Catalina Rivera

Catalina (Katie) Viola Rivera

Catalina Viola DeHerrera was born to Jacobo and Juanita DeHerrera in the Spring of 1932 during late lambing season in El Copar, just Southeast of Cuba, New Mexico in the Nacimiento Mountain foothills. She was one of eleven children born to Jacobo and Juanita, nine of which grew into adulthood. She loved being outdoors with her two brothers: older brother Felimon and younger brother Jacobito.

Growing up a tomboy, she would rather be outdoors than in the kitchen with her older sisters Emma and Elodia. Her other siblings included her older brother Lalo and younger siblings Anna, Willie, and Elden. After high school she went to Santa Fe and worked for the State of New Mexico, living with her cousin Marcia Gurule. She later moved to Albuquerque and attended business school, eventually getting a job with the Employment Security Commission. She met her future husband, Roy Rivera, at St. Joseph's College while on a double date with her sister Elodia. Roy and Katie wed at San Jose Church in the summer of 1956. In 1957, they greeted their first and only child, Roy Jr. Katie continued working until 1972, when she decided to go back to school to become an educator like her husband, Roy. In 1975, she received her bachelor's degree in Bilingual Education from the University of New Mexico. For the next fifteen years, she worked for The Albuquerque Public Schools (APS), in various schools, with fourth grade being her specialty. The elementary schools she worked at were Emerson, Dolores Gonzales, Los Padillas and later Eubank and Hodgin Elementary. Everywhere Katie went, she would always encounter and remember a student that she had taught. She would also run into first cousins (she had 108 of them).

Katie and her husband loved traveling, especially out of the Country. In 1988, Katie welcomed her daughter-in-law, Mary Frances into the family. Katie was not always a good cook, but after many years of practice feeding her family, she became one of the best. Katie was a competitive cook, always learning new recipes and trying to make the old ones better. Aunt Katie, as many nephews and nieces called her, loved her extended family, but she especially loved her two granddaughters Sharayah and Rachael, taking care of them while their mother worked. After retiring from APS, Katie spent summers at the farm in Sile, NM with her husband. After her husband died, (exactly nine months prior), Katie spent her time talking on the phone with her friends, watching her Telenovelas and praying her Rosary. She was a lifelong parishioner of Queen of Heaven Church. I am sure that Katie is now awaiting the time when the rest of her family will join her in Heaven.