Charlene Estes (Stailey) Faust was born in Tombstone, Arizona February 6, 1952 and died in Albuquerque on February 3, 2026. She was 73. She spent her childhood years in various Southern California locations and Bisbee, Arizona where she graduated from high school and spent the happiest years of her early life with her stepfather, Wes Allen.

She worked as a dental assistant in Encino, California and in 1975 met her husband, Bill Faust who was a Navy officer stationed at Long Beach Naval Station. They were married on December 16,1975 in Berkeley, California and the following year had a son named Alexander. The family moved to Silver City, New Mexico in 1976 where her husband was employed by Chino Mines as an engineer. During the next seven years, the family grew by another son, Nick, and a daughter, Whitney.

Her family was her career, and she was the most loving, caring, and generous wife and mother. All three of her kids and husband will attest to that. The next 12 years took the family to Winnemucca, Nevada and later to a mining corporate office in Albuquerque.

From then until now, Albuquerque became the base where she often single-handedly raised the family as her husband worked for a variety of Canadian mining companies at mines located throughout North and South America.

She is survived by her husband and children Alex, Nick, and Whitney, as well as her sister Sally Turner and brother, Jay Allen. She also has 4 grandchildren including Alex's twins, Jaxen and Lauren who graduate from a Reno high school this year and Nick's daughters, Stailey and Sloan, who are in school in Las Cruces.

She is predeceased by her mother, Joyce Estes, father, Charles Stailey, and stepfather, Wes Allen.

A graveside service will be held at the Masonic Cemetery in Silver City, NM on Friday, February 20, 2026, at 2:00 PM.