Raigoza served in many ways

By Ollie Reed Jr.
Tribune Reporter

It's no surprise that among his family Col. Juan Raigoza was known as a Renaissance man.

Raigoza, who was retired from the Army, was a man of many parts, many interests, many talents.

He was a soldier, a teacher and a politician. He was an accomplished painter, cook and gardener. As a member of the Army's fencing team, he was a good man with a foil and saber.

While serving with the Army in Germany, he coached a football team of soldiers.

"And he was a voracious reader," said Raigoza's daughter, Renee Wolff. "There was not one subject he did not know something about - in English and in Spanish."

Raigoza, an Albuquerque resident for 45 years, died Sunday at Lovelace Medical Center. He was 86.

Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday at French Mortuary's Lomas Chapel, 10500 Lomas Blvd. N.E. Burial will follow at Sunset Memorial Park, 924 Menaul Blvd. N.E.

"One of the things that is important to remember about my father - especially at this time of year, right before the elections - is that he was a Republican and very interested in politics," Wolff said.

Raigoza campaigned for Republican Joe Skeen in Skeen's failed try for the Governor's Office in 1974, and he tried twice for political office himself.

Raigoza ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 1974. He was the Republican nominee for New Mexico House District 18 in 1976 but lost in the general election.

His campaign platforms were built with the planks of conservative values.

"I tend to be conservative because I believe in rugged individualism," his campaign literature said.

His years in military service made him a staunch believer in a strong defense.

"The defense of this nation is to me a sacred charge," his campaign literature said. "I accept it as axiomatic that we must be second to none."

Although Raigoza was unsuccessful in both bids for office, Wolff said that did not blunt her father's enthusiasm for politics.

"He was very concerned with politics throughout his life," she said.

Raigoza was born June 12, 1918, in Redlands, Calif. He was drafted into the Army six months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and served as an officer with a combat infantry division throughout the war.

He also served during the Korean War, part of that time as a liaison and adviser with an Ethiopian infantry battalion.

Wounded in combat in both wars, Raigoza was a member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

His military career brought Raigoza to Albuquerque in 1959 when he was assigned to Sandia Base. He retired from the service in 1961 with the rank of colonel.

After leaving the Army, he taught mathematics and Spanish literature at Highland High School for 17 years. During part of that time, his daughter, Renee, was a student at Highland.

"As a teacher, he felt very strongly about young people," she said. "And his students adored him."

Among Raigoza's most prized possessions was a plaque presented to him by one of his Highland classes.

It read, "Thanks for making our last year so special - Calculus 1978."

Raigoza also worked as co-host, newscaster, commentator and producer of Albuquerque's "Val De La O Show," a Spanish-language musical and variety TV program that was syndicated throughout the country.

"He spoke excellent Spanish," his daughter said. "He was a very educated, well-read, Spanish-speaking gentleman."

Geraldine Vivian Raigoza, his wife of 57 years, recalls a time during his Army career when Raigoza was on assignment in Panama and Juan Carlos, now king of Spain but then a young, military cadet, visited that country.

"My husband's Spanish was so good that Juan Carlos talked with him a lot," she said. "It's a pleasant memory."

She also has fond memories of her husband's devotion to his two grandsons - Michael Philip Moore and Justin Thomas Welby.

"He taught them to play chess and helped them with their math and in so many other ways," she said.

She has a special place in her heart for an oil painting of a house and garden that hangs on a wall in her home. The artist, of course, was the colonel.

"He was a good painter," she said. "He did a little bit of everything."

Survivors include his wife, Geraldine Vivian Raigoza; his daughters, Renee Wolff and Michelle Welby; and two brothers, Eliseo Carrillo Jr. and Vicente Carrillo.

Also, sons-in-law, William Wolff and Jim Welby and grandchildren Michael Philip Moore, Sara Wolff, Melanie Miller, Justin Thomas Welby, Erin Bevins and Allison Welby and several nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Abigail Carrillo, and his sister, Matilde Lujan.

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