Cancer Victim’s Son Honors Her With College Scholarship

Even as she was fighting for her life, struggling to survive a decade-long battle with cancer that took away her jaw and lower lip, Daniel Martinez’s mother was taking nursing classes to keep up with the profession she loved.

So after she passed away, the Oxnard city clerk decided he would honor his mother, Guadalupe Lopez, by giving to the field that she had so wholeheartedly embraced.

Last Friday, Martinez donated $10,000 to Ventura College, his mother’s alma mater, to start the Guadalupe Lopez Nursing Scholarship. Martinez makes $48,000 annually as city clerk.

“She really loved her profession, and she gave a lot to it,” Martinez said of his mother, who died in 1992 at age 54. “She thought it was very important. I think she would be very proud of this.”

The annual scholarship will benefit a single Latina mother studying to become a nurse. If no Latinas are eligible, it will go to a Latino nursing student.

About 80% of the yearly interest from Martinez’s donation--expected to total $500 to $600 annually--will be awarded to the top scholarship candidate.

The oldest of seven daughters, Guadalupe J. Lopez was born in Arizona but then spent her entire life in Ventura County.

A 1956 graduate of Ventura High at age 15, Lopez graduated from Ventura College’s nursing program and went on to work more than 30 years as a vocational nurse.

“She was giving shots as a teen-ager,” said her sister, Virginia Lopez. “She just loved taking care of people. That was her life.”

About 1980, Lopez was diagnosed with malignant ameloelastoma, a rare form of cancer that destroys the mandible.

The horrible disease sometimes went into remission after treatment, but always returned, forcing Lopez to undergo numerous reconstructive surgeries. However, relatives said Lopez always remained upbeat, taking care of herself and living at home.

“She was always real brave,” Virginia Lopez said. “She never let it stop her. I asked her to come live with me, but she would say ‘I can take care of myself.’ ”

Jay Orringer, a physician at UCLA Medical Center, met Lopez as she was set to undergo yet another reconstruction. She was one of the strongest people he had ever met, he said, and they remained close friends until her death.

“While she was very badly scarred by the tumors, she still had a very courageous and undefeatable attitude,” said the 39-year-old Orringer. “She was a great advocate of medicine and she was a champion of nursing.”

Lopez chose to proceed with a pioneering reconstructive technique to rebuild a jaw out of existing tissue--not only to benefit herself but to advance medicine for future generations, Orringer said.

“I could think of no person more deserving of academic honor,” he said. “She had such an interest in medicine, and a scholarship in her name, to last for all of history, is just wonderful.”

Orringer said he plans to contribute to the scholarship fund.

Martinez awarded the money to the Ventura College Foundation, a nonprofit agency that starts scholarships and awards faculty grants.

If interest rates are low in a given year and the 80% does not total $500, Martinez has agreed to make up the difference. He has also pledged to increase the base amount if inflation makes it necessary.

The foundation currently manages 14 family scholarships, ranging from $250 to $18,000 a year, for students at the college and students graduating to four-year institutions. It also awards numerous scholarships on its own.

Students interested in applying for the scholarship can do so in January. Decisions will be made in April and announced in May.