Raquel Suarez

Margarita Raquel Suarez (Serna), (22 February 1930 - 11 June 2026) aka Quele.

Raquel Suarez "Quele" of Hammond, Indiana passed away peacefully on June 11 2026 in Valparaiso Indiana.

Quele was born in San Juan, Texas on 22 February 1930 to Ramon and Matiana Serna (Guerra).

She was their second child and their first daughter.

Although she only completed the 8th grade, she refused to let that define her. In her 50s, long after most people stop thinking about school she went back, earned her GED, and then attended the Kelley Business School to learn typing, Not long after, she landed a job with the City of Hammond. She was so proud of that accomplishment, and we were proud of her.

But the truth is, no job was ever beneath her, She worked wherever honest work could be found: picking and packing grapefruit, picking tomatoes and blueberries, helping in her parents' corner store, cutting leather for men's coats at Stratojae, working the deli counter at Reliable Grocery Store, and later becoming one of the original employees at the gift shop at the Empress/Horseshoe Casino. She had a work ethic that could put anyone to shame, and she set the example that in our family, you don't sit around waiting for opportunity. You get up, you go to work, and you earn your way.

She married Ramon Suarez (1/1/1951) and together they raised six children. Eventually her family grew to 24 grandehildren and 27 great grandehildren and 5 great-great grandchildren.

In her later years, as Alzheimer's slowly took pieces of her memory, but it never took her spirit.

Even when words faded, the love in her eyes remained. Even when she could no longer tell the stories, we remembered them for her. And even when she no longer recognized the world around her, she was still surrounded by the love she had spent a lifetime giving. Her legacy is simple and powerful: family first, faith steady, work honest, heritage honored. These are the gifts she leaves us.

She is survived by her children, Robert Xavier Suarez, Roy Suarez, Ricardo Suarez, Alma Rose Hogan, Norma Diaz, Ruben Suarez and by her 24 grandehildren, 28 great-grandehildren, and 4 great-great-grandehildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband Ramon in 1990, her son Jaime Suarez, her sons-in-law Rodney Hogan and Raymond Diaz, her granddaughter Brin Suarez, Her great-grandson Jason Suarez Jr., her brother Ruben Sera and his wife Lee (Vasquez), her sisters Minerva Cazares, Rebecea Luna and her husband Eden, her sister-in-Law Lupe Mendoza and her husband Fausto, Her sister-in-Maria Magallanez and her husband Salvadore, brother-in-law Honorato Beltran, her sister-in-law Antonia Gomez (Beltran) and her husband Rudy, and her parents Ramon and Matiana Serna (Guerra) and her Mother-in-Law Maria DeJesus Galvan.

A visitation will be held Thursday June 18th from 8:00 AM to 11:45 AM at Acevez Funeral Home, 4404 Cameron Ave Hammond Indiana. A church mass will take palce at St Casmir catholic church at 12:00 PM officated by father Eduardo Malagon. A burial will follow at St. John-St. Joe cemetery, Hammond Indiana. 

A burial will follow at St.John-St.Joesph Diocesan Catholic in Hammond Indiana.