SANGER — Family members of Diana Cruz gathered here Friday afternoon to remember their mother, daughter, sister and aunt.

Diana Cruz

Cruz, 55, the owner of three popular Denton-area restaurants, was killed early Friday morning in a single-car accident in Sanger.

She was traveling northbound in the 3500 block of FM2450 when she ran off a curve in the road, said Keith Atkins, a communications officer with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Her sport utility vehicle went into a ditch and flipped five times. Cruz, who wasn’t wearing a seat belt, was thrown from the vehicle, Atkins said.

The medical examiner pronounced Cruz dead at the scene, he said.

She had been on her way home from the Sanger location of her restaurant business, Miguelito’s Mexican Restaurant.

A family member said Cruz began following her husband’s vehicle home after work, but when he got home, she never arrived.

When the worried husband drove back, he arrived on the scene of the accident, the family member said.

The medical examiner’s office has ruled that Cruz died of blunt force trauma to the chest.

The Department of Public Safety is investigating the accident.

Miguelito’s Mexican Restaurants in Denton, Krum and Sanger will remain closed until Tuesday.

Cruz was not only the owner of the restaurant chain, which she built from scratch with her husband, Vincente, but she was involved in all the intricacies of the business, said her brother Eddie Serna.

“She was the one that kept everything going,” Serna said. “She did all three work schedules for the stores and if she didn’t check it, she wouldn’t put it up.”

Along with being the main cog of Miguelito’s Mexican Restaurant, Cruz, the oldest of nine children, started the restaurant chain to help her family and keep them close, said her sister Lisa Guay.

Cruz thought if she gave herself to her restaurants, she would be able to share her love of family and community through the meals she served, Guay said.

“She would talk about how our grandmother put love into her cooking … she wanted to do that and she succeeded,” Guay said.

Cruz is survived by her husband, Vincente Cruz; a 21-year-old son, Michael Cruz; her 12-year-old daughter, Gabriella Cruz; and many other family members.

A rosary is scheduled at 6 p.m. Monday at Clement-Keel Chapel in Gainesville, followed by family visitation.

A burial service will be conducted at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church at 2255 Bonnie Brae St. in Denton. Interment will follow at a family cemetery in Muenster.

CANDACE CARLISLE can be reached at 940-566-6889. Her e-mail address is ccarlisle@dentonrc.com .