Obituary for
Ursula M. Jaques
Longtime Ignacio resident Ursula Maclovia Jaques died of heart and kidney failure Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2011, at Four Corners Health Care Center in Durango. She was 81.
Known as “Cordy,” she was born to Jose Trinidad and Delfina Martinez on Nov. 9, 1930, in Ignacio. Descended from “Ute Strip” pioneers, she grew up near the family homestead at the foot of the Mesa Mountains. Mrs. Jaques attended Cedar Grove School and vividly remembered being taught reading, writing, arithmetic, embroidery and crocheting by the “legendary country school marm,” Marian Worford, during the Depression and World War II, her family said.
On Oct. 23, 1950, she married Raymond S. Jaques at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Durango and began the hard-working life of a farm wife. Milking several cows a day, collecting eggs, raising crops and livestock, the Jaqueses made a life and a living on their farm southwest of Ignacio. To Ignacio residents from the 1960s through the 1990s, Mrs. Jaques was known as the “Egg Lady,” delivering farm fresh eggs weekly to her customers.
In her youth, Mrs. Jaques loved to ride horses and shoot guns.
“She was a modern day Annie Oakley and a very stronghearted woman,” her sons said.
Mrs. Jaques enjoyed crocheting, embroidery, listening to music, dancing and talking to her friends on the phone. She loved animals.
“After her husband, Raymond, passed away in 1996,” her family said, “she enjoyed the peace and quiet of the family farm.”
Mrs. Jaques was preceded in death by her husband of 46 years, Raymond Jaques.
She is survived by her sons Gene Jaques and Danny Jaques, both of Ignacio; sisters Vivian Ruybal of Ignacio, Virginia Valencia of Oxford, Sarah Hayes of Elkhart, Okla., and Mary Villarreal of Angleton, Texas; brothers Joe T. Martinez and Jim Martinez, both of Oxford; and four grandchildren.
Memorial contributions may be made to Spring Creek Horse Rescue, 39908 U. S. Highway 160, Bayfield, CO 81122, or springcreekhorserscue@yahoo.com; or one’s favorite animal charity.
Cremation has occurred. A celebration of life will take place at noon Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011, at the Spring Creek Hall, five miles east of Ignacio on Colorado Highway 151, then left on County Road 334.