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Editor’s note: This version adds more information about the life of Irma Elizabeth Oxlaj-Vargas.
Elinda Oxlaj remembers her sister Irma as kind and hardworking.
“She was doing good. She was working so hard to try to send everything to her kids and her mom and support them as much as she can,” Oxlaj said. “And then now this happened. … It’s so hard to believe.”
Irma Elizabeth Oxlaj-Vargas, 38, died in a motorcycle crash Aug. 20, after authorities said another driver struck her while she was riding on Highway 101 through East Palo Alto. Almost 12 hours earlier, Pedro Armando García Hernández, 24, was struck and killed while driving his motorcycle on El Camino Real near the Stanford Shopping Center. Both were residents of Redwood City.
Oxlaj said her younger sister had come to the United States about nine years ago, hoping to build a better life for her family. She worked at a nearby Jack in the Box fast food restaurant, where Oxlaj said she was close with her coworkers. She sent most of the money she earned home to her two children and their mother, who live in Guatemala.
Oxlaj-Vargas lived with Oxlaj and her family in Redwood City. Oxlaj said she was a very thoughtful sister and a loving aunt who always bought cake and presents for her niece and nephews, and looked for opportunities to spend time with her.
“She showed a lot of love for us,” Oxlaj said. “Maybe she doesn’t tell us very often how much she loved us, but her acts, what she does for us, it was showing us how much she loves us.”
Oxlaj-Vargas’ memorial will be 4 p.m. Sunday at Verbo Redwood City, on 2798 Bay Road. Her friends also organized a fundraiser for the memorial, funeral and other costs associated with her sudden passing.
The California Highway Patrol arrested an 18-year-old in connection with the crash. Oxlaj said she’s been told the investigation is still ongoing and asked that anyone with information or video of the crash please contact the CHP.
Along with her hardworking nature and dedication to her family, Oxlaj-Vargas’ friend and coworker Varinia Abad Serrato said she remembers her thoughtfulness and playfulness when working together. She said Oxlaj-Vargas would often joke around with her, as she was one of the youngest people on the team, at 23.
Abad Serrato said she and Oxlaj-Vargas had worked together at the Jack in the Box on Broadway Street since 2019, including previously working on the same shift three days a week. Abad Serrato said she and her sister were close friends with Oxlaj-Vargas. Her sister and Oxlaj-Vargas would call each other “tía,” while Abad Serrato and Oxlaj-Vargas would call each other “Marimar,” in reference to the 1994 telenovela “Marimar.”
“She was kind, lovely, friendly — she was everything, really. She was a great person,” Abad Serrato said.
García Hernández’s family have also organized a fundraiser for his memorial and other associated costs. His family hosted a memorial for him on Wednesday in Desert Hot Springs, where his brother Eber Uriel Hernandez lives.
Since 2020, there has been an average of 35 deaths annually related to car crashes in San Mateo County, with the peak being 43 deaths in 2020. Over that same timeframe, there has been an annual average of four motorcycle-related deaths.
