Beatrice “Bea” Alicia Piña

Beatrice “Bea” Piña, died peacefully surrounded by her loving family on January 31, 2023. She was born on August 27, 1926 in Miami, Arizona. Her parents moved with her to Phoenix, Arizona in 1928 where she lived and attended elementary school and graduated from Phoenix Union High School in 1945. She married Robert A. Piña in 1948 and proceeded to raise their family of eight children. Bea also worked for 19 years as a secretary for the Maricopa County Health Department at the Maricopa County Hospital. She and her husband were active members of the Vesta Club, a Hispanic organization. Bea was an active, contributing member of St. Agnes Church and elementary school, and Gerard Catholic High School. She volunteered as a Camp Fire girls’ leader and a Boy Scout den mother. Bea loved gardening, sewing her formals and any of her children’s clothing. She enjoyed cooking family meals especially regular Sunday dinners. Holiday treats and birthday cakes consumed her passion for collecting recipes and cookbooks. Bea loved reading books, watching the Diamondbacks team play, and watching her western favorites in movies and series. This proud mom attended her children’s baseball, softball, football games, school programs, sometimes running between each game at the same time. Later in her life she volunteered at the McDowell Place Senior Center serving food and making holiday decorations. She became a proud member of the ladies las Damas group.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 53 years, Robert Sr., daughter Andrea, and granddaughter Tamara Cockrill. She is survived by her seven children, Kathleen Cockrill, Robert, Jr., (Angie), James (Lydia), Paul (Melinda), Frank (JoAnn), Brian (Yvette), Stephanie Olivera (Hector), 16 grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren.

Funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Agnes Catholic Church, 1954 N. 24th Street in Phoenix on Tuesday, February 7, 2023 at 10:00 a.m.

Interment to follow at St. Francis Catholic Cemetery. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations in her memory to St. Mary’s Foodbank, St. Vincent de Paul, or St. Agnes Catholic School. Condolences may be expressed at www.whitneymurphyfuneralhome.com.