Rosemary G. Armijo

Rosemary G. Armijo

Age 84, passed away Monday, April 16, 2018. She was born in Albuquerque, NM, on August 18, 1933, to Juan Barreras Gallegos and Aurora Bernal.

She was preceded in death by her grandson David Vincent O’Shea, and daughter Pearl Louise Armijo.

Rosemary is survived by daughter, La Verne Roslyn Gallegos Armijo of Metamora Illinois. Sons; Vincent De Paul (Terri) Armijo of San Antonio TX,  Raymond (Heidi) Armijo of Rio Rancho, NM, and Andrew James (Andrés) Armijo of Albuquerque, NM. Also seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Rosemary was employed with the Motor Vehicle Division for 25 years.  She was a water-color artist and an award winning author. Her church memberships included, St Francis Xavier, Albuquerque, NM, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Peralta, NM and Risen Savior Church in Albuquerque, NM. She enjoyed writing, water-color painting, reading, swimming, walking, gardening, crocheting and embroidery, but most of all her children and grandchildren were the love and pride of her life.

Daniels Family Funeral Services

7601 Wyoming Blvd NE

Albuquerque, NM 87109

505-821-0010

Rosemary Gallegos Armijo

August 18, 1933-April 16, 2018

Mom, grandma, great-grandma

Prima, Comadre & “Beautiful Aunt Rosemary”

“La Gran Señora”, “A Renaissance Woman”

Rosemary Gallegos Armijo was born on August 18, 1933 to Aurora Bernal (April 03, 1900-April 26, 1944) and Juan Barreras Gallegos (1893-1958) in the historic working district of South Broadway in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her mother Aurora Bernal was born in Glorieta, New Mexico to María de la Paz García and Serafín Bernal. Aurora worked as a clerk at Becker Dallies and Feil & Elemeyer in Belén, and Jarales, respectively. She was also a teacher at the Jarales School. In 1919 she married Juan Barreras Gallegos of Jarales at Nuestra Señora de Belén Catholic Church, and the couple had a child Anselmo Gallegos who died in his infancy. Then they had José Ignacio Anselmo Gallegos (1922-2006), and a girl, Pazita who died in her infancy, in Albuquerque.  Juan and Aurora lived in the neighborhood of the South Broadway district called “Williams” which is at the crossroads of William and Trumbell. The couple then had Juan Andrés Gallegos (Johnny) (1932-1997), our mother Rosemary (1933-2018), José Serafín (1934-1993) and Raymond Lee Gallegos (1937-1961). They were all baptized at St. Francis Xavier Church, and attended the school through eighth grade, and later Albuquerque High School from which she graduated in 1952. Our mother was the last survivor from her family of origin.

Our mother lost her mother Aurora in 1944. Our grandmother was just 44 years old. Our grandfather was, as our mother wrote, “a pioneer of father’s in the days where many widowed men would send their children to other family members.” Our mother published her memoir La hija de Juan Gallegos / An Apron of Many Colors in 2000. This publication was West End Press’ celebratory 100th publication, encouraged by her professor and head of West End Press, Dr. John Crawford. He encouraged her talent in water color painting, poetry and narratives and saw this publication to fruition. In her memoir, our mother details the story of her mother’s death in 1944, her father’s strength to keep his children in his home, the cultural and historical traditions of her growing-up years, and heritage, and vivid poems and narratives related to her early life experiences.

Our mother wrote and noted that she was very scared that her father would die and that she would be an orphan due to her mother having been deceased and at the height of World War II when it would have been possible that a widowed father would parcel out his children to live with other family or friends. This was never to happen as he was, in her words, “a pioneer dad.” Her father Juan Gallegos raised his five children on his own while working for the Santa Fe Shops of the AT&SF Railroad in Albuquerque, New Mexico and surrounded by friends and family members who still have descendants in the Williams neighborhood. He accompanied our mother to the altar for her wedding on February 15, 1958. Four months later, Juan Barreras Gallegos died, evading any fear of our mother being left alone. Yet, up until a week before our mother’s death, she still spoke with compassionate love about and pride for her father.

Our mom married our father Vincent C. Armijo, Jr. at her parish St. Francis Xavier, where she had received her baptismal, First Holy Communion and Confirmation sacraments. Our father was born on November 15, 1932 and baptized José Gaspar Vicente Armijo on November 16, 1932 at Los Candelarias Chapel (now a private residence in the North Valley of Albuquerque). Our parents lived in Albuquerque from their marriage until 1965 when they moved to Valencia, New Mexico. The town of Valencia was established before the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and remained independent until its incorporation into Los Lunas in the late 1990s/early 2000. Our father had been born and raised in the similar historic agricultural community of Los Candelarias and they sought a quiet and calm lifestyle in Valencia from that of the growing city of Albuquerque. They had LaVerne Roslyn Armijo (1959), Vincent DePaul Armijo (1961), Pearl Louise Armijo (1962-1999), Raymond Lee Armijo (1964) and Andrew James Armijo (Andrés) (1970). Our parents gave us the gift of the Catholic Religion and the honor of the sacraments of baptism, first Holy Communion and confirmation at the Parish of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Peralta, New Mexico and its mission church, Sangre de Cristo in Valencia, New Mexico. She gave us a stable and thriving home environment where she provided a warm home and encouraged us all to go to college.

