Carmen "Lita" Victoria Pashos

BROWNSVILLE, TX. – Carmen "Lita" Victoria Pashos entered into eternal rest on Tuesday, the 30th of December 2025 in Brownsville, Texas. She was 95 years of age.

Lita was born on September 19, 1930, in Far Rockaway, New York, daughter of Anita and Lalo Codona. Her father was a trapeze artist with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, so she led an exciting childhood traveling extensively with her parents. In summer her days were spent under a circus tent, her nights sleeping on a circus train traveling across the United States. Winters were spent in a different European country each year where her father's act was booked into an indoor circus, and home was a hotel. When she was eight her father retired from show business, due to an injury, and the family moved to Long Beach, California, where she entered elementary school and later graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School.

Next, she attended Woodbury College in Los Angeles where she met her "Greek God" Louis E. Pashos, the love of her life. They were married the following year and their happy union lasted 55 years. The first two years of their marriage were spent in Mexico City as Lou was attending the University of the Americas on a football scholarship. They were in Mexico on student visas that required renewal at the border every six months. Lou had a cousin in Brownsville, Manuel A. Sanchez, who invited the newlyweds to come visit and renew their visas in Brownsville. Since it was closer than California they went and kept returning for two years. When Lou graduated college, his cousin Manny offered him a job in his shrimp plant, The Brownsville Shrimp Exchange. The couple moved to Texas and never left. They were eternally grateful to Manny and his lovely wife Millie for their warm welcome and for including them in all their social activities and clubs. They quickly became a part of the community; this eased the loneliness of being 2,000 miles from home.

Lita and Lou had one son, Michael Lalo Pashos. Lita was a stay-at-home wife and mother for 20 years but being an energetic and outgoing person she soon became active in community activities and organizations. She was an avid supporter of her husband and son's sporting activities in Little League. She joined Mercy Hospital Auxiliary, and became active in Charro Days, helping to staff and dress models for parade floats and was a charter member of the Order of the Serape, a group whose purpose was supporting the Fiesta and encourage the wearing of authentic Mexican Costumes. Lita was also a devoted member of Pan American Round Table for over 50 years, she was fascinated by their costume collection and learning about it, and she served as Costume Chairman, Director, and Commentator at many of the Table's costume revues and Charro Days Meriendas. Her other love was theater, and she was involved in community theater in Brownsville, since its inception in a cotton gin, and later chaired and served on the Camille Playhouse Theater Board and appeared in five plays. She was also a member and Sustainer of the Brownsville Junior Service League and enjoyed being in three Follies and Chairing the 1969 show.

When her son Michael reached high school, Lita decided it was time to get a paid job to help with future college expenses. She went to work for the Brownsville Independent School District as a teacher aide assigned to El Jardin Elementary School and worked under a mentor teacher in a new program to help dyslexic students. She loved the work and the children, so her mentor encouraged her to go back to school and complete her education. Lita finally graduated Pan American University in her late forties. She worked ten years for BISD then took a 10-year sabbatical to care for her ailing mother. When her mother passed, Lita returned to work in the Los Fresnos School District as a Special Education teacher at Villareal Elementary School in Olmito. Later, she taught at Los Fresnos Elementary in Los Fresnos. She retired in 2000 and enjoyed five years of rest and relaxation then returned to volunteer work. In 2005 when Pan American Round Table I opened a museum to house their costume collection in the new Mitte Cultural Education Building in Dean Porter Park, Lita was named as one of the original Board of Directors of the Costumes of the Americas Museum, a position she held until her demise. During her tenure on the board, she served in every executive position and as Accessions Chairman and Exhibit Chairman for six exhibits as well. The costumes were her passion, and she enjoyed the opportunity the museum gave her to share her knowledge of their history with the public and to help people realize the cultural significance of native costumes and the importance of preserving them.

Lita was also sincerely thankful for all the dear friends she had made over the years through her membership in different organizations, her work, and her fun groups, such as the Birthday Girls. The "Out to Lunch Bunch", the Tamaleras, her card playing and Mahjongg groups, and her wonderful PEO sisters. Her friends not only made her life interesting and worth living, but they also provided much caring helpfulness during her health problems and transportation needs. She felt they were her extended family. She was also truly appreciative of the loving care she received from her providers, Liliana Contreras and Irma Castillo, the staff and administration at Spanish Meadows Assisted Living, and from her household staff, Tencha and Manuela.

Lita was a devout Catholic and a member of Sacred Heart Church since she arrived in Brownsville in 1952. She baptized her son there and her husband and mother were both laid to rest through there. She depended deeply on her faith to give her the courage to face all her surgeries and to provide her with the strength to persevere through her times of pain and sorrow with the trust in Jesus's promise that someday she would be reunited with her loved ones.

Preceding Lita in death are her parents, Lalo Codona and Anita Codona; her parents-in-law, Marie Sanchez Cota and Stanley Cota; and her beloved husband, Louis E. Pashos.

She is survived by her dear son, Michael L. Pashos (Leticia); her two granddaughters, Michelle Miller and Regina Miller; and by her cousins Toni Rimel (Richard), Peter Mendes (Valerie), and Stephen Mendes. Also surviving her are her husband's cousins, Jeanine McNally (Andrew), Dennis Sanchez (Marianne), Michelle Deaton (Grady), and Joette Van Duesberg (Hans), who made her very happy by always treating her as one of their family.

The Recitation of the Holy Rosary will be recited at seven o’clock in the evening on Tuesday, the 6th of January 2026 within the East Chapel of Darling-Mouser Funeral Home.

The Funeral Mass will be celebrated at two o'clock in the afternoon on Wednesday, the 7th of January 2026 at the historic Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 602 E. Elizabeth Street, Brownsville. All services will conclude at the church.

Memories of Lita may be shared at www.darlingmouser.com.

Personalized funeral arrangements directed by Steven R. Hieu Bailey, CFSP and Staff have been entrusted to the care of Darling-Mouser Funeral Home at 945 Palm Boulevard in Brownsville, Texas 78520, (956) 546-7111.