Irene Paine

Irene Paine, 90, and half years old passed away the morning of Friday, September 13, 2019 with her children by her side.  She called Espanola home. She was born in Brooklyn, NY and moved to New Mexico when she was just 16.  Before moving to Los Alamos, NM, she was one of only a few children chosen to sing at the funeral of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  She left a full paid scholarship to the Julliard School of music when her father came to work as a glass blower for the Manhattan project. Upon graduation from High School, Irene worked at Bell Telephone Company at Ashley Pond. While at the telephone company, she came to know many famous scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project such as Edward Teller, Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein to name a few.  After her tenure at the Los Alamos Telephone Company, she worked on ENIAC and MANIAC computers, which were the first tube type computers built in the world.  Irene worked for the Los Alamos National Laboratory for over forty years and worked her way up from the world’s first computer to working with the very first ‘CRAY’ supercomputer.  After retiring, she became a Certified Master Gardener and enjoyed her days in her garden.  Irene is preceded in death by her father and mother Harry B. and Eleanore Wilhelm, brother Richard (Doris) Wilhelm, sister Marion Weiss and nephew James (Nina) Wilhelm.  She raised five children in a one-bedroom adobe in La Puebla, NM.  Irene will be missed by her five children, eleven grandchildren and five great grandchildren and leaves behind her sons and daughters  Carter (Janette) Evans, Scott Evans, Kellie (Tim) Evans Rivera, Nick (Monica) Evans and Noël (Jerry) Hancock, grandchildren Michelle (Tom) Evans, Fiona (Alex) Vigdor, Jason Evans, Brooke Evans, Leigh (Ashley) Evans, Miranda Rivera, Hunter Hancock, Sydney Hancock, Logan Evans, Jordan Hancock, Piper Evans and great grandchildren Aiden, and Callum Gilbert, Stronner Vigdor, Madeline Evans and Mcalisdair Vigdor.  A funeral service will be held on Sunday, September 15th at 11:00 a.m at Rivera's Kiva Chapel of Light located at 417 E Rodeo Road, Santa Fe, No 87505 with interment to follow at Santa Fe Memorial Gardens.