Elena Amanda Escamilla, 72, passed away at her home in Houston, Texas on Saturday, September 26 after a long battle with complications related to lupus.  Elena was born on February 2, 1948 in Guayaquil, Ecuador.  She was the daughter of Cesar Ayala and niece to Amanda Ayala de Larrea and Bernabe Larrea.  Elena grew up in Ecuador and moved to Houston, Texas at the age of twenty-one.  She married Angel Juan Escamilla on February 27, 1970.  Elena worked thirty plus years in a career in the shipping industry with the last twenty years as a department manager for Mediterranean Shipping company. 

She is survived by her husband Angel Escamilla of Houston, son Cesar Escamilla and his wife Christina Escamilla of Houston, daughter Amanda Escamilla of Fort Worth, her grandchildren Aaron, Lillyann, Collin, Noah, Cameron, and Cohen, her brother Efren Ayala, her sister Nancy Ayala, and her beloved parrot Princess.

Elena will always be remembered for being a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother.  She was the rock in all of our lives and a true angel on Earth and now in heaven.  More than anything she enjoyed spending time with her children and grandchildren, but she also loved to laugh, listen to music, drink her morning coffee looking out over the pond behind her home, and play with her parrot.  She was the sweetest and kindest person you would ever meet.      

Family and friends are invited to celebrate Elena’s life on Friday, October 2 at 11:00 am at Cypress-Fairbanks Funeral Home located at 9926 Jones Road, Houston, Texas 77065.