Gilberto Celso Luna Jr

Dr. Gilbert C. Luna, of Albuquerque and previously Los Alamos, went home to the Lord on July 17, 2026 at the age of 99. He was just three months shy of his 100th birthday and was the last living Luna to have lived in the Luna Mansion in Los Lunas, always fondly remembering the times he would slide down the banister as a small child.

At age 11, his father, who had managed the family ranch since he was 17, decided it was time for Gilbert to learn how a ranch was run from the ground up. No favoritism was to be shown to the Patron's son and it wasn't. It was hard work but he fell in love with sheep ranching and palomino horses.

On May 1, 1945, at the age of 18, Gilbert graduated from Belen High School. However, on May 30, 1945, he was drafted into the Army by his own father who happened to be head of the draft board in Belen at the time. When asked if he was scared he said he never really thought about it, it was just something you had to do and you were proud to do it.

After WWII ended he attended Loyola University in Louisiana at the "strong suggestion" of his father who thought it was a better idea for Gilbert to become a dentist rather than a rancher (which would have been his preference). It was there in New Orleans he met the love of his life. A gorgeous Panamanian woman named Elvira Lorio, and his life was never the same again.

After graduating dental school, he and Elvira married and moved back home to New Mexico where he became the first mobile dentist for the state. During this time, Los Alamos had heard about him and in 1959, he became the first dentist to work in Los Alamos permanently after the bomb had been dropped. Gilbert and Elvira chose to live and raise their family in Los Alamos, which included not only their own two beautiful children, but also a few nieces and nephews who occasionally needed a temporary home.

During his time as a dentist in Los Alamos he had the privilege of having many of the scientists who had worked with Oppenheimer on the atomic bomb as patients. He said they constantly asked him the same question, "Did we do the right thing?" Over the years he also had the privilege of being the dentist to many famous artists who called New Mexico home. One of his notable patients was Georgia O'Keefe.

In 2000 Gilbert semi-retired from dentistry. (He pulled his last tooth at 85 years old!) He and Elvira left Los Alamos to move closer to his beautiful mother in Albuquerque and help care for her, which he faithfully did until she passed at 109 years old in 2018.

Gilbert enjoyed many hobbies such as horseback riding, hunting, fishing and skiing. He was also skilled at photography, model making and playing the baritone saxophone. He was a lifelong member of the Knights of Columbus and a member of Los Alamos Elks Club. He was a past member of the NM Board of Dentistry, past president of the NM Dental Association and he was elected a Fellow in the International College of Dentists. Most of all he was a man who deeply loved his family and was always there when anyone needed him. A man who kept his word. One of the last of the Greatest Generation.

Gilbert is proceeded in death by his wife Elvira, his children Clarissa and Paul, his sister Roselyn Luna Baca and his parents Gillie and Sylvestra Luna. He is survived by his family MariaElena Baca-Mondragon and her husband John, Randy Baca and wife Michelle, Joyce Weiblen, Conrad Collins and his wife Nora, Roxanne Collins and her husband Ed Trujillo, Daphne Richardson and her husband Norm, Debra Klecan and her husband Dan, Jason Collins, and numerous great nieces, nephews and friends.

Services will be held on Friday, October 23, 2026, at St. John XXIII Catholic Community beginning at 10am with a rosary, mass and interment to follow at Gate of Heaven Cemetery.