Like so many nanas in this town, Naya Ortiz was devoted to her family and a devout Catholic.
She was a housewife and a great cook. In her later years, when she couldn't remember dates or faces or told jokes over and over, she would still color her hair to look a little younger.
Again, just like so many nanas in this town.
But here's the twist in this story: She was also a parachute mechanic in the Women's Army Corps during World War II, which meant sometimes she found herself doing a little skydiving to test things out. She was one of the few Mexican-American women from Tucson to serve as a WAC, and she glided through a man's world gracefully (her mechanic certification from the Army uses the adjective "his").
"When the guys saw her packing their chutes, and they got a little nervous," Mike Ortiz, her adult son told me last week. "She would say, 'Don't worry. If it doesn't work, you can bring it back.' "
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That was typical Naya. Always quick with a joke - dirty or clean.
"She was pretty outrageous, actually," Pat Ortiz, Naya's daughter, said.
She was born in Tucson in 1921. Her parents had come here from Mexico back when that kind of thing was no big deal. She grew up in Barrio Anita, and as a kid she loved to play with frogs down in an irrigation ditch. Water flowed during those years.
When she was a teenager, her father began clearing land and planting orchards for Rancho Nezhone - Navajo for beautiful ranch - on the northwest side. The ranch was the creation of Leonie Boutall, a wealthy Southern woman who moved to Tucson to help bronchial troubles.
Eventually Naya Ortiz's family, there were 10 children, moved into two bungalows on the property. It was easier to stay there than drive in from Barrio Anita for work. At the ranch, she met celebrities like Kate Smith and Barbara Stanwyck. She also looked after Boutall's nieces and often traveled across the country.
"I was like a nanny to them," Naya Ortiz told the Star's Bonnie Henry in 1993.
She had fond memories of the ranch, which had a magical feel with monkeys and parrots in the trees.
"There were peacocks and tame deer we could go feed," she said.
When World War II came, Naya Ortiz and her sister Mary Clark joined the Women's Army Corps on a whim. They were walking downtown when a recruiter stopped them, and they went for it.
"My nana was not happy about that," Pat Ortiz said. "Mexican-American women just didn't do that in those times."
She served from 1943 to 1945, heading to Iowa for training before getting stationed at Luke Air Force Base where she made parachutes.
Many of the women she served with were from back East.
"She was kind of like the local tour guide," Mike Ortiz said.
After the war came marriage and family. But the military was always a part of family life. Her husband, Ygnacio Ortiz, had served in World War II; and her sons later served in the military as well.
In recent years, dementia took over her mind.
Sitting at a kitchen table with stacks of photos of their mother, Pat and Mike Ortiz talked about the strains adult children feel when their parents are slipping away in this way. Their mother would forget to take her medication, or she would take too many pills. She would forget names and dates. She would tell the same jokes again and again. Eventually, she ended up in care.
"She started forgetting days, you know," Pat Ortiz said. " 'What day is it? Is it Saturday?' And I would say, 'No, mom, it's Tuesday.' And five minutes later, she would say 'Is it Saturday?' "
Two weeks ago, Naya Ortiz, collapsed while eating dinner. Medics were able to revive her, but she never regained consciousness.
She was placed in Peppi's House, a hospice at Tucson Medical Center, and for a week her family sat by her side, praying for her.
"We were telling her not to be afraid, and that it's OK to go," Mike Ortiz said.
"I told her what happened, and I told her where she was, and I just kept talking and talking and talking to her," Pat Ortiz said.
Naya Ortiz died Aug. 20. She was 91. After she passed, a quilt specifically for veterans was placed over her body.
Her funeral will be Wednesday. She will receive military honors. She served our country, and her life captured a piece of Tucson's history.
Contact Josh Brodesky at 573-4242 or jbrodesky@azstarnet.com
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