Juan Jacinto Benavides

August 17, 1951 - December 26, 2021

Juan Jacinto Benavides, Sr., age 70 of Kyle, TX was surrounded by the love of his family when he was called to Heaven after a long battle with cancer on Sunday, December 26, 2021 at 3:44 p.m. He will be lovingly remembered as a beloved husband, father, grandfather, son, father-in-law, brother-in-law, tío, cousin and friend who will be greatly missed.

Born on August 17, 1951 in Brownsville, Texas to the late Jose Santos and Herlinda Benavides.

Juan graduated from Brownsville High School in 1969 and shortly after received a letter to be drafted into the Army but walked right to the Air Force recruiting office and enlisted in the United States Air Force. He was first trained to be a fireman which led to his deployment to Vietnam at the age of 20. He returned to the U.S. a changed man. Juan also was stationed in Shreveport, LA, La Junta, CO, Ramstein, West Germany and then his final assignment, Bergstrom Air Force Base, Austin, TX which he chose as his home base to be between San Antonio and Waco where his family resided. He went on to serve our country in different capacities in the Air Force and retired after 20+ years. After retiring from the Air Force, he thought he was going to have life of leisure which lasted about two weeks and he returned to the work force and had a second career serving Uncle Sam again. During his time with Uncle Sam, he met his future wife Rosalinda. Juan never met a stranger and would talk to anyone and everyone. He enjoyed watching football and was a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan. One of his favorite pastimes was to have a good meal. His Catholic faith was strong and read his bible every morning. He was an active member of San Francisco Javier Catholic Church in Austin, TX up until his illness.

In his golden years, he treasured being able to be an active Grandpa, he will tell you one of his proudest times in his life was caring for his youngest granddaughter, Aubree from the age of 11 months old to 6 years old. He even went through first grade again with her at the age of 69 during the pandemic.

Juan was preceded in death by Mariana (Mana) Olvera, parents, Jose Santos and Herlinda Benavides; two sisters, Alicia Benavides and Herlinda Santana; four brothers, Roberto Benavides, Reynoldo Benavides, Ruben Benavides and his twin brother Jacinto Benavides. He is survived by his wife of 20 years Rosalinda Benavides; daughters Rachel Rodriguez (Javier Quintanilla) of Austin, Lydia Benavides of Austin; three sons Juan Benavides Jr (Stacey) of Austin, Jesse Benavides (Victoria) of Kyle and Anthony Garza of Kyle. Ten grandchildren Samantha Quintanilla, Sophia Quintanilla, Rachel Quintanilla, Juan Diego Benavides, Josselyn Deleon, Javier Loredo, Jasmyn Loredo, Arianna Barrios, Aubree Benavides, Alexander Herbert and a host of nieces, nephews and cousins. Juan is also survived by his prima-hermana, Mariana Cotto (Eliseo) of Waco; his brother, Jose Santos Benavides of Austin; sisters, Celia Sinyard of Mesquite, Sylvia Arellano (Johnny) of Dallas, Flor Espindola (Mateo) of Grand Prairie and Rosa Baldwin (Kerry) of Dallas.

The family wishes to send a special thank you to the staff at Ascension Seton Hays for their care and compassion.