Jairo Gustavo Vargas was born June 3, 1977, at Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia, to Jairo S. and Isabel A. Vargas.
Jairo grew up in Annandale, Virginia, and loved attending St. Michael Catholic School for elementary and middle school. He and his friends loved playing soccer and were coached by Jairo Sr.
The family moved to Burke, Virginia, where Jairo attended high school at Lake Braddock, graduating in 1996, and continued his education at George Mason University, where he received his B.S. degrees in electrical engineering and economics in 2004 and 2009, respectively.
His first job was with Lockheed Martin in Hanover County, Maryland. He built his career in many locations for many different companies, and he loved his final position as systems engineer at Peraton in northern Virginia.
Jairo’s biggest love was his family. He was very close with his parents, local cousins, aunts and uncles.
Jairo began his own family with Karen J. Summerson-Vargas, whom he met in 2016, and they were married on April 30, 2022, at Nativity Catholic Church in Burke, Virginia, where they are parishioners.
Jairo and Karen welcomed their child, Inez Isabel, in the early morning hours of Oct. 6, 2023, in Alexandria, Virginia. Jairo called her his niña bonita.
Jairo was an avid fan of many science fiction/fantasy universes, including Transformers, DC Comics, Marvel and Star Wars. He also loved cheering for the Dallas Cowboys and the Brazilian futbol team, El Equipo Brazil.
He and Karen loved to travel, especially to watch and support independent women’s wrestling.
A kind, gentle man with strong faith and a pure heart, Jairo will be kept alive in our memories and through his daughter.
Jairo quietly battled late-stage pancreatic cancer for nine months before passing away on his birthday at the age of 47.
Jairo was preceded in death by his abuelos, Nemecio Arias, Éstefania Pagàn and Modesto Rodolfo Vargas; his tías, Maria Angelica and Sara Llanos; his tíos, Jaime Vargas and Pablo Arias; and many cousins.
He is survived by his wife, Karen Summerson-Vargas; daughter, Inez Isabel Vargas; parents, Jairo S. and Isabel Vargas; parents-in-law, David and Janice Summerson; brother-in-law, Mark (Jennifer Nyman) Summerson; his tíos, Victor (Mimi) Arias and Roger (Rosa) Lopez; his tías, Elsa (Nico) Atachagua, Berta (Pedro Flores) Arias and Norma Vargas; many cousins, including Jorge (Evelyn) and children, Arturo (Kerry), Cesar, Jenny (Howard), Matthew Nico, Myrta, Liseth, Elsa Veronica and Kathy Atachagua Arias; Leo (Mary Lou), Monica and Stefan Soto; Carlos (Analiz), Jessie and Bryan (Sally) Soto; Henry, Felipe (Stella), Jason, Angolina, Chris and Nico Lopez; Karla (Jason Garcia) and Jimmy Payne; Tony (Tamara), Malik, Christian and Arlecia Mairena; Stefanie (Renato) and Aleksandar Petreski.
A visitation for Jairo will be held Friday, June 14 from 6-8 p.m. at the Demaine Funeral Home, 5308 Backlick Road, Springfield, Virginia 22151. A graveside service will occur Saturday, June 15 from 1-2 p.m. at the Fairfax Memorial Park, 9900 Braddock Road, Fairfax, Virginia 22032. A Mass of the resurrection will occur Saturday, June 15 at 11 a.m. at the Nativity Catholic Church in Burke, 6400 Nativity Lane, Burke, Virginia 22015.
In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests any memorial donations be made to Inez’s education fund in Paypal or to by mail to David and Janice Summerson at 2302 McKinley St., Perry, IA 50220.
Much more research is needed to fight pancreatic cancer, and Jairo benefitted greatly from all these incredible organizations. If this speaks to you, please consider donating to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, the Mayo Clinic or Johns Hopkins University.
