Ana Maria Dotson was born in Colima Col. Mexico on July 5, 1963 to Manuel Trujillo Valdez and Maria Guadalupe Preciado Barreda. As a child, Ana enjoyed everything the ranch life had to offer – she loved chasing the chickens, milking the cows, feeding the horses, and taking care of all the farm animals. She also enjoyed vacationing on the beach in the summers with her two sisters, Tati and Vella, grandmother, Maria De Jesus Preciado Barreda and grandfather, J. Jesus Preciado Figueroa, where she would collect numerous seashells and crabs, in addition to cultivating sea salts with her grandfather. Ana was extremely free spirited, and loved nature and the outdoors.
Ana attended La Tipo Elementary School in Colima until the age of 13, when she migrated to the United States in 1976 and lived in California with her stepfather Delfin Wilson and mother Maria Wilson. She attended St. Francis Cabrini for her junior high years and later attended St. Bernard’s for her high school years, where she met the love of her life, Arnold Dotson. Arnold and Ana’s relationship began as a friendship, where Arnold would drive Ana to school, but soon blossomed into a romance. Ana loved her years in high school and enjoyed attending the football games so she could cheer on her then boyfriend, Arnold. Ana then went on to attend El Camino College's Cosmetology School in 1983 and practiced her hair cutting skills quite often on Arnold...and boy was he nervous! After a couple years in Cosmetology, Ana decided to shift careers and became a salesperson at a local clothing store in the Fox Hills Mall. She then went on to be a cashier at Zody’s and after a few years of learning the cashier trade, she decided to pursue a career with Ralph’s Supermarket, starting as a cashier and later was promoted to the store’s accountant. Ana later ventured into real estate, in addition to becoming a Certified Nurses Assistant. She was a woman of many trades.
In 1985, Arnold and Ana married and gave life to three wonderful children – Amy, Adrien and Ashlee. Ana was a loving, kind-hearted, and caring mother. She devoted much of her adulthood to raising her kids, supporting each one of them in their various sports, extracurricular activities, and achievements. She loved her family more than anything and would always look forward to spending quality time on family vacations. Ana saw all three of her children get married and in 2010, she became a grandmother to her first grandchild, Ehlina. Since then, Ana was blessed with four additional grandchildren who all loved her dearly. Ana was very dedicated to her faith in Jesus Christ and in her final years, she spent time ministering to the homeless and giving to various charities across the globe.
Ana will always be loved and deeply missed by her family and all who knew her. Ana is survived by her childhood sweetheart and husband of 36 years, Arnold D.; daughter Amy Cifuentes and her husband, Estevan Cifuentes; son Adrien Dotson and his wife, Taylor Dotson; daughter Ashlee Munoz and her husband, Chris Munoz; and her five grandchildren, Ehlina C., Alyse C., Samuel C., Sarai M. and Avery D. Ana is also survived by her mother, two sisters, a host of loving in-laws, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews as well as many other loving family and friends.