Ernesto Ortega

Ernesto Q. Ortega, 87, passed away peacefully at home with his family on March 13, 2022. He was preceded in death by his parents, Vicente Ortega and Petra Ortega Morales, his brother Manuel Ortega, his sisters Angela Pino and Isabelle Apodaca and his wife of 48 years, Mildred Inez Ortega. He is survived by his daughters Yolanda Ruth Ortega and Catherine Maria Ortega and his sister Bertha Banegas.

Ernesto graduated from the New Mexico School for the Deaf in 1953 and then proudly served in the U.S. Army Reserves. He received his BS in Education from NMSU, his MA in Special Education and Psychology from NMHU, and his MS in Deaf Education from ENMU. Ernesto taught in Socorro, Santa Rosa, Bernalillo, Santo Domingo Pueblo, the Louisiana School for the Deaf and at the New Mexico School for the Deaf from 1967 until retirement in 1994. Ernesto then went to work in Washington D.C. at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf, Gallaudet University, as a Hispanic Resource Specialist and an ASL/Deaf Culture/Multi-Culture Specialist until 2000 when he and his wife returned to New Mexico. Ernesto was a wonderful artist and loved to create beautiful paintings and other works of art for his family and friends.

A Rosary will be recited at 10:00 am and Mass will follow at 11:00 am on Friday, March 25, 2022, at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 1301 Osage Ave, in Santa Fe. A reception will follow at the Santa Maria de la Paz Catholic Church social center, 11 College Ave. in Santa Fe.