Terecita Naranjo

Terecita Naranjo was born in Mora, New Mexico to Jesus and Desideria Naranjo on Oct. 15, 1915. She was the twelfth child, born seven months premature,all her other siblings were stillbirth or died as infants. She was a fighter from the very beginning, she was so small she was put in a match box in cotton, fed with an eye dropper and place in a warm place behind a wooden stove. She had two adapted siblings, family members, a brother Tito, fifteen years older, and a sister Josephine, one year older than Terecita.

Terecita was very studious, wanting to be a schoolteacher; however, it never became a reality. She married when she was twenty four years old to Pedro Duran. From that union came a daughter, Gloria. After 6 years, her marriage ended in divorce. One year later she married again, to Milnor Trujillo having a son, Gilbert, soon thereafter she divorced for the second time.
Three years later from another relationship, she had a son, John. After John was born, she remained single raising her children as a single mother.

She moved to Rawlins, Wyoming with her sister Josephine and her brother-in-law. They helped her financially till she could get back on her feet.
She went to work at an elite restaurant doing the laundry without knowing a word of English. One of the ladies training her slowly taught her English where she became fluent after two years. From there she went to work in the kitchen preparing salads and salad dressing. She always worked in the restaurant business, being feisty enough where she would quit a job, re-act and think about her actions later, wondering how she was going to pay the rent the next month.

In 1964, she moved to Denver, CO to be close to her then married daughter, Gloria. She always said that was the best move she made by giving her two sons the opportunity to move to a big city where they could get a higher education.

Terecita was a nomad, she didn't have roots planted for long. She would move from one apartment building to the next building over, then from the top floor to the bottom floor and she did this constantly. Throughout her life of 98 years, she moved at least thirty five times ~ those are the ones that we knew of ... :)

One funny thing that she did that stands out in Gloria's mind while she was in assistant living. We were in the dining room and on the way back to her room a gentleman was walking in front of us. She moved behind me from my left to my right and pinched the man's rear, then hurriedly moved behind me to my left side again. The man looked at me, winked and from then on he was very attentive to me.

Mom got a big charge and she laughed all the way to her room after pulling that prank. It was very out of character; since she did not have a sense of humor.

She is survived by Gloria (Chris aka: Corky) their children; son Jerry (June) Gonzales and great-grandchildren (Krystal, Jenelle and Austin), Mykol, Marcia and great-grandchildren (Marraye and Brandon).
Her son Gilbert is the father of five children, Dion (Rosanna), Leslie, Valerie, Adrian (Gloria) and great-grandchildren (Diego and Andrea),
Amorette and great-grandchildren (Denae, Deanna, and Dillon).

Her son John (Anna) their children; Sgt. Johnny (Bianca) and great-grandchildren (Michael, Danielle, Vincent), Justin (Kristelle) and great-grandchildren (Alexis, Jazzlyn, Justin James Jr.), Tara (Bernie) and great-grandchildren (Diego, Janay, Elijah, and Anthony).

She is also survived by a favorite nephew Fred Solano, and numerous nieces and nephews.