Edward Cipriano Montoya age 93 of Springer, New Mexico passed away on June 14, 2014 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was born on March 11, 1921 to Margarito and Rosa Montoya in Sweetwater, New Mexico. Ed was lost in a snow storm at the age of 4 years. He went north from the white house for about a mile and it started snowing. His mother found him cuddled at the corner of a fence.
While growing up, he lived with his grandparents, JT and Millie Fernandez. He remembered taking a handful of cookies and hiding under the bed. It took them a while to find him.
One of his chores was to dispose of the ashes. He used a shovel to dig a hole outside to throw the ashes in. He always remembered the time he hit his toe with the shovel and cried all afternoon. At the age of 10, to took care of the sheep after attending Colmor Schools all day and earned 50 cents a day for sheep herding.
He went back to live with his mom and dad after they had no more boys living at home. They moved to Miami, New Mexico and he attended Miami Schools. When he got growing pains at night, he would wake his sister Margaret up and they would go for walks in the night to relieve him of his growing pains.
He went back to live with his grandparents and attended school in Colmor again. He used to get walloped at Miami Schools, so when he went back to Colmor, kids tried to beat him up and he somehow found the gumption to defend himself, so no one picked on him again. Ed was living with his folks and remembered sheep herding alone. He didn’t read the instructions on the baking powder when cooking for himself and the biscuits he made turned out hard as rocks. He had been warned to keep the sheep away from Mr. White s land. His parents would check on him every 3 or 4 days. When it would lightening and thunder, he would recite a little prayer that an old sheep herder had taught him and he wouldn’t be scared and thought the prayer kept him safe. After his parents bought land at Taylor Springs, he and his sister would break all the horses they could get their hands on.
He graduated from Springer High School in 1939 and enrolled in a business school that was a branch of a Texas University in Clovis, New Mexico. He got his girlfriend Esther Arellano to enroll in school and before leaving Clovis, they were married in 1940.
Their first child, Edward Francis Montoya, was born in 1942. Edward went to work in Rosebud at the ranch of Lieutenant Governor Edward C de Baca and the boss advised him to keep the mules from slowing through the sand. After leaving his job in Rosebud, he came to work in Springer at Boyd s coffee shop washing dishes and making pies. Ed moved on to working for Mr. Van Dyke out at French Tract. Mr. Van Dyke raised registered Herefords. While working for Mr. Van Dyke, his second son, Antonio Roy Louis was born.
His grandmother passed away and his grandfather asked Ed to work for him at Sweetwater, but at the same time he was working for mom and dad in Sweetwater and then he went on his own raising sheep that he had to pasture in Mora, due to dry conditions. During that time he lost 66 ewes and 100 head of lambs because someone had gotten his sheep herder drunk. But neither Ed nor the cattle inspector ever found out who took the lost sheep. He drove the whole herd to MacArthur s in Wagon Mound and sold them. While he was a sheep rancher, his daughters Christina Marie and Rita Mae (Jo-Jo) were born. With the birth of each of his children, Ed was absolutely joyous.
Ed got a job with the Bureau of Revenue, where he worked for four years. He came back to Springer and worked for the New Mexico Boy s School for 22 and a half years, until he retired from that job.
He would deliver gas and oil for his brother Louis and when his brother passed away, he inherited the gas and oil business, which he ran from 1982 till 1992. He sold the gas and oil business upon retiring from the Boy s School. During those two jobs, he continued to raise cattle on his own from 1968 until 1996.
His beloved Esther passed away in March of 1996. Since that time he has enjoyed companionship and friendship with a special lady, Odilia Romero. Together they took a cruise to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and also traveled to Spain and Portugal with his son Tony and daughter-in-law Lucille.
Ed is survived by his four children: Ed, Tony, Christina and Rita Mae. He is also survived by 12 grandchildren: Cindy, Eddie Boy, Tony, Shawn, Antoinette, Michelle, Tina Marie, Georgianna, Isidro, Russell, Jose Antonio Gordo , and Ruth Ann; 17 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great grandchild.
Edward was a member of St. Joseph s Catholic Church in Springer, a proud member of the Knight s of Columbus, and attended Springer Senior Citizens Center. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Margaret Fernandez and brother Roy Louis Montoya. His sisters Mary Ellen Redman and Mary Ann Hunter survive him, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and community members.
In lieu of flowers, Edward requested that donations be made to the Springer Knights of Columbus, Springer Senior Citizens Center or St. Joseph s Catholic Church of Springer. Services will consist of a viewing at the Alderette-Pomeroy Funeral Home in Raton, New Mexico from 12:00 noon till 2:00 p.m. on Friday, June 20, 2014. A rosary will be held at St. Joseph s Church in Springer, New Mexico at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, June 20th with a funeral mass to follow at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 21, 2014, with Father Emmanuel Izuka as the celebrant and Father Daniel Balizan as the co-celebrant. Cremation and private burial will take place at a later date.
The arrangements for Edward C. Montoya are under the direction of the Alderette-Pomeroy Funeral Home of Raton.
