Leona Lee Calderwood

Leona (Lee) Calderwood, Born Saturday, August 16, 1930 in San Antonio, Texas to her father, Anton C. Gloger; mother, Leona Nelson Gloger; and stepmother, Concepcion de la Garza-Gloger. A child of the depression, Lee was born in San Antonio, Texas. Her parents moved to Colorado where her mother received treatment for TB and as an infant Lee was placed in the Jewish National Hospital with glandular TB. That year she was the poster child for the hospitals TB program. Her earliest memories were of being placed in a Catholic orphanage with her older sister after her mother passed away and while her father searched for work during the depression. Two years later she and her sister were united with their father and three other siblings back in Texas. Her father soon married Concepcion de la Garza and they opened a small business together in San Antonio where Lee graduated from Thomas S. Jefferson High School at age 16. She later went on to attend Delmar College in Corpus Christi, Texas. In September 1951, Lee, her husband, and their six-month-old son, Marc, left Denver and drove the unpaved Alcan Highway to Anchorage, Alaska. A resident of Anchorage for 17 years she had three more children, Mitchell, Cord and Christina. She divorced and remarried Wayne Calderwood, paternal father of Cord and Christina and adoptive father of Marc and Mitchell. The family left Alaska in 1968, lived in Guadalajara, Mexico then moved to Silver City in 1969 where Wayne worked as a labor relations attorney for a mine company. In 1973 Leona, Wayne and the family moved to Las Vegas, New Mexico where they bought a local business. Wayne passed away in 1974 and in 1976 Lee sold the business moved to Albuquerque and opened a boutique travel agency, Rio Grande Travel. By 1990 Lee had positioned her business as the largest travel agency in the state and the 8th largest privately owned corporation in New Mexico with over $60,000,000 in annual sales. Rio Grande Travel employed 150 people located in 25 offices in four different states. This energy and drive helped rank her in the Top 5 Women in Business in New Mexico. Her acumen and drive were recognized when she was elected as one of the first women members of Skal International the only professional organization promoting global tourism. Back home she was acknowledged for her local work and business by becoming one of the first women to be admitted to the New Mexico Amigos, the States premier goodwill organization. She was later asked to participate in the New Mexico Economic Development Council and sit on the Board of Regents of Highlands University. In 1994 Lee bought a working hay ranch in Westcliffe, Colorado and in 1998 she sold her travel business to her employees and ran her hay business until 2008. Fully retired in Albuquerque Lee’s time was divided between continued visits to Westcliffe a place she considered her second home, traveling, and her family. Over a long and purposeful lifetime Lee maintained her love of travel, history, family, and personal adventure. Her love of travel took her to 79 countries. Her favorite travel destinations include adventure travel in Africa, Antarctica, and the Galapagos Islands.

In lieu of flowers please make Donations can be made to:
Good Shepherd Center
P.O. Box 749
Albuquerque, NM

Or to make a donation online go to:

https://goodshepherdstl.org/donations/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAuJb_BRDJARIsAKkycUlRPBTeDHyTKIr2Fz0ApeqS5i32unmWDkboj9HdZCtHdgMx0rKudmUaApBjEALw_wcB