Jose Celedon Aragon

Celedon Aragón
1945-2023
Services will take place at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church on Monday, November 13, 2023, beginning with a Visitation at 5:00 p.m., with A Rosary at 6:00 p.m. There will be a Final visitation on Tuesday, November 14, 2023, beginning at 11:00 a.m., with a Funeral Mass to be celebrated at 12:00 p.m. Interment will follow at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Cemetery.
IIn celebration and in memory of Celedon Aragón – youngest of 15 children, a loving husband, father to five, grandfather to five, great-grandfather to one, uncle to many, and a friend to countless. A farmer at heart, yet at the height of his professional career, he was a trained physicist in aerospace and nuclear sciences and was a wise civil-rights leader. From humble beginnings in the farms of Valencia, New Mexico, he cultivated an extraordinary and meaningful life.
A graduate of New Mexico Tech and Cornell University, he served as a U.S. Government civil servant with the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration for 27 years, leading numerous projects to mitigate nuclear warfare and the proliferation of nuclear weapons of mass destruction. This work led him to learn from and work with notable theoretical physicists like Edward Teller and Giovanni Rossi Lomanitz, scientists of the Manhattan Project and colleagues of the famous J. Robert Oppenheimer.
He was a fierce champion of civil rights, advocating New Mexico's Hispanos and other underrepresented groups. As President and member of New Mexico's leading Hispanic civil rights organizations, he collaborated with colleagues to pressure New Mexico's congressional representatives, Senator Pete Domenici and Congressman Manuel Lujan, to demand fair and transparent hiring and promotion practices in U.S. Government facilities located in New Mexico such as Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories and Kirtland Airforce base. His dedication to this selfless work resulted in the advancement of Hispanos and other underrepresented groups to senior positions in the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense.
For all the things Celedon achieved professionally, he never forgot where he came from. Raised in a humble adobe (mudbrick) home in his homeland of Valencia, New Mexico - he grew up learning how to grow green chile, corn, wheat, how to plow fields, milk cows, and irrigate the fields with the Acequia (earthen ditch). He was raised by a mother and family who grew up in a New Mexico that pre-dated U.S. Statehood, which imparted a unique set of cultural values grounded in love and loyalty to parents, la familia (family), la casa (the home), los vicinos (neighbors), la madre tierra (Mother Earth), el agua (water), and las huertas (the farms). He kept his heart and soul close to the earth, rooted in the soil, near to his family, and in the value of Querencia (love of home, place, and family).
In retirement, Celedon returned to cultivating the sacred earth that nourished and fed his childhood memories by gardening, watering with the acequia, and dedicating endless time to his beloved family.
Celedon was known as the one who brought everyone together, keeper of traditions, and bearer of the family's stories/histories. Above all, he was known for his love, an unconditional kind of love that was constant and abundant. His love for his family and friends was rooted in the value of Grace- accepting people for who they are, all their flaws, all their transgressions, upholding their dignity and loving them through the most difficult of moments.
He was a generous man, a giving man, a selfless man. He made sure to uplift the poor, be part of the healing process for the sick, and dedicated his time and attention to family and friends. He held space for all those who needed advice, leading them through the hardest of moments, helping them restore confidence in themselves, and empowering them to achieve their dreams. He was generous, because he firmly believed that success did not emerge from a void, rather it was cultivated by countless individuals who helped along the way.
Celedon was devoted to his faith, a kind of faith that was not blinded by dogma, rather guided by values centered around love and humility. He committed himself to serving those most in need, he honored his antepasados (ancestors) for their wisdom and believed in the value of forgiveness. When he made pilgrimages to Santuario de Chimayó, he would sift his hand through the sacred earth and pray for healing and the end of suffering.
When Celedon was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, he believed his last months should be spent with those he loved and doing what he would miss. In sickness he fought the pain to make memories with family and friends, landscaped a paradise in the backyard, and made sure to convey to everyone he cared for how much he loved them unconditionally. Celedon passed on from this world on All Souls Day, November 2, 2023, at the age of 78. He waited till everyone said their individual goodbyes and finished an early Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner, he was surrounded by his wife, five children, five grandchildren, and lifelong friends when he took his last breath.
In the days before passing, Celedon took a trip to Valencia, New Mexico to visit family and to see where he grew up one more time. He told his sister- in- law, crying, "Take care of this beautiful paradise, this sacred land " Now, in death, his body and soul are part of this sacred land, as he will be buried in Valencia, New Mexico alongside his mother, father, all his siblings, and antepasados who went before him. Forever he will be part of this holy landscape which he described as "a land full abundance" dotted with orchards, chile fields, corn, wheat, blessed by life giving water from the acequias, and kissed by the warm New Mexican sun. May God grant him eternal peace in this paradise, his "patria chica" of Valencia, New Mexico.
Celedón was preceded in death by his father, Pedro Aragon, and mother, Francesquita "Kika" Orona Aragon. He was preceded by his siblings, Jose, Mercedes, Sofia, Cloudina, Leonides, Angelica, Rose, Esther, Liberato, Napoleon, Roosevelt, Pedro, Felix, and Margret Aragon.
Celedon is survived by his wife, Cindy; his five children, Tim, Monica, Christina, Cisco, and Carlo James (CJ); his five grandchildren; Ray, Angelica, Amy, Martin, and John, and one great-grandchild, Madison.