Sadie L. Aguilar

Sadie Lucia Aguilar - 88 years old, a life-long resident of Cerro, New Mexico, passed away February 11, 2023. She was born November 3, 1934 and is preceded in death by her two husbands, Elivy Jose Segura and Medardo “Bardo” Aguilar, parents, Edward Ortega and Francinia Rael, brothers Floyd (Roxanne) and Fred (Maxine) Ortega and children Frances (Amos) Martinez, Ernesto (Susan) Segura, and Geno (Monica) Aguilar. Her mother died when she was young and was sent to live with her paternal grandmother, Elijia and her husband Manuel Jaramillo, of Arroyo Hondo. She attended primary school in Cerro, where she learned English. She finished her schooling in 1949 and went to Denver by train where she lived with family and worked at a private boys school cleaning dormitories and picking peaches in the summer. She returned home a year later and married Elivy Segura on Dec. 29, 1950. She made her home for the next fifteen years in Hawthorne, Nevada (1951-1966), where she would raise her six children. After her husband’s passing in Sept. 1965, Sadie returned to New Mexico to stake her claim on the Segura Land Grant, where she bought her home, and remained for over fifty years. There, she met and married her second husband Medardo Aguilar in 1968 and together they would later raise their adopted son, Eugene “Geno” Aguilar. From 1968 to 2023 she would maintain her homestead as the sole matriarch, while creating a lasting legacy of kin spanning four generations. Sadie worked in Red River for the remainder of her career and after retirement served her community as a member of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary, as a mayordoma for the Cerro church and a member of the Friendship Circle. She took pride in her bilingual skills and enjoyed her work taking care of people's homes. Sadie is survived by her children Manuel, Edward, Horace, and Carol Segura; 21 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren, sisters Flora, Aurora, Carmen, Ruby, Priscilla, Alice, and brother Jake (Pauline) Ortega; numerous nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews, cousins, and close friends, Deliria, Evangeline, Marvine, Betty.

A rosary was held in her honor at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Cerro, Feb 17 followed by Funeral Mass and burial at Cerro Cemetery Feb 18. Her pallbearers were her grandchildren, Amos, Manny, Christopher, Emilio, Thai, and Maria. Special thanks to the Friendship Circle and volunteers for preparing a meal for the family to share, Father Andrew and Deacon Marcos Rael for their thoughtful sermon, Dale and Sandra Quintana, mayordomos, Rivera Funeral Home staff for the arrangements, Amos and Virgil Martinez for plowing snow to clear the roads and cemetery, Charles Martinez for preparing granny’s final resting place, to all those who sent flowers and food and came out in support of the family. The family appreciates those who visited while Sadie was homebound, including Irma and Loveida, who brought communion, Rosie at Taos County who brought her meals, and the many community members both young and old who looked out for her and treated her with dignity and respect in her final years.

Arrangements by Rivera Family Funeral Home. To share a memory, please visit our website at www.riverafuneralhome.com