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HOME	CLASSIFIEDS	OBITUARIES	SPORTS	OPINION

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Former Councilman Served for Over 20 Years

By By Laura Nesbitt /
Mountain View Telegraph
      Pete Candelaria was devoted to working as a councilman for the people of Moriarty, according to those who knew him.
       Candelaria served on the Moriarty City Council from March 1974 to March 1984 and then again from March 1986 to March 2002, said Deputy Clerk Margie Olivas.
       Candelaria was born in Chilili in 1935, and died on March 27 at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque.
       He was a retired ironworker from Los Alamos National Laboratories.
       Candelaria sometimes drove from job sites in Farmington, more than a 200-mile drive, or from Los Alamos, more than an 80-mile drive, to arrive — on time — at City Council meetings.
       The councilman missed few meetings in over 20 years of public service, according to his brother-in-law, Mike Tapia, city public works superintendent.
       “Pete was dedication. It didn’t matter if he was working in Los Alamos or Farmington, he rarely missed a council meeting. And more often than not, he would return to his job site location that same evening,” said Mayor Adan Encinias in an e-mail. “He was all about service and duty.”
       While serving as councilor, Candelaria’s important accomplishments included zoning areas in the city for homes and commercial use, Tapia said.
       But he was also particular when it came to naming areas of the city.
       “Pete would be furious when people came into council meetings and called” the area around the school ‘old town.’
       “Original town site was the name that he wanted them to call it,” Tapia remembered.
       On Candelaria’s days off he tended cows and horses but he also dallied with the idea of invention.
       “He was always trying to put something together. He was trying to make a baler to have for winter feed for cows.
       “He never finished it,” Tapia said.
       On January 25, 2006 Candelaria had a heart attack on Interstate 40 while riding home with his wife of 53 years, Terry.
       Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Deputy David Brown immediately turned his vehicle around after he saw Candelaria’s truck driving west at high speed in the median near Carnuel. Brown reached speeds of 100 mph to catch up with Candelaria’s truck and pull it over.
       Brown used the portable defibrillator he carried in his squad car to try to resuscitate Candelaria.
       Terry and his crying 6-year-old granddaughter waited outside.
       On the deputy’s second try, the defibrillator’s mechanical voice told Brown to “shock patient” again and “CPR” which the deputy performed, he said.
       According to Tapia, Candelaria did not die from a heart attack but from a virus that he was not able to fight.
       “As I greeted folks just before his final Mass, I was amazed to hear the fun-filled, humorous and adventurous stories from his friends, co-workers and colleagues.
       “There was one common exclamation from all that day — ‘a que Pete!’ Trust me, this cannot be translated fairly. You just had to know Pete to fully get its full meaning,” Encinias said in an e-mail.
   

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