee" as she was known to her friends), met her future husband, Harold Dean Mecum, while he was on shore leave from the United States Navy.  In 1954, they married, and Dee became a U.S. Navy wife.  After suffering an early pregnancy miscarriage, Dee and Harold later conceived their three surviving children.

 

After they divorced in 1970, Dee worked at Rockwell International in Anaheim, first as a typist and later was promoted to an expediter for the B1-B bomber - a position she was quite proud of.  She volunteered often to support her children’s interests: softball, baseball, Brownies, Cub Scouts, Cameos Drum and Bugle Corps and high school sports, cheerleading and band.  Her hobbies included tennis, bowling and golf.

 

She will be remembered lovingly by her family and friends.