Wife of former Hidalgo County judge dies unexpectedly

EDINBURG — The wife of former Hidalgo County Judge J.D. Salinas died this weekend without apparent warning, a family member said late Saturday.

Known for being energetic and having a youthful spirit, Janie Cuellar Salinas was working out in her home when she collapsed, said her brother A.C. Cuellar, Hidalgo County’s Precinct 1 commissioner. The 43-year-old woman was rushed to a hospital in the suburbs of Fort Worth. She died Saturday night.

“She was tough like a horse,” Cuellar said of his sister. “We don’t know what happened or why she collapsed.”

Janie Salinas went to high school in Weslaco and then attended North Texas State College. She moved with her husband to the Fort Worth area this past year when the U.S. General Services Administration named him regional administrator of the Greater Southwest Region. The federal agency oversees government real estate holdings.

“She was like my daughter,” A.C. Cuellar said. “I helped raise her after my mother passed. It was me who put her through school. She had never been sick. I don’t know why this happened.”