Maria Elena Argandar Medina

Maria Elena Argándar Medina died peacefully on Good Friday evening, April 15, 2022, surrounded by her family at Howard County General Hospital in Columbia, Maryland.

She was the youngest daughter of Dolores Medina and Alejandro Argándar of Mexico City, a place where she lived the majority of her 97 years on this earth. In 2016, she moved to Ellicott City, Maryland, to live with her daughter, Maria Elena, and her family, Tim, Andrew, and Clara Howard, but her bond with her homeland remained forever strong.

In her younger years, Maria Elena worked as a Lancôme product specialist, receiving her official French certification in 1950. On December 11, 1950, she met her beloved husband Celestino Sánchez and they were married on October 12, 1956. They built their lives together in love and faith up until Celestino's death in July of 1985.

She devoted her life to serving God by helping the people around her. She was a woman of deep faith and an unshakable will who worked tirelessly, extending kindness to everyone she met. She was known for her superb skills in the kitchen, her beautiful smile, and her charisma, with which she forged friendships that lasted a lifetime.

Maria Elena is survived by her children, Maria Elena and her husband Tim, José Luis, and Héctor and his wife Luz Berthila, her grandchildren, Jose and Romina, Georgina, Santiago, Andrew and Hunter, Sebastián, Clara, Regina, and Maria José, her niece Rebeca and nephew Alejandro, and their loving children. 

Maria Elena will be celebrated in a memorial Mass at Saint Paul Catholic Church, Ellicott City, Maryland, on Friday, April 22, 2022, at 10:30 a.m.

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