Valentina Peru Saenz

Memorial Services for Valentina Peru Saenz; Rosary at 4:00 pm on Wednesday, May 26, 2021 at Baca’s Funeral Chapels; Funeral Mass at 11:00 am on Thursday, May 27, 2021 at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Bayard, NM; Concluding service and burial following at Gila Cemetery. Officiating will be Father Martin Okonkwo. Honorary pallbearers will be Antonetta Arias Saenz, Jennifer Dean Sanders, Reynaldo Soliz Jr, Daniel Soliz, Jaime Soliz and Miguel Saenz.

Valentina Peru Saenz; Born February 14^th 1931 in Gila New Mexico entered her eternal rest on the 26^th of May 2020, at Ft. Bayard Medical Center. She is preceded in death by her siblings, Ponciano Peru, Pedro Peru, Andres Peru, Benceslao Peru, Arturo Peru, Vicente Peru, Maximo Peru Jr., Silverio Peru, Aurora Provencio, Enriqueta Peru, Manuela Nabor, and Lourdes Sedillos; her spouse, Ralph Saenz Sr.  She is survived by three sons, Edward P Arias of Austin, TX, Robert P. Dean (Isabel) of Bayard, NM and Lorenzo P. Saenz (Lynnette) of Bayard, NM; two daughters, Lucy Arias Soliz (Ranie) of Silver City and Barbara Dean Perez of Phoenix, AZ.   Also surviving Valentina are 13 grandchildren, 20 great grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren; a niece, Susie Ramirez who was brought up in the family home as a sister.

Valentina was born to humble beginnings that were typified by well water and the dirt floors of a modest home in Gila New Mexico. The youngest of her siblings, she was fiercely independent and willful. These traits would serve her well as the history of our state and of our nation played out and brought the great depression and the second world war to her home. She saw the family farm lost to the ravages of the great depression and then lost her brother Maximo in the European Theatre of WWII. Both of those early events proved to be defining moments in the formation of her character. Valentina could stretch a dollar and was a fierce negotiator when she would purchase anything. She was also loyal and loving and would give you her last dollar if she thought you needed it.

She was our mother, our grandmother, our aunt, and so much more. She was a complex and vibrant soul who could walk into any room and light it up with her presence. She was a member of Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church and was there every Sunday until she could no longer physically make the walk to the church. Although her passing leaves us missing her, we are glad that she is at rest and has been called home.

Cremation has been entrusted to Baca’s Funeral Chapels. 

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