Lupe Gutierrez

Guadalupe “Lupe” Gutierrez Marquez

Born: December 11, 1923, Chicago, IL

Died: July 25, 2025, Joliet, IL

Guadalupe “Lupe” Gutierrez Marquez passed away peacefully on Friday, July 25, 2025 at Sunny Hill Nursing Home in Joliet, Illinois. A gift of pure grace and love, she was in her 102nd year of a very full and loving life.

Lupe was born in Chicago to Ventura and Primitiva Marquez. She joined siblings Candido, Maria de la Luz, Rafael, Emilia Cristino, and Maria de Jesus, and her younger sister Esther and brother Benjamin followed to complete the family of 11. Ventura worked for the Santa Fe Railroad and those early years were spent among the other railroad families living in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago’s South Side.

In 1935, the family moved to San Francisco del Rincon, Guanajuato, known as San Pancho, where Lupe attended school and had a large circle of friends. At the age of 17, she was named the queen of the annual San Pancho December festival. In 2024, she was honored as the oldest living queen with a commemorative plaque and book at a special ceremony attended by three of her children.

On November 4 1943, she married Lauro “Weto” Gutierrez in San Pancho. Their first three children, Lydia, Raul, and Ricardo, were born at home. In 1953, Weto and Lupe moved the family to Joliet, Illinois where Ralph and Anna Maria completed the family. They were married for 66 years before Weto’s death in 2010.

Lupe was a dedicated mother and homemaker and a popular and beloved member of her eastside Joliet community. She was an active member of the Mt. Carmel Chapel women’s group and a Lincoln Elementary School PTA volunteer. She also worked as a seamstress and store clerk at El Centenario grocery store. Lupe was a second mother to many of her children’s friends who remember her warm and generous nature fondly. No visit to her home was complete without a meal offering, or a tortilla, or a homemade dessert. You did not leave Lupe’s home hungry.

Lupe was an avid reader of the Bible and participated in several Bible study groups. She loved music and her singing along with the radio fostered a great love of music in her children.

Wherever she lived–in Chicago, Mexico, Joliet, at the Timbers in Shorewood or at Sunny Hill--Lupe was a friend to all. Always kind and welcoming, she made friends easily and kept her friends and family close.

Lupe was preceded in death by her parents and seven siblings, her husband Weto (2010) and her beloved daughter Lydia Dominguez (2013). She is survived by her children, Raul of Joliet, Ricardo of Chicago, Anna (Paul) Sereiko of Austin, Texas, Ralph (Eileen) of Joliet and her son-in-law David Dominguez of Joliet, along with 14 much-loved grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and one great-great-granddaughter. She lived and taught the principle of “family first” and her children and grandchildren were the main source of her pride and joy.

Funeral procession will leave from the Blackburn-Giegerich-Sonntag Funeral Home, Saturday, August 2 at 9:30 a.m. to Holy Family Catholic Church at 600 Brook Forest Avenue in Shorewood where a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:00 am., Interment will follow at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Joliet. Visitation will be Friday, August 1 from 3:30 pm to 7:30 pm at Blackburn-Giegerich-Sonntag Funeral Home, 1500 Black Road, Joliet.

In lieu of flowers, gifts to the Friends of Sunny Hill, Inc. at 421 Doris Avenue Joliet, IL 60433 would be appreciated.