November 10 – Public service runs in Chris Rivera’s family. His father and grandfather served in the military and then had careers in community service: his father as a local firefighter and grandfather with the US Postal Service.
Rivera followed his father to the Santa Fe Fire Department, where he worked his way up to chief; he also served three terms on the city council.
“We’ve always tried to do our part and make sure we were contributing to Santa Fe and its growth,” he said.
His father, Bennie M. Rivera, and grandfather, Frank Rivera, were both honored this year for their military service through the local Hometown Heroes program, which displays banners with images of veterans and information about their service.
The Riveras banners have been hanging on street lamp posts near the Santa Fe National Cemetery, across the street from each other, for months.
“It’s really cool to know exactly where they are,” Chris Rivera said.
Santa Fe residents have one more week to check out the Hometown Heroes banners on display throughout the city — this year there are 153 — before they are removed for the Nov. 19 season.
The popular program, launched by the city of Santa Fe in 2019 in partnership with local veterans groups, was organized by the American Legion Lucero Y Nava Post 12, which ultimately took over the city’s funding responsibility when concerns were raised in 2022 about possible violations of the anti-donation rules. However, the chapter announced before this year’s exhibition that it could no longer bear the financial burden of running the program.
Hometown Heroes — which had faced a series of installation delays and other challenges in recent years — was in danger of dying before Richard Martinez and the Santa Fe Knights of Columbus Council 10517 of the Santa María de La Paz Catholic Community intervened to save it. another year. The banners were installed before Memorial Day and were intended to honor local veterans, whose service dates back to World War II, until after Veterans Day. While most people pay tribute, there is one banner this year that pays tribute to military working dogs.
“They have been such a blessing to veteran families,” Vanessa Romero said of the Knights of Columbus. Her grandfather is honored with a banner.
Martinez said the program was a team effort between the Knights, the city of Santa Fe and several local groups and businesses that provided support, including Allegra Print, Coates Tree Service, Comcast, Southwest Fire Defense and Santa Fe County, which provides traffic safety services. for placing and removing the banners.
“It takes a village to make this happen,” Martinez said.
A Santa Fe City Council resolution in May approved the banner program for 2024 and 2025, and Martinez said information about next year’s program will be shared online at a later date at hometownheroes.org.
The organization plans to place 200 banners next year, and Martinez said he has thought about the most equitable way to select participants if there are more applications than spots.
“We’re trying to do something that’s fair to everyone,” he said.
Martinez said he is grateful to everyone who made this year’s program a success.
“At the end of the day, it’s about those faces on the banners,” he said. “Without them we wouldn’t have the life we have.”
‘He felt it was his duty’
Chris Rivera and Romero were among a number of local people who shared stories of loved ones honored at this year’s Hometown Heroes show.
Rivera’s father served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1963 to 1967, including about a year in Vietnam.
“He didn’t really talk about it much,” Rivera said.
His father wanted to volunteer before he was drafted to serve in the Vietnam War and was still figuring out what he wanted to do with his life when he signed up, Rivera said, adding, “Since both of my grandparents had served, I think he felt like it. was also his duty.”
His grandfather served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Chris Rivera said he knows little about Frank Rivera’s services but described him as “a great, hard-working man.”
Frank Rivera worked for the US Postal Service for many years and owned property in La Cienega. Chris Rivera said he has fond memories of spending time there helping with the crops and livestock growing up.
“He was mayor in La Cienega, so he was in charge of people’s watering days,” Rivera said of his grandfather. “It was great to have some of those traditions and remember some of the things he was able to teach us.”
Bennie Rivera joined the Santa Fe Fire Department after serving and was one of the first emergency medical technicians. He retired in 1987. He then joined the Carlos Gilbert Elementary School volunteer program.
Chris Rivera and his father’s time in the fire department overlapped by a few months, although they never worked a shift together.
Initially, Rivera said, he had no intention of joining the department.
“I actually didn’t want to do it,” he said, “and when I got home from college one summer, he talked me into applying, and I fell in love with it almost as soon as I started.”
Rivera said he is grateful to everyone who kept the Hometown Heroes banner program going.
“It’s great to do something on behalf of the city,” he said.
‘He’s never met a stranger’
Jesusita Larrañaga’s father, Emelecio Larrañaga – known to most as EA or Junior – was born on a farm in the community of Red Hill, in southwestern New Mexico. He worked as a sheep herder as a teenager and joined the army at the age of 21.
He served in the United States Army during the Korean War from 1952 to 1954 and received several awards.
“He didn’t talk much about what he saw or what happened,” Jesusita Larrañaga said, although he told many stories about the friends he made and was proud of his service.
