Juan Silva Quintanilla was born August 23rd 1934. The fourth child born to Jesus & Jesusa Quintanilla in Kingsville, Texas. He was later adopted and raised along with his older brother Manuel by his maternal grandparents, Encarnacion & Inez Silva. His upbringing alongside his parents, siblings & sizeable extended family took place on the largest of four divisions of The King Ranch, Los Laureles. His rearing consisted of academics, cattle & horse raising, and all that entails the vaquero life on a ranch. As a teen, Juan completed military school, enlisted into the Airforce & shortly thereafter completed Army Engineer Training. At 19, he met and married Dora Elia with whom he had seven children, Juan Gerardo (Isabel), Graciela (Ramiro), Doris (Oscar), Judith (Javier), Patricia (Arnold), Cynthia (Victor) & Renne (Mariah).

Juan's career in the military transpired during the Korean & Vietnam Wars. He lived on a Navy ship for several months at a time traveling in Asia with extended time in Okinawa, Japan where he and his mates installed towers and extended power to the island. He achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant and was honorably discharged after fourteen years of service due to medical issues. Following his Airforce career, he became an Electrical Journeyman and worked for himself as well as companies such as PG&E & The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, where he would later retire. 

In the middle of his life, Juan divorced and shortly thereafter married Mandy and raised three sons, Marcos (Stephanie), Carlos (Patricia) & Alex (Kasie). 

Juan was an avid fisherman. In his free time he enjoyed fishing in the San Francisco Bay, fishing for halibut & salmon in Alaska and frequented local Mojave lakes pining for the biggest catfish he could reel in! Above all he loved his family. Whether a fish fry, or gathering of any kind with an occasional poker game was a pleasure for him. He was the center of his family's attention or of any gathering really. He possessed the ability to mesmerize his family & close friends by retelling his amazing life experiences from growing up as a cowboy on the largest cattle ranch in the country to his adventures while in the military. He had a great sense of humor and a knack for making people laugh and left them in awe of his storytelling talent with cards. Amongst his many talents, he was well respected & admired for his ingenious ability in engineering, creating tools & mechanisms out of basic materials to facilitate any project.

Joining his parents, brothers & youngest daughter, Cynthia, Juan entered into eternal rest in the late hours, in his home in Apple Valley, Ca on December 31st 2023, surrounded by his loving family. He was survived by his wife of 47 years, Mandy, nine of his children, twenty-nine grandchildren, two sisters & many great-grandchildren. 

JUAN QUINTANILLA

Service

KOREA

VIETNAM

US AIR FORCE,

SSGT

Resting Place

Mementos

Tributes

Word Cloud

undefined

Milestones

Mementos

Historical Documents

Veteran programs and services

More VA resources

Get VA updates

In crisis? Get help now

Contact us