Katherine Tellez Andrade entered and exited this world on Nov. 25.  She was born in 1925 to Ramona Ochoa and Florencio Tellez in Clifton, Ariz., a hardscrabble copper mining town.

(Editor's Note: See schedule of services at the end of this article.)

After graduating from high school, Katherine Tellez came to Los Angeles where she worked in a factory assembling auxiliary gas tanks for the war effort.  She would stand on Chicago Street in East L.A. and look up the street to the General Hospital, vowing to one day work there as a nurse.

She returned to Arizona to enter the nursing program at St. Mary’s Hospital as a cadet nurse, part of a federal government program. Once graduating, she returned to LA where she worked at General Hospital, among others.

Katherine Tellez married Arthur Andrade, with whom she had four children. After her divorce, she raised her children as a single parent. Those years were a struggle. Her children’s needs came before her own. Above all else, she pushed her children to be educated. She was proud of her children’s accomplishments and counted them as her own. 
She lived most of her life in Monterey Park where her activism blossomed.

When certain forces in Monterey Park endorsed English-only signage laws and other anti-immigrant measures, Katherine stood with her new neighbors and was a founding member of the Committee for Harmony in Monterey Park. She prided herself in her civic activism, including grassroots involvement in the Democratic Party. She was feisty and held strong opinions. She also worked as a poll worker.

A devout Catholic, Katherine was involved for many years in her church and parish. She was active in many of the early efforts to involve the Spanish-speaking Latino community in the church. She was an advocate for liberation theology, taught catechism and baptism classes and was a lector. Katherine lived her religion, offering her home to a homeless young immigrant woman who she found sleeping at the post office.

Katherine had a great love for nature and her yard. She spent hours in her more recent years cutting branches, trimming her plants, digging and weeding. She could grow almost any plant and would tell stories of the genesis of the plants in her yard. She still had a rose bush her mother Ramona had planted. Each of her children, neighbors and friends were given cuttings of her various plants.

Her passion for politics never waned. Even at the end of her life, she watched key Congressional and Senate hearings, and would regale us with the news of the day.

Katherine was Nana to her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She offered them wise counsel and sometimes a chanclazo. She pushed when she knew one was capable of more and was forgiving. She was a great friend. She made the best tamales, tortillas and sang mariachi and danced in her kitchen. She loved with a large heart.

Fiercely independent, Katherine remained in the home that she loved with her little dog Wolf E. until the end of her life.

(Editor’s Note: The above memorial was provided by the family. )

SCHEDULE OF SERVICES:

Vigil and Rosary will be held Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2010 at 7 p.m. at St. Stephens Catholic Church, 320 West Garvey Avenue, Monterey Park.

Funeral Mass will follow on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010 at 10 a.m. at the same church withy interment at Resurrection Cemetery in Monterey Park.