John March described a peaceful Monday in Lake Arrowhead for Memorial Day Weekend.
He and his wife, Barbara March, shared some wine and pizza and relaxed with their adult children who surprised them with a visit.
As the night came to an end, Barbara fell asleep on the couch, and John draped a blanket over her.
“The next morning, she was in the same exact position with a peaceful look on her face and she was gone,” said John March, her husband of 56 years.
Barbara March, a mother who lost her son in a fatal line-of-duty shooting by a Mexican national drug dealer and then became a national advocate for immigration laws, died May 28. She was 78.
She was at home in hospice care from her battle with lymphoma, John said in a phone interview Monday, so she knew it was almost her time.
“She had no fear of death because she knew she was going to be with God,” he added, saying she had a peaceful acceptance.
Before moving from the Santa Clarita Valley, Barbara and John March raised their family of three children in Canyon Country: John Jr., Erin and David.
David March married a former classmate from Canyon High and then joined the Sheriff’s Department, which was his dream job.
However, that dream was cut short when he was gunned down during a traffic stop by Armando “Chato” Garcia, at 10:30 a.m. April 29, 2002, in Irwindale, where March was serving as a deputy at the Temple Sheriff’s Station.
The callous murder and then the arduous ordeal to extradite Garcia from Mexico — his capture was announced nearly five years after the murder — led to calls for reform, allegations of a political battle and a story that became part of the narrative surrounding the need for immigration reform.
“She was always very passionate about the border and crime by illegal immigrants,” John March said. “So, she was very passionate about that and stayed in contact with a lot of people who we worked with when we were trying to get Dave’s killer back.”
The advocacy resulted in a lot of friendships in Santa Clarita that the family was very grateful for, he said. The couple were also named as Newsmakers in The Signal for their advocacy, and Barbara March was featured in a campaign ad surrounding immigration issues advocating for then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
She didn’t want to have a funeral, her husband added.
Instead, family and friends came by for a big party at their cabin home.
“It was very upbeat,” he said, which is what she would have wanted.
Near the entrance there were three photos: “When we first got married in 1968, and we had a picture of us having a glass of wine at the country club, and then I had a picture of her and I, and that turned out to be just six hours before she died.”
She is survived by her husband, John, her children, John Jr. and Erin, and her grandchildren.