Elisa Minerva Perez Barrera

Elisa Minerva Pérez Barrera passed peacefully the evening of May 8, 2025. She was surrounded by her daughters and serenaded by her favorite music.

She was born May 21, 1937, in Mission, Texas, the only daughter of Jesús (Chuy) Barrera Cavazos and Elisa Narro Navarro. Their daughter born prematurely, her parents brought tiny Elisa home in a shoebox. A quiet, gentle fighter was born.

She attended high school in Raymondville, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico – a period which inspired her lifelong love of the Southwest. A groundbreaking Tejana in the health sciences, she earned her B.S. in Nursing from Incarnate Word College in San Antonio. On an Easter bus trip home, she met a handsome, charming St. Mary’s University law student named Pedro (Pete) Pérez Peña who would become her husband and great love of 64 years. But more on that later. A firm believer in the power of education for the advancement of women, she later earned additional advanced degrees from Texas Christian University in Laboratory Medicine and Liberal Arts with a specialization in Art History. She obtained both degrees while working full time in her profession and raising a family.

Marrying Pete after graduating from Incarnate Word, she moved to Fort Worth, which would be her lifelong home. After beginning her professional life at John Peter Smith Hospital, she established a long and honored career at Texas Allergy Lab (TAL), where she treated patients and conducted all lab analysis. In service to the community, she conducted the air pollen count reported daily on local TV news by Harold Taft. She retired from TAL in 1991.

Elisa was ever the stalwart of her husband, the Honorable Judge Pete Perez, in his rise through the legal profession to become a county and state-level judge. (Yes, another groundbreaking Tejano.) She was always by his side on the campaign circuit.

After the loss of their first child, Elisa and Pete had three daughters, Grace, Elizabeth and (Hilda) Renee and made their home in the TCU neighborhood of Fort Worth. They raised their daughters with the tireless support of Elisa’s mother, Mrs. Barrera.

Elisa was a devoted and award winning artist, working in watercolor, oils, and acrylics. Her works were shown at numerous fairs and galleries, including as a juried artist with the Mamaroneck Artist Guild in New York. She continued producing imaginative art into her final days.

She was a lifelong parishioner of St. Andrew Catholic Church in Fort Worth where all her daughters attended elementary and junior high school.

A kind and gentle soul, Elisa loved opera, Patsy Cline, the TV show CSI, hamburgers, and menudo.

She is preceded in death by her parents, husband, and son Peter Joseph. She is survived by her daughters Grace Elise Woodard, Elizabeth Pérez Azérad, (Hilda) Renee Ramos Pérez (sp. Alfredo Ramos), and grandchildren Dorin Azérad, Jessica Azérad, Donald Woodard III, Zachary Azérad, and Raphael Azérad.

Visitation will begin at 10:00 a.m. with a Rosary at 10:30 a.m. and Mass of Christian Burial at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 29, 2025 at St. Andrew Catholic Church, 3312 Dryden Road, Fort Worth, Texas 76109.

Graveside service : 11:30 a.m. on Friday, May 30, 2025 at the State of Texas Cemetery, 909 Navasota Street, Austin, Texas where she will be interred next to her husband, Honorable Pete Perez.

In lieu of flowers, tributes can be made to either:

• Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering (TAME) - Texas Alliance for Minorities in Engineering (TAME) | STEM Careers
• Artes de la Rosa  - Artes Academy Youth After School Program - Artes de la Rosa – Artes de la Rosa at the Rose Marine Theater