Loretta C. Stone

My sweet little mama was born at home in La Jara, Colorado on August 15, 1929. She was the third child of Jose Samuel and Mary (Ortiz) Rivera and they named her Loretta Cecelia. In the next few years the family added another three boys so Mama grew up as the only girl in a family with five boys. When Mom was older she told us that she had sad memories of a baby sister who only lived for three days and she always wondered what it would have been like if that little sister had survived.

Sam was a sheep rancher and Mom had lots of memories of all the hard, dirty work and all the fun of growing up in the San Luis valley. Her grandfather owned land around La Jara and Capulin and he had given parcels to his large family so many of the nearby neighbors were aunts and uncles and cousins. Mom was surrounded by family and she loved that! She adored her brothers and remembered all the good times as they played and kept themselves busy around the ranch.

Mom was always her mother’s best helper in the kitchen and around the house. She told us that she knew her mom needed her help with the little boys and cooking and cleaning but she would have been much happier outside and would escape to the yard as soon as her housework was done. Our little bitty mother was always very petite but she didn’t have a delicate bone in her body OR her personality. She grew up feisty and tough and could keep all those rowdy brothers in line. It was all just practice for her future as the mother of seven children!

Mom had fond memories of her childhood. In the winter, the sheep were kept close but as soon as spring rolled around Grandpa hired Basque shepherds to herd the sheep up onto grazing lands in the nearby mountains. Every few weeks all summer long Grandpa would load up supplies and make a trip into the mountains to supply the shepherds and check on the sheep. One year he decided it was time to start bringing the whole family along so he rigged a big tent on top of an old Model T truck and created the family’s first motorhome! Mom has pictures and loved to tell the stories of how her dad built this comfortable place for sleeping and each summer he added a few amenities to make the canvas structure a little more like home. The tent eventually had windows and a porch with a rail to keep the littlest boys from falling off the truck. Mom told us hysterical stories about the fact that the poor old truck could barely make it over the rough mountain roads and when things really bogged down Grandma would make the kids jump out and walk along the road or push as the old truck trudged up certain hills. Mom said that was always her favorite part because she and her brothers could run ahead and cool their dusty feet in the creek knowing that the truck, their parents and the babies would eventually catch up with them. And when they finally reached sheep camp there were fish to catch for supper and wildflowers to gather and nights around a campfire under the stars. Mama loved those days.

The family moved to Denver and Mom went to West High School. She had lots of girlfriends and had wonderful memories of dressing up to ride the trolley so they could catch a movie at one of the grand old theaters in the city. By 1952 Mom was working at the Mountain Bell Telephone Company downtown. She always laughed when she told us she was an “elevator pilot” back in the day when someone had to greet people as they stepped into the elevator and then ask their floor and push the button to deliver them to their destination. It was during this time that she met Val (Stone) Pizzine and started a friendship that would last until Val’s death in 1994.

Val’s brother, Walter Stone was in Korea in 1952. He was coming home for Christmas and would be discharged in early January of 1953. Val decided that Walt would need a date for New Year’s Eve so she introduced him to her friend Loretta Rivera. Walt and Loretta were married just four months later on April 30, 1953.

Walt and Loretta moved to South Dakota so Walt could drive a truck with his brother Eldon. Dad always said that his brother was “the best sleeper partner” and he told us lots of stories about their adventures hauling loads in South Dakota and Wyoming. Mom kept their home and Patti joined their family within a year. Sandy came a little before her due date exactly 13 months after Patti. Mom had good memories of those years and how Dad’s family loved and supported her while she was so far away from her own family.

Walt and Loretta moved back to Denver and bought the house where they would live for the rest of their lives. There was a short break and then Alan came along. After a five-year pause Tim joined the family followed in quick order by Kim, Mary and the baby Mark.

Dad was very close to his parents and ten siblings and they just folded Mom right into their family. Val and her husband Virge lived nearby and Dad’s sister Jeanne and her husband Ed settled in the same area. Dad’s sister Alma and her husband Russell lived about 50 miles away so Val, Jeanne, and Alma became the sisters that Mom never had. They and all of Dad’s siblings became Mama’s dearest lifelong friends.

Daddy’s family had moved a lot during his childhood and that shy child remembered the pain of getting up the nerve to make a few friends in school just about the time the family moved again. So, Dad bought the little house and made the decision that he would never put his kids through that sad experience. We all grew up sharing a bedroom and sometimes even a bed with our siblings and the little house was squeezed tight. Just about the time the last baby was coming Dad added a second-floor addition to the house for two more bedrooms. He and Mom were bound and determined that their kids would stay in one school district and one neighborhood for as long as they lived at home.

Mama and Daddy were both very proud of their children. They raised us well and people noticed and commented on our good behavior and how all it took was a warning or a look from either parent and we knew we had better straighten up or there would be heck to pay when we got home!

My husband Jim and I bought the house next door to Mom and Dad in 1979. Sandy, Mary and Mark all bought houses within a couple blocks from here and lived in the neighborhood for years. They all eventually moved away but not too far away and the entire family spent lots of time camping and making wonderful memories with Mom and Dad. The grandkids and great grandkids became their special joy.

After Daddy retired, they bought their first motor home and traveled around the United States for months on end. They had been dreaming of Alaska for decades so their favorite trips were the summers they spent in the astounding beauty of that glorious wild state. They missed us terribly while they were away so they were really excited when Tim started working in Alaska every summer and then moved to California for the winter months. It just gave Mom and Dad a place to visit with all the joy of the experience and family too. They both loved those years!

We lost our dad in 2010 and Mama missed him every day for the rest of her life. Alan moved back home and was such a good companion for her. She loved cooking and caring for him. She puttered around her yard and kept her flowerbeds weeded and loved her time out in the shade under the trees. Tim and Dayna moved into the house too and they all settled in to Mama’s routines.

By last fall we were losing Mama one pound at a time. She grew so frail and tiny at the end but she always reminded me that she wanted to stay right there in her own home as long as she possibly could. The family did everything we could to make her wishes come true and we patched together a whole team of caregivers between us.

The family camped out in Mama’s front yard last week. We talked and laughed and ate together and took turns in ones and twos and sevens sitting at Mom’s bedside. Her room was filled with love and prayers and memories and songs and tears and she had a peaceful ending on Saturday July 8th.

Loretta Cecelia (Rivera) Stone lost her parents, her husband Walt, her brothers, Ervin, Leo and William and many of her good friends and family. She is survived by her brothers Charles (Jr.) and Armando Rivera. She is also survived by her children, Patricia and Jim Fitzpatrick, Sandy and Ken Kennison, Alan Stone, Tim Stone and Dayna Adams, Kim and Scott Rockwell, Mary and Todd Yogerst and Mark and Jana Stone. She leaves fifteen grandchildren and twenty-six great grandchildren. We all adored her and Mama would tell you that every single one of us was a “Keeper”, a whole bunch of good kids and she would tell you how proud she was of each one.

I was so blessed to live so close that I saw her nearly every day for the last 38 years. I can’t imagine life without her.

Patricia Loretta (Stone) Fitzpatrick

Arrangements under the direction of Olinger Highland Mortuary & Cemetery, Thornton, CO.