Santiago James Gilbert Hilberto Guerrero

Santiago Hilberto (aka James Gilbert) Guerrero, 74, died of natural causes June 14, 2012 in Chino, Calif. He was born July 25, 1937 in Pueblo, Colo. and resided in La Puente, Hacienda Heights, Whittier and Chino, Calif. respectively, since 1965.

He was a successful entrepreneur of several businesses, including apartment complexes and Laundromats, which he owned and operated. Throughout his 35-year career in education he held positions as administrator, director, principal, assistant principal, summer school principal, outreach consultant, counselor and instructor of bilingual drivers training, industrial arts, mathematics, vocational and adult school in numerous school districts, including Duarte, Baldwin Park, Basset, Placentia and Garden Grove, Calif.

He earned his associate’s degree from University of Southern Colorado in 1960, his bachelor’s degree from Northern Colorado State University in 1962 and his master’s of science in education in 1972 from California State University Fullerton. He also worked as a steel worker for Colorado Fuel & Iron in Pueblo in the 1960s and as a telegraph operator for Santa Fe Railroad in New Laguna, New Mexico in the 1950s. He served four years in the U.S. Army Reserves.

He was preceded in death by mother Juanita (1952), brother Robert (1984), father Jose (1999) and sister-in-law Victoria (Guerrero) Medrano. Husband of Theresa (Montez); father of Gerald Guerrero of Pueblo, Francine LeMaster, Michael (Gina) and Christina Guerrero of California; brother of Gloria Rodriguez, Mary Louise Cordova, Ted, Thomas, Tony and Joe Guerrero, all of Pueblo; grandfather of Lance LeMaster, Clyde and Zoe Guerrero of California.

Rosary will take place at 9 a.m. with funeral Mass at 10 a.m. Friday, June 29, 2012 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, and interment will follow at Roselawn Cemetery in Pueblo, Colorado. Family will receive relatives and close friends at the church hall. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in the form of scholarships in his memory to Duarte High School in California.