Charlotte Romero

Charlotte M. Romero joined our Lord and Savior on Tuesday, July 14, 2020, at the age of 98. Born in Los Angeles, CA, Charlotte was one of nine children and was raised in Colorado and New Mexico. She attended Allison-James School in Santa Fe, NM, graduated from McCurdy School in Santa Cruz, NM, and attended the University of New Mexico and Howard Payne University in Brownwood, TX, where she met and married Rev. Hiram F. Duffer, Jr. in 1943. The Baptist Foreign Mission Board sent them to El Paso, TX, for Latin American Missions at the Baptist Publishing House. In 1952 they were assigned to Missions in Mexico, and were stationed with their three daughters in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico, where they sponsored the Student Home and worked at the Theological Seminary. In 1958 in Mexico City, Mexico, they again sponsored the Student Home, and managed a Christian Bookstore and Recreation Center located across from the School of Medicine at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. In 1960 she was employed by the NM Department of Health and Social Services in Albuquerque, NM as a Caseworker for 25 years. She helped many families in need of assistance, including the elderly in nursing homes, determining eligibility for welfare assistance and food stamps, and taking children to foster care during police incidents. She later worked for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management as a Test Examiner, and later for the VA Hospital in the Coronary Care and Spinal Cord Injury Units. She loved working with people.



She is survived by three daughters, Esther M. Duffer, Helen Courtney (John), and Catherine Montoya (Rudy); four grandchildren, Rudy Montoya, Carlos Montoya, Heather Courtney, and Kenneth Courtney (Christina);two great-grandchildren; sisters, Phoebe Lott and Sylvia Dineen (Bob); brother, Rev. Hiram H. Martinez (Esther), who served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War; and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.



She was preceded in death by her newborn son, David Andres Duffer, and her husband, Alfonso Romero; parents, Rev. Eli and Phoebe Martinez; brothers, Eli (Tito) Martinez, Rev. Saul Martinez, a Medic in the U.S. Army during WWII, Lt. Joel Amos Martinez, a fighter pilot who flew bombing missions over the Himalayas in the China Burma India Theater in WWII, was lost in action on June 14, 1944 at age 23, and is MIA; sisters, Miriam Weidner and Ruth Mehring.



Graveside services were held on Friday, July 17, 2020, at Sunset Memorial Park, 904 Menaul NE, Albuquerque, NM, with the Rev. Dr. Robert Woodruff from Second Presbyterian Church officiating. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Roadrunner Food Bank, www.rrfb.org.