Ruth A. Corrales

Ruth (Guadalupe Andrade) Corrales passed away in her sleep the morning of Wednesday, January 17, 2018, at the age of 102, at the home of her daughter. She fell and broke her hip four years earlier and complications from dementia made her final months all the more difficult for her. Until then she had been able to get around with a walker and help from her children and caretakers. It was decided early on when she fell that she would spend the week living at her daughter, Marianne's in Littleton, and weekends back home with oldest son, Robert, and with me, the baby, helping out Marianne two-days a week. I think all of us being around helped to keep her with us longer than most. Although, being asked occasionally, "Are you my son?" or, "Was I married to your father?" or, "What's your name again?" always kinda made me think, if it wasn't funny, it'd be sad.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Guadalupe "Lupe" Corrales-Guadalupe is one of those Spanish names, like Lynn, Carol or Taylor in English, which can be both male and female...my grandma, Maria, always called my mom, "Mi Lupe," and my dad just "Lupe" to distinguish them from one another. She, mom, is also survived by her eldest son, Robert Guadalupe, her daughter, Marianne Valtakis and youngest son, Daniel James, as well as grandson, Charles Byron, and great grandson, Jesse Guadalupe, all of Denver.

Born in the small rancho of La Plaza, Michoacan, Old Mexico on or about September 12, 1915-while dealing with Social Security several years ago, we learned she had four or five 'birthdays' of record. She always claimed the 12th to be her birthday, maybe it was her patron saint's birthday, not sure. Born to Rafael Andrade and Maria Cruz-Andrade in La Plaza as were her brothers Rafael Junior and Avelino. Now I've found both Rafael and Avelino's baptismal records but nothing for mom. I liked to tell her, maybe she was immaculately conceived, and she'd laugh.

Her father was working in the USA, when her baby brother, Avelino, died of small pox, followed by an uncle, Francisco-under mysterious circumstances died in Oklahoma-and then mom's grandfather, Marcos Cruz died of "paludismo," Malaria. Her mom, Maria, naturally took all of the deaths very hard. It was her mother-in-law who wrote to Rafael telling him to send for his family. They came across the Mexico-USA border on November 2, 1923 when she was eight years old. She grew up in the mining camps and towns of southern Colorado, some of which no longer exist, Primero, Segundo, Valdez, Cokedale, Tioga, Starkville and Morley.

She was given the name "Ruth" because her first teacher, Mrs. Tuesdale, couldn't pronounce Guadalupe and she was instructed to answer when called by the new name. Ruth went on to graduate from Trinidad high school with the class of 1936 and may have been the very last of her class to pass away. Her family always came first and when she started working, she was offered a secretarial position with the Colo. Fuel & Iron Company. When told it was in Pueblo, 90-miles away from Trinidad, there is no way she would ever consider living that far away from her family. She worked in Trinidad for Jamison's and Montgomery Wards in Raton, N.M. coming home on weekends. And of course, she usually spent her salary on family needs like a bicycle for a brother, a dress for a sister, a telephone for the home.

Ruth met husband Lupe on a trip to Ordway, Colo. that was foretold by a fortune teller she and best friend, Socorro Guereca, had gone to see. The seer-er told her she would meet someone named Guadalupe but at the time, neither she nor Socorro could imagine who that was. They met, in two different ways, depending on who you would ask how it occurred...and both swear it occurred the way THEY remembered it. They met and dated before Lupe went into the U.S. Army. The couple corresponded throughout World War II and when he returned, they were married on December 14, 1946, a marriage that lasted for 53-years. They lived for several years after they were married in Scottsbluff, Nebraska on the farm dad had purchased for his parents before the war. Then the couple returned to Trinidad so Lupe attended junior college. They moved to Denver which would be halfway between Scottsbluff and Trinidad, living in the old, re-modeled, army barracks of Fort Logan Military base but eventually settling in a home on West College Avenue in 1953 where family, my brother, lives today.

Her working career began at the Gates Rubber Co. and eventually with the Denver Public School System in several school cafeterias, Gust, Abraham Lincoln and, mostly, College View, directly across the street from our home. In the mid-60s, she started working for the State Mental Hospital at Fort Logan also in the food industry. She retired in 1986. Her hobbies included bowling and sewing.

She is preceded in death by husband Lupe, age 79. Additionally preceded by her father Rafael, mother Maria, age 104, brothers Rafael Jr., Avelino, Jesus "Hugh," Jose, Santiago "James," Marco, and sisters Dolores and Mary Ann Day of Sumter, South Carolina, also brothers-in-law Dave Day and Edmund Cordova. She is survived by her sister, Carmen Cordova of San Diego, California and sisters-in-law Jennie, Juventina and Miquela, all of Denver and Margaret, of Trinidad, Colorado.

A rosary will be held at 7:00pm on Tuesday, January 30, 2018 at Newcomer Funeral Home and the Funeral Mass will be held at 10am at All Saints Church on Wednesday, January 31, 2018. Burial will be held at 12:30pm Wednesday, January 31, 2018 at Fort Logan National Cemetery where husband, Lupe, was there to welcome her final remains. A reception will be held at All Saints cafeteria afterward.

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