Ermalinda Ann Sandoval

Ermalinda (Linda) A. Sandoval was born on July 18, 1945 to Frank De La Cruz and Emma Aguilar De La Cruz in Los Angeles, California. The family moved back to Denver, Colorado shortly thereafter. She attended public and parochial schools in the Denver area before attending high school at Mount Carmel, graduating in 1963. She married Joseph G. Sandoval, son of Joseph Gabriel Sandoval and Scholastica L. Garcia Sandoval of Walsenburg, Colorado (Huerfano County) on June 6, 1964 at Mount Carmel Church in Denver, Colorado. The family lived in the north Denver area near her parents and her maternal grandparents, moving to their present home in 1967. Family was important to her throughout her life and she kept at least weekly, if not daily, contact with her maternal grandmother Maria Perez Aguilar and her step-grandfather John Carrasco, and her parents.

Two children were born to her: Nicolette Kay Sandoval on March 4, 1965; and Cassandra Lynn Sandoval on February 4, 1970. The nomination material submitted for the award from Hispanic Annual Salute emphasized her devotion and care for her two children, Nicolette and Cassandra, and her then four-year-old granddaughter Chelsea Elijah Sandoval.

This same nomination material submitted by a colleague at the Junior League of Denver, Karen S. Lozow, points out the importance of community in Linda’s life: “Many people and organizations have benefitted from her kindness and expertise including her church, Our Lady of Guadalupe” Catholic Church in Denver and later Guardian Angels Catholic Church Denver. She was a “trailblazer” as she was the first Hispanic woman to join the Junior League in 1981. The nomination letter notes, “Linda was an important instrument of change…Through the Junior League, Linda met many volunteer challenges. The League was privileged when Linda served as the 62nd President of JLD from 1997 to1998.”

Her volunteer and community experience was varied as her activities traversed the spectrum from election judge in a precinct, delegate to county and state Democrat conventions, oral interviewer Denver Civil Service Commission, and board memberships in many community groups such as the Denver Children’s Advocacy Center, Council on Adolescent Health, Neighborhood Partnership, Denver Family Corporation, Triangle Partnership, and other organizations through which she received specialized training in dimensions of working in grass-roots organizations and community development and revitalization.

During the marriage and the growing of the family, Linda, as she was known in the community, worked outside the home when her two girls began attending school. She worked in various capacities as a paraprofessional with teachers in the Denver public schools. In 1974 at Remington Elementary she implemented a multi-cultural pilot program, and later worked as a reading instructor in the bilingual, bicultural program. She also worked at Moore Elementary in the non-English speaking program.

During this same period of her early work experience, Linda began her higher education career at Metropolitan State College of Denver in 1974, majoring in Chicano Studies/Communications and Community Service Development/Urban Studies. She graduated with a B.A. Degree awarded on May 20, 1979 MAGNA CUM LAUDE. She cherished her years at MSCD and cultivated life-long friendships some of whom continue to this day. Her diligence, industriousness and attentiveness to her work, her study and her caring for family served her well throughout her life.

Linda worked for Brothers Redevelopment from 1979 to 1992 as the Property Manager, and for a period of time was Administrative Assistant to the President. As part of her duties as Property Manager, she earned a Real Estate License with its obligation to complete Continuing Education credits every three years to retain it. Brothers Redevelopment Inc. was incorporated a non-profit corporation and was synonymous with providing affordable, safe and accessible housing solutions for Colorado’s low-income, elderly and disabled residents. She worked with countless supporters and volunteers to provide a broad spectrum of housing-related services to hundreds of clients across the state. A colleague at this organization recruited her to join the Junior League of Denver.

The Junior League of Denver is a women’s service organization. Linda joined in the early 1990’s and became a very active member. As noted above, she spent her volunteer time engaged in various projects of the League and attending functions sponsored by the League including national meetings and other training sessions. In 1997 the league members chose her to be the president of the organization and she served proudly and with conviction to improve the lives of Denver women and children. Linda made many friends in the league and those friendships endured. She continued her interest serving as a sustaining member offering advice and mentorship to the leaders that followed her. While reluctant to engage in “tribal politics” she does allow that she is the first woman of minority status and the first Latina to be selected as President of the Junior League Denver. She was awarded honors at the 19th Annual Hispanic Annual Salute celebration in 1999. At the time she received accolades and acclaim from various local and national political figures.

She left Brothers Redevelopment in 1992 and became an Estate Manager at C & S Administration Inc, an organization owned and managed by one of her Junior League colleagues. She worked there from 1993 until her retirement in 2009.

Her father Frank Henry De La Cruz (April 6,1922—November 29, 2004) and mother Emma Aguilar De La Cruz (January 7, 1925—February 17, 2015) were married August 7. 1944 at Sacred Heart Church in Denver, Colorado. They moved to California and lived in the Los Angeles area where Ermalinda De La Cruz was born on July 18, 1945. She cared for her mother Emma Aguilar De La Cruz after her mother suffered a serious injury in a fall in 2006 assisting her through a convalescence of a couple years. After her mother’s death in 2015, she continued to engage in community volunteer activities as a sustaining member of the Junior League Denver and her church Guardian Angels Catholic Church as President of the Altar and Rosary Society to which she contributed even as she suffered through her final illness.

She passed away quietly on March 16, 2026 with her husband, Joseph G. Sandoval, at her side as she was in hospice care with Intermountain Health at Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver. She had been ill for a few months and had recovered and relapsed at the time of her passing. She is survived by her husband Joseph G. Sandoval, her daughters Nicolette Kay Sandoval and Cassandra Lynn Sandoval, a granddaughter, Chelsea Elijah Sandoval Mason (Alex). She is also survived by her sisters (by mutual assent) Lillian Sandoval Kandybovich (John) of Morristown, N.J., Judy Sandoval (David Tibbitts) of Denver, cherished nieces and nephews in Denver and in New Jersey. She is survived by friends and associates from the Altar and Rosary Society at Guardian Angels Parish and from the Junior League of Denver. She leaves countless cousins and friends who will miss her cheerful demeanor and love for life.

Preceded in death by her maternal grandmother Mary Perez Aguilar Carrasco (John), and her mother Emma Aguilar De La Cruz, her paternal grandparents John A. De La Cruz (2-8-1898—9-1-1979) and Cleo M. De La Cruz (12-18-1904—1-3-1978) and her father Frank Henry, her father-in-law Joseph Gabriel Sandoval in 1966 and her mother-in-law Scholastica Sandoval in 2005, her sisters (by mutual assent) Theresa P. Sandoval (2-16-1946—1-6-2005), Anita Cisneros (6-13-1950—4-2-2023), Rufina Sandoval (7-10-1954—2-17-2023), a beloved uncle and aunt Ralph and Eleanor Valdez Garcia, numerous relatives, friends and colleagues through the years.

Capturing the sentiment of her surviving family and friends are the following comments including the 50th wedding anniversary. “The service at Guardian Angels and the fabulous reception that followed. The love in that room was wrapped around all of us. Rest in peace, dear Linda. You were deeply loved… I was honored to be on Linda’s management team as her community executive vice president during her tenure as president of Junior League… Such a great lady! She will be loved & missed forever! My condolences to you, your father, Nikki and all who loved her… So many fond memories of your mom, I’m sure she’ll be deeply missed by all who knew her...Prayers for the familia…”

My grandparents in the San Luis Valley at another time in history might say, “seisentos y un annos, nueve meses, y dies dias estavan in matrimonio cuando Dios los separo!”