Our mom had sought a better life for her children and divorced our father in 1975. She took us on vacations throughout New Mexico and Arizona, Colorado, and Montana. Once making sure all of us had gone to college or university, she continued working with the state of New Mexico at the Children’s Psychiatric Ward in Los Lunas, and at the Motor Vehicle Division in Albuquerque. After her children had grown, our mom wanted to expand her horizons and began taking classes at the University of New Mexico Valencia Campus, and Main Campus. At 50 years old she became a fashion model working in print and runway appearing in many fashion shows and fashion magazines and newspapers. Striving to develop her creativity she continued taking classes, and began working on poetry, narrative and essay. She retired from the Motor Vehicle Division in 1994 and continued forward. She incorporated her new-found passion of watercolor painting into her writing. She was approached by Ana Pacheco from Santa Fe in 1996 to contribute to the quarterly “La Herencia del Norte” and continued to publish her work through 2009. Our mom had graduated with honors from the University of New Mexico Valencia Campus, in 2000, the same year that her memoir was published. In 2001 she was invited as the keynote speaker for UNM Valencia Campus’ commencement ceremony. In the following years she exhibited her watercolor paintings and poetry at galleries and museums including at UNM Valencia Campus, Tomé Gallery, South Broadway Cultural Center and at readings at National Hispanic Cultural Center. She was an invited speaker at many festivals and book fairs including at the Border Book Festival in Las Cruces. During this time she was the instructor of “Color My World” a name she gave to the gifted children’s art program at UNM Valencia Campus. She read her narratives and poetry to many school children at Cíbola High School for a Mexican-American Literature class taught by her niece Geraldine Gallegos, and at classes at Holy Ghost School taught by her cousin Christine Sedillo, and at schools throughout Valencia County.  She also gave lessons and presentations at her granddaughters Solana's schools throughout Sandoval County. Later in life she dedicated herself to learning to play the piano, something that she did when she was a young girl studying with Mrs. Brown in Albuquerque. She unfortunately couldn’t continue these piano lessons with Mrs. Brown due to the death of her mother, but revisited this playing with ganas and pasión, as she approached everything in her life. She was also a docent at The Albuquerque Museum assigned to the Sculpture Garden giving visitors tours of the unique public arts space. 

Her travels included to Guadalajara, Mexico, and throughout Spain where she spent one summer living in Trujillo with the UNM Conexiones Program, and two summers on vacation. More important travels included to see her children and grandchildren residing in El Paso, Texas, St. Charles, Missouri, Metamora, Illinois, North Brunswick, New Jersey, and San Antonio, Texas.

Our mother’s passionate faith in our Lord and Our Blessed Mother was constant. She loved to attend mass and was a lector for several years at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Peralta, New Mexico. She lived for 44 years in Valencia, New Mexico in the home that she made stable, warm and welcoming for everyone. She loved walking along the acequias throughout Valencia, where she was able to peacefully mourn for our beloved Pearl Louise who died in 1999. She was fueled with creativity along her long walks along acequias that swelled with replenishing, renewing, refreshing and nourishing water. While she loved living in Valencia, in 2009, our mother returned to Albuquerque to live the rest of her years in the city of her birth.

Out of all the new beginnings our mom created for herself, she maintained that she was most proud of her children LaVerne Roslyn Armijo, Vincent DePaul Armijo, Pearl Louise Armijo, Raymond Lee Armijo and Andrew James (Andrés) Armijo; and her grandchildren Kevin James O’Shea, Mathew Paul (Mash) O’Shea, Kaitlyn Rose O’Shea, David Vincent O’Shea (1990-2014) and Rosemary O’Shea, her namesake; Christopher DePaul Armijo and Solana Pearl Armijo. She was particularly loved by her daughters in law Heidi Armijo (Raymond) and Terri Armijo (DePaul). She adored and spent a great deal of time with her grandchildren and was proud to be a great-grandmother to Dorian, Apolonar, Claire Anne and Adam David. Our mom had a great affection, love and warmth for her nieces and nephews Robby Armijo (1955-1989) Sabina Armijo, John Henry Gallegos, Aurora (Rorie) Gallegos, Geraldine Gallegos, Lauren Gallegos (1958-2017), Pía Gallegos, Yolanda Gallegos, Rubén Gallegos and Victoria Gallegos, and among many great-nieces and nephews, she had a special affection for her concentida, Angelna Teghtmeyer. She had many friends and comadres, and many cousins.

Our mom’s life was filled with faith and love for our Lord and our Blessed Mother, her love for her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, compassion for other people, creativity, new beginnings, laughter, joy, and always wanting to have fun and enjoy so many unique aspects of life that intrigued her.