Magdalena O Sanchez

A wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother and the biggest Gonzaga Bulldog fan, Magdalena O. Sanchez, 83, of Moses Lake, WA, died unexpectedly at Samaritan Hospital surrounded by her husband and children on Sunday, August 16, 2026. Magdalena, known to her friends as Madeline, was born in Chihuahua, Mexico in 1942 to Jesus Maria Portillo and Manuel Ortega, the fifth of seven children. The family immigrated to the United States when Magdalena was about 6. Magdalena often spoke of the difficulty of migrant life because she said she was never really able to complete a full grade with her classmates. She loved school and tried to instill the importance of education upon her children. After her mother passed when she was in her early teens, Magdalena had to quit school to help work take care of her younger siblings. One of her proudest moments was when she achieved her GED from Big Bend Community College. Magdalena met the love of their life, Lazaro “Larry” Sanchez in Toppenish, WA. Both Magdalena and Lazaro accused the other of trying to get the attention of the other and the story goes that Larry pretended to be sick so that Madeline could bring him soup. Whatever the case, it worked! They were married just one month shy of 65 years. In a recent note to one of her granddaughters, Madeline said that marriage was like a roller coaster, sometimes up and sometimes down. The highs and lows are like the weather too, there are storms, thunder and lightning, but at the end we see the rainbow. Everything is calm and it is beautiful. The sun is up and the sky is clear. Madeline and Larry started their married life in Toppenish, WA. They had the first three of their children. After six years they moved to Royal City, WA where they had the last three of their children. When the young family first moved to Royal City, Larry got a job at Heritage Farms. Madeline would mostly be a stay-at-home mom working occasionally at Sunfresh Inc. Madeline took a position with the Royal School District as the Migrant Records/Home Visitor. She held that position for 13 years helping a number of migrant families with a variety of needs. Madeline and Larry got to work together for a few years when Larry started working for the school as well. In Royal City, Madeline was a faithful parishioner of St. Michael’s Catholic Church serving as lector, CCD teacher, parish council member and an Alter Society member where she was well known for organizing the taco booth for the local community days. Her tacos were famous!! When they moved to Moses Lake, she continued her actively serving in her faith as a parishioner at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church. Madeline and Larry had six children, Madeline Sanchez, Adeline ‘Nina’ Gonzales (Pasco), Larry Sanchez Jr. (Lisa), Gerald Sanchez (Janicka), Dolores Santillan, and Kristy Sanchez. If her children had a game, Madeline could be seen and heard in the stands cheering them on! She and Larry traveled to as many away games as possible to support their children and their teammates, including trips the children made to playoffs and state. Madeline truly loved her children and their spouses. She could be found bragging about them any chance she got. Hosting her children and their families at home was a huge delight! Madeline’s passions were her faith, her husband, her six children and her 15 grandchildren who blessed her with 19 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. – Though Madeline loved her Gonzaga puppies, her most favorite role was that as a grandmother! She treasured their time with their grandkids and loved being their grandmima, gigi or just grandma, she loved passing on the tradition of making tortillas and tamales. She never failed to Facetime as many as possible to wish them goodnight and give them a blessing. None of those babies ever left her home without a blessing. Madeline was so much to so many. She was such a follower of her faith. It pained her in the last few months of her life that she wasn’t able to join her church family at Our Lady of Fatima in person, but she followed the holy mass live. Her children never knew when their mom went to the grocery store if she would bring home a family to stay until the dad could find a job. That’s who she was, faking the need of someone to help her iron clothes so she could “hire” someone instead of embarrassing them by just giving them money. One memory is of Madeline finding out a young family only had homemade corn tortillas and lard to eat for their meals. She asked the young mother if she could buy some tortillas from her because she didn’t really know how, she did. Madeline made sure the Sanchez home was one that was welcoming, to strangers, friends of her children, people in need… it was who she was, a woman of faith, compassion and of love… what Jesus wants us to be. Love you to Dutch Bros and back… forever! A rosary will be held on Friday, August 28 at 9:30 a.m. at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, Moses Lake, followed by Mass at 10:30 a.m. Arrangements are under the care of Kayser's Chapel of Memories.