Esperanza

Alvarado

Esperanza Cantu Alvarado, age 82, of Robstown, Texas, peacefully passed away surrounded by loved ones on November 9, 2026, at The Neighborhood in Rio Rancho Community.

Esperanza was born on November 16, 1943, in Robstown, Texas, to Cornelio and Virginia Cantu. She grew up in Robstown, where she attended Robstown High School and worked at her family's bakery and general store, La Victoria. She later became an alumnus of the Hispanic Baptist Seminary in San Antonio, Texas.

Esperanza married Nelson Alvarado in Robstown, Texas, and together they raised five children. Throughout her life, she was deeply devoted to her faith and community. She served faithfully as a pastor's wife for many churches, worked as a church planter, and participated in extensive mission work in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. She was also a founding member of Iglesia Bautista Emanuel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and served as a Prayer Minister at Benny Hinn Ministries in Dallas, Texas. Outgoing, generous, and deeply loving, Esperanza's greatest passion was sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone she met.

Esperanza is survived by her husband, Nelson Alvarado; her five children, Nelson Alvarado, Ginger Alvarado, Manuel Alvarado, Shiloh Alvarado, and Meshach Alvarado; 16 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; and many extended family members and friends. She was preceded in death by her father, Cornelio Cantu, and mother, Virginia Cantu.

A Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, November 14, 2026, at 1:00 p.m., at First Bilingual Baptist Church, 812 Fruit Ave NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102. An interment will follow on Monday, November 16, 2026, at 9:45 a.m., at Santa Fe National Cemetery, 501 N. Guadalupe Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501.

"Do you know Jesus?"

-Esperanza Alvarado

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.