Matilda Bessire

1923 - 2023

Matilda Bessire



Having lost her heart and her betrothed at Hickam Field on December 7 1941, Matilda (Jiron) Bessire devoted her life-now complete-to caring for her parents, her daughter, and her husband. She was born to Victor and Emilia (Kiehne) Jiron December 11, 1923 in San Francisco Plaza New Mexico, and she died in Los Lunas, NM, October 11, 2023. She was one of a kind and her many friends and relatives will miss her indomitable spirit, which remained her strength right to the end.



Aunt Matilda never learned to drive, preferred instead to be driven, but like her four beloved sisters she could rope, ride and shoot. She was proud of her New Mexican Native heritage of countless generations and European heritage of 11 generations in New Mexico. She loved her sisters and leaves one grieving, Ruby (Charles) Esquibel of Bloomfield, mother of three. She lost two sisters this past year, Dora Jiron a career educator maiden in Reserve, and Mary Ellen (John) Hogsett, a mother of two and spirited home maker, of Santa Fe; her eldest sister Natalia (Fermin) Aragon having died years ago in San Diego, California where she retired as an executive secretary, homemaker, and mother of four.



Matilda was educated at Loretto Academy in Santa Fe as an office administrator and secretary, skills she used to assist her father in his business ventures, and public service as a schools superintendent and county assessor in Catron County. She had a reputation for pulling Victor-a veteran of the gas fields of WWI- out of trouble when he got liquored up and in over his head at poker games at Uncle Bill's Bar. She fell in love and was betrothed to a Catron County rancher who joined the Army to become a pilot, killed by Japanese terrorists at Pearl Harbor as he tried to get his plane aloft to fight them.



She married and faithfully supported Charles Bessire of Delta, Colorado, a WWII veteran and US Army civilian heavy equipment operator who was amongst those that scrapped the remains of the Trinity Explosion from the desert floor. They lived in High Rolls, NM and raised a daughter, Charlene Bessire who was a prima ballerina in local productions, a cheer leader at Alamogordo High School, and a career maiden educator.



Matilda and Charlie returned to Reserve after Charlie's retirement from the US Army at White Sands to run Vic's Service Station, a Catron County mainstay for hunters, natives, and bull shitters. Charlie succumbed to skin cancer and Matilda continued running the station, eventually taking care of Charlene in her last years of suffering from diabetes. Already in her 90s, Matilda fell apart after Charlene died and let her health go with no one immediate to take care of her. Her extended family, principally her beloved niece Debbie Godron, found out and convinced stubborn Matilda to retire to the loving care of David Alterete and Richard Moya and family in Los Lunas and, where she returned to health to thrive for the remainder of her life, remaining sharp and never giving an inch.



Celebration of Life will take place at St. Francis Parish, In middle Frisco, NM on Novemeber 8, 2023, at 11:00am Following Inurmnet at St. Francis Catholic Cemetery in Frisco.



Arrangements are being handled by the caring professionals at the Director's Choice Mortuary, 9316 Susan Ave SE, Albuquerque, NM 87123, (505) 272-6524 .



To send flowers to the family please go to Bloom Flowers & Gifts 1402 Main St SW, Los Lunas, NM 87031 (505) 865-7338