Berlinda Rose Lujan was a “classic Catholic New Mexico woman” and longtime teacher who had friends all over the world, her nephew Charles Bonds said.
Lujan, 79, died Saturday after a brief battle with cancer. Lujan taught for 39 years in the Albuquerque Public Schools, where she taught mainly in the elementaries, including at Mission Elementary, Tomasita and Barcelona elementaries.
“She loved children, those little ones,” said her sister, Andrea Lujan.
“She always liked to say that she taught and she loved them, and she wanted them to remember her,” Andrea Lujan said. “She had a very good relationship with her students, and she loved to teach; that’s why she stayed in the schools for 39 years.”
Never married, Lujan showered her students and her many nieces and nephews with love.
Paramount in her life was her Catholic faith, her sister said, and she was well known for being “giving and generous.”
Lujan loved to travel, having gone to Europe, Greece and Mexico several times during her life.
“She was a very sociable person and made friends easily, although she could be very private at times,” Andrea Lujan said.
The youthful appearing Lujan was always ” impeccably dressed” and liked to spend time walking at Coronado Center, Bonds said.
“She was a classy lady who had a lot of gravitas,” he said. “She was known all over town, and if you went to Argentina or Europe, you would run into people who knew her.”
Funeral services are Tuesday, with a rosary at 9:30 a.m. followed by a Mass at 10 a.m. at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, at 4020 Lomas NE.
A reception will follow at the Moose Lodge, 2121 Edith NE, across from Calvary Cemetery, Bonds said.
Lujan is survived by her sister, Andrea O. Lujan, her brother, Raymond D. Lujan and his wife, Flora. She is also survived by several nieces and nephews: Martin and wife Valery Baca, Angela and husband Gene Sievel, Berlinda and husband Ken Eras, Mark Lujan, Michael and wife Eloisa Lujan, Karol and husband Tim Salazar, Daniel Lujan and Charles Bonds.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Jose Leon Lujan and Lola Lujan; her brothers, Alfonso and Leon Lujan; her sisters, Lucille Baca, Carmen Lujan, and Christina Lujan Bonds.
“Her family deeply appreciates the love, support and prayers they received from our dear relatives, friends and neighbors,” Bonds said.
“We would also like to thank Presbyterian hospice staff Linda Lamansky, Felicia Morgan and Indira Hernandez.”
— This article appeared on page D6 of the Albuquerque Journal
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