Rosario “Rose”
Delfina Lucero
Martinez
7-25-1930 ~ 10-14-2010
Rose was born in Sopris, CO, as the youngest of eight children born to Maclovia Bustos and Jose Toribio Lucero. She grew up in Crowley, a farming community in southeastern Colorado. In her senior year, the family moved to Walsenburg where Rose attended Huerfano County High School. She participated in the choir, pep club, and in the annual Fandango program. In 1948, she graduated from HCHS.
After graduation, she worked at Newberry’s cafeteria counter in Pueblo and with her brother Ted packing fruit in California before returning to Walsenburg. During the Korean War, she tried to join the WACS but was refused because of her diminutive size of 4’8”. She married high school friend Christopher M. Martinez in 1954 when he returned from the Korean War.
Her first daughter Deborah Ann was born in October 1954 while the family lived in the Mosca Pass area where Chris worked as a lumberjack. Later, the family moved to the Martinez Sawmill in Rye, CO where a second daughter Marta Denise was born in 1958. When the family moved to the Redwing area, Rose took time to can fruits, vegetables and venison, as well as to sew matching dresses for the girls. Son Senon Christopher was born in 1963 while Rose was living on the ranch in Gardner, CO. She took care of the dairy and beef cows, pigs, chickens, ducks and geese by herself while husband Chris worked at the family lumber business. In 1964, she was widowed and moved to Walsenburg, CO.
She entered a Manpower training program and learned bookkeeping, typing and other skills. Her timidity always held her back so she joined a Dale Carnegie public speaking program. She graduated and worked for Furphy-Lawson Chapel as a receptionist and bookkeeper.
In 1968, Rose enrolled at Trinidad State Junior College for two quarters. She learned basic binary programming. When Chris was in elementary school, Rose volunteered as his Cub Scout Den Mother. Later, she worked at Lathrop State Park.
By 1978, Rose moved to Pueblo where she and Chris lived after Deborah and Denise had gone to college, She attended the University of Southern Colorado from 1981 to 1983. She held several office jobs working as a clerk/typist and receptionist while in Pueblo. In 1999, she moved to Durango, CO, where she became a Master Gardener and volunteered with Child Assault Prevention. An avid reader, she was a life-long learner.
She is survived by Christopher Martinez of Rye, CO; Deborah Martinez Martinez of Pueblo; and Marta Denise Martinez-Evans of Durango, CO. She has three grandchildren: Leah Evans McGaw, Natasha Martinez, and Sondra Evans. Her four great-grandchildren called her Grandma Great.
