Jose Fidel Candelaria

José Fidel Candelaria, 78, died on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016, in Farmington, at the Cedar Ridge nursing home, from complications related to the stroke he suffered in Nov. 2014. He was born July 27, 1938, in Blanco, to Pablo and Eulogia C. Candelaria who predeceased him. With his four brothers and sister, he helped farm their parents' Blanco estate and work their cattle ranch in Gobernador, N.M., as well as helped with a family business in Ignacio, Colo., where Fidel graduated from high school in 1958. The family attended St. Rose Catholic Church where he served as an altar boy. He married Cordelia Ann Chávez in 1961 and reared their son, Clifford, in Albuquerque, Ignacio and South Bend, Ind., where Cordelia attended the University of Notre Dame and Fidel worked with the ND Campus Ministry on community development projects. During their Notre Dame years (1970-75), Fidel worked at El Centro Cristiano de la Comunidad, known simply as "El Centro," in downtown South Bend. El Centro provided services to the unemployed and their families as well as helped to improve the conditions of migrant agricultural workers who were underpaid and often toiled in substandard conditions. Members of Notre Dame's Campus Ministry often joined El Centro working alongside Fidel in community advocacy and civil rights work. He later was invited by Professor Julian Samora, one of the founders of Medical Anthropology, to serve as a field guide for his graduate students in Sociology and Mexican American Studies to give them firsthand experience in community research. Through his community service Fidel met civil rights and labor icon César Chávez, eventually joining Chávez's effort to organize agricultural laborers for better working conditions and pay in the United Farm-Workers Union (UFW) throughout the Midwest. Fidel and his family also lived in Pocatello, Idaho, and Silver Spring, Md., where Fidel did historical research in Washington D.C. at the National Archives and Library of Congress for Notre Dame Professor A.L. Soens, and Cordelia served as a Program Officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) from 1976-78. Fidel's daughter, Annette from his second marriage to Shella Silva of Ignacio, joined them in Silver Spring where she and Clifford attended public schools. Fidel returned to New Mexico in 1976 to run the family ranch after his elder brother, Pablo "Leo" Candelaria, was fatally injured in a car accident east of Blanco. Annette returned to New Mexico to live with her mother and sister, Celeste, after which Cordelia and Clifford left Maryland in 1978 when her NEH appointment ended. The family moved into their home in Durango, Colo., where Fidel commuted to Blanco and Gobernador and Clifford attended high school, playing on the DHS varsity tennis team until his 1979 graduation. Fidel built a home in Ojo de la Cueva, the original Spanish pioneer name they chose for his ranch property in the Navajo Dam area. Before his stroke, Fidel was an avid sports fan actively supporting the Denver Broncos as well as local school and youth athletics. Besides cattle and goat ranching, he also enjoyed backyard gardening in Ignacio, Durango and added a greenhouse onto his house in Ojo de la Cueva where he tended a thriving vegetable garden. Blessed with a curious mind and interest in world affairs, Fidel kept a library of publications on history, politics, and sports. As father, uncle, husband, and friend he especially enjoyed visits from the extended family and Notre Dame associates. He delighted in teaching children how to saddle and ride a horse and didn't hesitate to give them chores "to make real ranch hands" out of them. Fidel was preceded in death by brothers, Orlando, Pablo Jr. and Donald Candelaria; and sister, Ophelia C. Montoya. Dearly beloved Fidel-or Uncle Fito or Fiddle to his closest family-is survived by daughters, Annette Robare (Antonio Duran) of Belen N.M. and Celeste Owens of Albuquerque; and son, Clifford Candelaria (Regina Lauver) of Denver; along with his mother, Cordelia C.C. Beveridge of Tempe, Ariz. Fidel's surviving siblings are sisters, Cruzelia (Pat) Montoya of Turley, N.M., Mercedes (Jay) Skidmore of Port Hueneme, Calif.; brothers, Paul Michael (Belinda) Candelaria and Nick (Carmen) Candelaria both of Farmington. Surviving grandchildren are Brent and Cameron Robare, Aria Duran, Isabella and Eli Owens, Rochelle Park of Durango, Colo., Eyvette Lauver of Denver., and Vanessa Dyer of Aurora, Colo. Surviving great-grandchildren are Stefan, Taylor, Lauren, and Aaron Park, and Aleksa Dyer. He is survived by cherished nieces, nephews and their families. Fidel, also treasured his nurse Carol and other dedicated caregivers at Cedar Ridge, along with the many family and friends who visited him regularly and love him dearly. A rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. today, Sept. 2, at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Blanco. A funeral mass will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 3, also at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church. Friends are invited to join the family in celebrating Fidel and his loving presence in our lives after the internment at St. Mary parish hall, 307 N. Church St. in Bloomfield. Fidel's care is entrusted to Brewer, Lee and Larkin Funeral Home, 103 E. Ute St. in Farmington, 505-325-8688. Those who wish to express their condolences may do so at serenityandcompany.com.