“Serving was a reminder to keep going, work hard and come out stronger,” she said.
Upon returning, he worked for the Bigbee Ranch in New Mexico and Colorado and married Jesusita’s mother, Rosina, in 1956. The couple, married for 63 years, raised their four children in Santa Fe.
Emelecio Larrañaga had a long career with the New Mexico Department of Transportation, retiring after 25 years. He worked as a maintenance foreman, maintaining roads and shoveling snow.
“He did everything his crew did,” Jesusita Larrañaga said. She remembered him carrying blankets in his car and handing them out to people stranded during snowstorms or giving them a ride to Santa Fe.
“He would work all day and then come out at midnight to make sure the crews were clearing the roads,” she said.
She described her father as a “true blue cowboy” who liked to joke around and “never met a stranger.”
“He was a simple, honest, hardworking man who was extremely proud of his family,” she said. “He was full of life and knowledge and was always willing to help those around him.”
Larrañaga died five years ago and never saw the Hometown Heroes program, “but I know he would be very proud to see that they had honored the veterans,” Jesusita Larrañaga said.
This year his banner will hang at the intersection of Airport Road and Cerrillos Road. Jesusita Larrañaga and her mother, now 88, see it as they drive into Santa Fe from their home near Lake Cochiti.
“Every time we go into Santa Fe, we drive by his banner and she gives him a kiss,” Jesusita Larrañaga said of her mother.
‘She was really proud’
Most Hometown Heroes banners are purchased by family members, but the one honoring Theresa Victor was sponsored by two of her friends.
Carmella Montoya and Rosalie Pena contributed in honor of Victor, who passed away in 2019.
A native of Santa Fe, Victor served in the New Mexico Army National Guard from 1983 to 2008 and retired at the rank of master sergeant.
“She enlisted late, so she had to get a waiver to enlist, but she was really loyal to the military,” Pena said. “She was really proud of being in the military.”
Pena, also a veteran, met Victor in the military. She described her friend as a giving person who was an active supporter of veterans organizations and causes, including support for the Santa Fe National Cemetery.
An online obituary for Victor stated that she was a member of the New Mexico Army National Guard Enlisted Association and was also involved with the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society and a local Alzheimer’s organization, and was buried with military honors at the national cemetery .
Victor died at age 71, a week after the death of Rosalie Pena’s husband, Paul Pena, who served in the Army and retired as a brigadier general. His wife also bought a banner to honor him.
“He was very loyal,” Rosalie Pena said. “He enlisted right before the Vietnam War and his father got very sick, so he left the war to be with his father. But then he joined the National Guard and went to Officer Candidate School and became an officer.”
Banners for Paul Pena, Victor and two other people Pena has sponsored are displayed in a row on the south side of Cerrillos Road.
Rosalie Pena is grateful that the program was able to continue for another year and mentioned Richard Martinez. She said he “worked very hard to get all the family members together. He did a very good job.”
‘A model figure’
Antonio “Tony” Chavez Jr. served in the army at a young age. The Santa Fe resident’s mother had died when he was 10, and he subsequently spent several years at St. Anthony’s Orphanage in Albuquerque, a Catholic institution run by strict nuns.
An online obituary for Chavez said his experience there “would come in handy later in the military.”
Vanessa Romero, his granddaughter, said he was a kind-hearted, hard-working family man.
“He was certainly a model figure,” she said.
His Hometown Heroes banner is on south Cerrillos Road, near the Walmart Supercenter.
“We liked that area because we always shop in that area, and we always wave and say, ‘Hello, Grandpa Tony,’” Romero said.
Chavez graduated from Santa Fe High School and joined the U.S. Army at the age of 21, along with three of his brothers. He served in the European Theater of World War II in England, France and Germany from 1942 to 1945. Romero said he missed the invasion of Normandy because he broke his ankle in training, but later fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
In 1945, he stepped on an anti-personnel mine, which earned him a Purple Heart and ended his military career. He was in hospital recovering when the Germans surrendered.
“He died with shrapnel in his body,” Romero said.
Chavez was sent back to the US and spent several months in a hospital in San Antonio, Texas, before returning to Santa Fe. He married Romero’s grandmother, Margarita, in 1949.
Chavez, who died in 2014, worked for the US Postal Service for 38 years and was an active member of the Catholic Church. He belonged to a number of veterans’ organizations, including helping to found the local chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart.
“He was just very proud of his service,” Romero said.
Romero said she has fond memories of spending time with her grandfather as a child.
“We could always count on him,” she said. “He was just a great man.”
Her five-year-old son has never met Chavez, but Romero sees similarities. “They look a lot alike,” she said.
