Alicia Cazzato Ruiz

Born to parents Herschel and Mable Halliburton, and older sister Patricia June (Pat) Halliburton in Mountain Grove, Missouri, Alicia May Halliburton spent her first 13 years living on a farm and attended school in a one room schoolhouse. The house on their farm did not have electricity or plumbing and they had to fetch potable water from a well. Since the house did not have a bathroom, they had to go outside and use the “outhouse”, even when there was snow on the ground and the temperature was below zero. Alicia and Pat did their schoolwork by the light of a kerosene lantern. Shortly after Alicia gave birth to her first child, Mable gave birth to their third son named Huel, Alicia’s brother.

When Alicia was in the eighth grade her family moved into town, and she eventually graduated from Mountain Grove High School. Soon after graduation, Alicia married Marino Cazzato, a first-generation Italian American from upstate New York, who she met when he was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri during WWII. He was 13 years her senior. After their wedding, they went to live in Lansing, Michigan with his mother, who did not speak English. While living in Lansing, Alicia gave birth to their first child, a son named Franklin (Frank) Robert Cazzato. However, Marino had fallen in love with Dallas, Texas when he was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas during the war and the couple eventually moved to Dallas, where they would spend the rest of their lives. Their first home, near Downtown Dallas, was a travel trailer that they brought from Michigan, and it did not have air-conditioning. The couple eventually bought a small postwar house, and Marino started a television sales and repair business, Morty’s Television Service. In addition to managing their home, Alicia managed the accounting for their shop. They also welcomed their second, and last, child, a daughter named Gail Ellen Cazzato.

The summer before Gail started school, Alicia and Marino built a house in Farmers Branch, a northern suburb bordering Dallas. They had also moved the location of their business, from Lombardy Lane to a shopping center at the intersection of Webb Chapel and Royal Ln. After 12 years in Farmers Branch, Marino died suddenly and unexpectedly, and his death was a shock to his family. Alicia closed Morty’s Television, sold their house and she and Gail moved into a rental property in Carrollton, Texas that she and Marino had owned. Frank was already married and living on his own by this time. They were married 29 years.

After Marino died, Alicia worked two jobs, one part-time and one full-time, in order to make ends meet. She was a hard worker and rarely took a sick day. She was eventually able to get a clerical job at Texas Instruments (TI) and made enough income to work one job. She transferred a couple of times at TI and ended her time at TI on a top-secret project after passing security clearance. She retired from TI after more than 20 years.

Alicia eventually met Andrew (Andy) Ruiz, a native Dallasite, and, after several years together, they married. When they met, Andy had 7 grown children and 2 grandchildren. Alicia embraced her new family with the love and kindness for which she was known. She and Andy moved to a newer and larger house in Carrollton where they enjoyed hosting family get togethers. They purchased a pop-up trailer and went camping, often with their square dance club, sometimes taking grandchildren with them. They enjoyed traveling to Michigan and Florida to visit her sister and brother in law, Pat and Carl Creswell, and they even went to Michigan a couple of times in the winter so that Andy and his son could ice fish on Lake Michigan with Carl. They enjoyed spending time with family, including Andy’s oldest daughter and her husband, Linda (Ruiz) and Jack McKinney and their children and grandchildren, who she continued to be close to after Andy’s passing. Andy died after a years long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. During that time of decline, Alicia devoted herself to his care and, after he went into a memory care facility, she visited him almost every day, doing his laundry and making sure he was well cared for. They were married for 23 years.

After Andy passed, Alicia developed an active social life that included attending First United Methodist Church of Carrollton and playing bridge at the Carrollton Senior Center. She stayed as busy as she wanted to be and was completely independent into her 90’s, managing her finances, driving to the grocery store, playing bridge with friends, Facebooking with friends and family and ordering from Amazon. She also enjoyed reading romance novels on her Kindle Fire tablet. She began attending Christ Church Plano, an Anglican church in Plano, Texas, with her daughter and son-in-law, Gail and John Wayman. She completed the required class for confirmation and became a member of the church with Gail and John. She was a member for over 6 years.

After suffering a mild stroke, Alicia moved to McKinney, Texas to live with Gail and John, who gladly accepted her into their home and tried to make it feel like her home as much as possible. John died after a 17-month battle with cancer and Alicia continued to live with Gail. Alicia’s health began to decline in the fall of 2024 and in February 2025 she was hospitalized for 6 weeks before coming home, bedridden and on hospice. Her only wish was to live long enough to see her new, and first, great-granddaughter who was due in April. She missed the birth by 4 days. After approximately 3 weeks in hospice, Alicia contracted a viral infection and was unable to recover from it. She passed away on Palm Sunday 2025.

Alicia was preceded in death by her parents, two husbands, sister and brother-in-law, daughter-in-law, Melanie Cazzato and son-in-law, John Wayman. She is survived by her son, Frank Cazzato, his children Christopher Cazzato and Chad Cazzato and his wife Chelsey, their brand-new daughter Cora. She is also survived by her daughter, Gail Wayman, her children Todd Wayman and his wife Kristen, their children Tank and Jax, and Grace Wayman. In addition, Alicia is survived by her stepdaughter, Linda McKinney and her husband Jack, their children Mario Ramos and his wife Karen, their children Corbin and Dagan, son Nick Ramos and his wife Tami, their children Braxton and Rustin, their daughter Marlene McKinney Allison and her husband Michael, their child Colin, and Kathleen McKinney Seaman and her husband Joe, their child Rowan.

A memorial service will be held at 12:00 noon, Thursday, May 1, 2025, at Christ Church Plano.

If desired contributions may be made to Christ Church Plano https://christchurchplano.org/give/ and Alzheimer’s Association Dallas at: https://www.alz.org/dallasnetexas