By Patricia Hudson –
Marcus and Iris Lopez began their lives nearly 2,000 miles apart. A proud 7th generation Texan, Marcus was born in Houston, while Iris was born in Barranquilla, Colombia. Her parents moved the family to Texas when Iris was 13 years old. The couple met in their junior year at Alief Elsik High School. “We became friends, but did not start dating until we ran into each other in college,” Iris explains. “Not long after we married, Marcus moved from being a U.S. Army Reservist to Active Duty. We moved to Germany months after our wedding. Marcus served a total of 11 years active service before we finally made it back home to Texas. We have been married 28 amazing years.”
Iris earned an Associate degree from Austin Peay State University, while living in Clarksville Tennessee, outside of Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. Marcus attained his degree from the University of Kentucky. “Military members know that you take classes when you can, so it was an accumulation of all classes I took from duty station to duty station, and getting my degree while stationed at Ft. Campbell,” replies Marcus.
Since leaving the military, Marcus has been in IT and Consulting; he has spent the last 10 years consulting in the Construction industry, and now manages a group of ERP consultants for Viewpoint Construction Software. With 20 years in the banking industry, Iris has held positions from Personal Banker to Branch Manager. She is currently a Business Relationship Consultant for Regions Bank.
The Lopez name is well known in Cypress food circles. “Marcus’ mother, Marge, hails from the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago. Growing up, his mother always made a pepper sauce that was unique to the Caribbean. People loved it,” explains Iris. “Our children knew very little about Trinidad, so in an attempt to help the girls understand some of their heritage, we decided to help them learn through food. What a better way than to make and market my mother’s pepper sauce? We shared it with friends and family who loved it. ‘One day,’ Iris said, ‘we should sell your mom’s pepper sauce!’” recalls Marcus. “We wanted to stick to why we started making it in the first place. It was about heritage and tradition. As Caribbean Fire Pepper Sauce grew in popularity, we started selling at farmers markets,” comments Marcus.
Daughters Cassandra, 23, and Audriana, 18, both excellent scholars, graduated from Cypress Ranch High School. After attending Lone Star College, Cassie chose a career in banking and moved to North Carolina with her fiancé, who is currently serving in the Army at Ft. Bragg. Photographing historical graves and history intrigues Cassie. Fitness buffs, the couple enjoys anything outdoors. Audriana attends Lone Star College, and plans to transfer to UT and obtain a degree in liberal arts. “She enjoys perusing her passion in history and archeology, tutors in the neighborhood, and loves to help out,” says Iris.
Marcus and Iris moved their family from Katy to the Cypress Creek Lakes community seven years ago. “When our oldest daughter finished middle school and was starting high school, we thought it was a perfect time. Audriana was just finishing elementary, so the timing could not have been better,” recalls Iris.
Marcus serves as the Admin for Residents of Cypress Creek Lake, a social media Facebook page that he started shortly after moving to CCL. “It was a means to keep up with our friends, plan get-togethers, parties and dinners. One of the great things that has come out of the page is having the forum to inform and help. Any charity, organization or person needing help can always post,” shares Marcus.
The Lopez family sheepishly admits to relaxing with TV binge watching. Marcus takes pleasure in his hobby of metal detecting. “So much history right under our feet, here in Cypress. My friends Eric, Rich, and I try to get out and find relics before they are lost forever. I found my first Civil War era bullet near Mound Road,” exclaims Marcus. Iris likes to spend time crafting and scrap booking. “I also love going to auctions. One of my favorite activities is camping as a family. Just getting away and relaxing. Summer is all about sliding open the fence between our neighbor’s home and ours. We light up the grill and relax around each other’s pool. As a family, we love to travel and experience new cultures. One rule on family vacations was that the girls would have to give us three facts about the place where we were going. Once there, we visited the place and expanded on the information they had shared. It was a great way for the girls to build memories of the places we visited. Our favorite place to escape is Cancun! Quick plane ride, great people and Marcus can get his cigars,” quips Iris.
