Lloyd Bert Garcia

 On January 16th, 2020, Lloyd Bert Garcia lost a 10-month battle with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer.

Lloyd Bert was born on October 28th, 1957 in Greeley CO. He was raised in Los Alamos NM and spent many summers in Ft. Collins CO working at the El Burrito Restaurant and Tortilla Factory. He graduated from UNM with a BA in Business in 1980. He had a diverse career that started as a Manager at Wendy’s the perks of which were all the free Frosties and kid’s meal toys he could bring home. He then spent a decade of service with the Public Service Company of New Mexico including a stint as part of the diversion task force where he took it upon himself to go undercover as a homeless person and catch people tampering with their meters. He later transitioned to APS with a “foot in the door” assignment as Assistant to the Superintendent, NOT Assistant Superintendent as his son would tell all his friends.  His time with the schools allowed him to travel to both Spain and Russia as a recruiter and work with the movie studios who needed school props as the Warehouse Manager.  He retired from APS after 25 years of service in 2017.

His “hobby” and true passion was officiating Track and Field. He began officiating local high school meets as an excuse to get out of work to watch his children compete. He grew into a master’s level Official and worked at track meets all over the country including three US Olympic Trials in Eugene Oregon. He received several awards as an official including 2012 Distinguished Service Award from NMAO and 2018 Charles M Ruter Award from National Officials Committee USATF.

He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Carolyn Garcia, his children Joseph (Andrea) and Frances Cordray (Stephen), and seven grandchildren. He is also survived by his older brother Frank, younger brother Phil, younger sister Mona Michelle Mojica, his parents Francisco and Ramona Garcia and a legion of aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews who all loved him tremendously.

Bert would make friends wherever he went. He had a smile that could charm anyone. He would make time for anyone he knew whether they were a new acquaintance or an old friend, to talk for what seemed like hours while his wife and kids waited, (sometimes) patiently for him to wrap it up. He always had something good to say to or about everyone. Except, of course, sports officials, any sport, any official. He had a heightened disdain for someone who was supposed to know the rules and did not apply them correctly or fairly. Which is ironic (or poetic) considering his love of officiating for track and field.

He was a young father and husband who was absolutely devoted to his family. He loved to get new toys as much as his children and would always have an extra dollar or two for sour balls at the Montgomery Ward Candy station or a balsa wood glider from the hobby shop. He loved to share his appreciation of good comedy albums and movies with his children which, in hindsight, might not have always been age appropriate but was great starter material as he passed along the class clown gene to his children. He received several calls from teachers when his son got in trouble for quoting “Blazing Saddles” or using the same language he would use to describe the officials during last weekend’s Bronco game.

Later as his children got older and started families of their own, he was always available to help out. Whether it was building a deck, installing a water heater, or later demolishing the aforementioned deck, he was always right there to help you figure it out.  He was a closet genius who, in his children’s eyes, knew how to do everything.

Any love he had for being a dad was dwarfed by his devotion to his grandchildren.  Julia, Joaquin, Evan, Allison, Evie, Natalie, and Sawyer- seven kids who couldn’t be more different from each other were all loved equally and magnificently by their Papa Bert. While he wasn’t “technically” a great-grandfather yet, he was a GREAT grandfather, nonetheless. He was posthumously granted the title of “Papa the Great” on January 20th,2020 in an informal ceremony among family.

Although not clinically diagnosed as a hoarder, he had a proclivity for collecting stuff, particularly free stuff. Any Grand Opening, radio promo, or home show was a target rich environment for lanyards, t-shirts, stress balls, rulers, and duffle bags. He was gracious enough to leave all those wonderful collections stashed around the house for his wife Carolyn to sort through and in turn pass along to her children and grandchildren. Who will, in turn, leave them for their spouses to sort through in the distant future like some sort of cable reality show legacy.

Anyone who knew Bert and appreciated their time with him is welcome to join his family and friends in saying a final goodbye. A rosary in his honor will be said on February 6th at 6pm at St. Charles Borromeo Church, 1818 Coal Pl SE, Albuquerque NM 87106. Mass will be held February 7th at 10am also at St. Charles Borromeo Church. Following the mass, he will be interred at Fairview Memorial Park, 700 Yale SE, with a reception to be held immediately after at Daniels Strong-Thorne Mortuary, 1100 Coal Ave SE.

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made to Polly’s Run the Race to cure pancreatic cancer. 100% of donations will go to UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center’s Polly Rogers Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Endowment. Donations can be made here https://www.gofundme.com/f/lloyd-bert-garcia .  Thank you.