Yolanda L. Vega of Newport News passed away February 12, 2019 following a long illness and valiant struggle. She was born December 21, 1935 in Peru, the daughter of Daniela Lizeta and Domingo Larios.

Yolanda immigrated to the United States to study English in 1961. She worked as a nanny to help pay for her education in Washington D.C. where she met Miguel Vega. They married in a small wedding ceremony in Maryland in 1962. They had a daughter on June 2, 1968 at McDonald Army Hospital on Fort Eustis. During their stay in Athens, Greece she became involved with the Catholic Church on the military base. She loved teaching Sunday school and singing in the church, which she kept up with when they came back to Virginia in 1975. She continued to be involved with education of children by volunteering in R. O. Nelson Elementary School. In 1981 her husband died in Walter Reed Hospital while on active duty with the U.S. Army. She stopped volunteering in the school system and devoted her life to working and raising her daughter, Jacqueline Vega (Tressel).

She became a grandmother in 1989, Kevin McCauley, followed by her 2nd in 1991, Joseph McCauley, and her 3rd in 1992, Catherine McCauley. She loved to dote on her grandchildren.

She became ill with cancer in 2008 and won that battle but the cancer came back again in 2019.

She is survived by her daughter Jacqueline Tressel (Mike); her grandchildren, Kevin McCauley, Joseph McCauley, and Catherine McDonald (Mason); her great grandchildren, Marley Emma McDonald and Evelyn Monroe McDonald.

Her wake will be held from 6 to 7 PM on Monday, February 18, 2019 at W. J. Smith & Son Funeral Home. A viewing will be held at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, February 19, 2019 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, with her funeral Mass beginning at 11:00 AM. She will be interred in Arlington National Cemetery along side her husband at a later date.