Jacinto Abarca knew the way to his daughter Karina’s heart: Offer her fruit with Tajín, a chili-lime seasoning.
Even after working long nights cleaning the corridors of the South Coast Plaza mall in Costa Mesa, he would try to spend time with his family and bring a smile to his daughters’ faces.
“Every time he’d get his paycheck, he’d go to the grocery store and he’d surprise me with fruit,” Karina said. “He loved making us happy.”
Abarca, who was born in Puebla, Mexico, died on June 10 of coronavirus-related complications. He was 59.
Abarca, who lived in Garden Grove, was a humble, hardworking man who loved cooking carne asada for his children on his few days off, his daughter Odalis said. He enjoyed listening to his favorite singer, Joan Sebastian, and watching soccer, especially the Mexican national team.
“He loved when we would give him feedback about his food,” she said. “He would smile and wait for us to finish and he’d just start eating whatever was left over.”
Abarca was accepting and supportive of his transgender daughter Sabrina, who came out as gay at age 14 and, a few years ago, began her transition as a woman. As a child, she was sexually abused by an uncle, an experience she later shared with her father. When she told him, Sabrina said he fell to the floor.
When she first came out, Sabrina said her father told her, “I love you so much. I accept you for who you are. If you’re happy, I’m happy.”
She began transitioning at age 21 and, although it was difficult for Abarca, she said, he became used to seeing Sabrina show up at family parties in dresses, makeup and wigs.
Karina recounted: “He would always tell her that she looked beautiful.”
Abarca was admitted to a Santa Ana hospital on May 20 and placed on a ventilator four days later. His family believes he was infected at work, where they say at least two other people tested positive for COVID-19.
Three of Abarca’s children and his wife also tested positive for the infection, but they’ve since recovered. The family has raised more than $10,000 via GoFundMe to help with his burial and to support the family.
“He would call me his chaparrita [little one],” Odalis said. “He would hug me and say, ‘I don’t care how old you are, you’ll always be my little girl.’
“When your parents are alive,” she added, “you just take so many things for granted.”
Abarca is survived by his wife, Martha; children Karina, Odalis, Sabrina and Josue; and a grandchild. As posted in the LA Times – Lives Lost in California