It is with a heavy heart we announce the loss of Martha Jane Aguilar Swartz on July 7, 2026. She was 89.
Martha was many things to many people: Mom. Grandma. Great–grandma Martha. Wife. Sister. Friend. Daughter. Aunt. Philanthropist. Accountant. We could go on and on.
Quite simply, she was an extraordinary renaissance woman and builder like her beloved husband, Jack, who we lost last year.
Jack may have been the wild dreamer of myriad entrepreneurial projects, but it takes two to make it happen. If Jack was the CEO, Martha would be the chief operating officer and chief financial officer of elaborate plans for tech startups, homes, and hybrid car engines. They made a dynamic team.
First and foremost, Martha loved her family and friends of which there were many.
To her sons, she sacrificed so much in whatever activity they participated in in school, Boy Scouts, sports, raising their young families. She was always there.
Possessor of the “Aguilar smile” and lacerating cracks, Martha — the youngest of 10 siblings who presided in Manteca, Calif. — was among the first women to graduate with a nutrition degree at San Jose State University nearly 70 years ago.
Martha (b. Dec. 31, 1936) always had energy for others whether in teaching her nieces and nephews on how to throw a football, creating a vegetable garden in her backyard, making tamales with her beloved sister Santa, or killing the wayward rattlesnake during the summer. She was in perpetual motion.
Martha was a giver in her later years, with charity work at Villa Montalvo, the Red Cross, and medical missions in Peru.
In the end, she enjoyed flowers, See’s Candies, and photos of her family who gave her unending joy and peaceful thoughts.
An Irish proverb has always brought comfort when experiencing loss, “Death leaves a wound that no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.”
Martha had a long, impactful, and wonderful life. We will miss her dearly. Now may she rest in peace, watching over all of us.
Profound thanks to everyone in advance for your love, support, and prayers. We ask that you pray for her soul, spirit, and body, and ask God to receive her the way that she deserves.
With love and peace. Funeral ceremony to be held Monday, July 27, 11:30 a.m., at Darling & Fischer Chapel of the Hills, 615 North Santa Cruz Ave., in Los Gatos, Calif.
Burial is at 1 p.m. at Los Gatos Memorial Park, 2255 Los Gatos–Almaden Road, San Jose, CA 95124.
All are invited to a family reception to follow at Sweet Memories Events and Banquet Hall, 14922 Camden Ave., San Jose, 95124.
Manteca (Calif.) Bulletin
Thursday, July 23, 2026
