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Dr. Frances Hernández, 72, died on March 27, 1999 of cancer in Las Cruces, NM. She is survived by her husband, Dr. John Whitlock Hernández; and by her sister and her husband, Dr. and Mrs. Jack Noll Rinker of Alexandria, Virginia. Dr. Frances Hernández was born April 6, 1926, in Webster Groves, Missouri, the first of two children of Col. Kenneth Gerheart Baker, an electrical engineer with Wagner Electric Company, and his wife, Bertha Walton Baker, a biochemist with Eli Lilly Company. The two daughters were graduated from their parents' alma mater, Purdue University. Dr. Hernández earned master's degrees from both Purdue and the University of New Mexico, where she also received her doctorate in comparative literature. Dr. Hernández's teaching career spanned more than 40 years, the last 30 on the faculty of the Department of English at the University of Texas at El Paso, where she rose to the rank of full professor. She was appointed emerita professor in 1997 and was honored as Grand Marshall of Commencement at her retirement that year. During her years of teaching, Dr. Hernández and her husband accepted teaching or research assignments in Chile, Puerto Rico, Turkey, Malaysia, Thailand, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Peru, Brazil, New Zealand and China. She was also invited as a visiting professor to Saint John's College in Annapolis and to the University of Maryland in College Park. Dr. Hernández's research and publications interests have centered on world literature, particularly on the translation of important works from Spanish into English. Two of her translations are"The Catalan Chronic of Francisco de Moncada" (1975) and"Only the Wind Legends of the Onas of Tierra del Fuego" (1979). In recent years, she has been a leading national authority on the Sephardic Jews who came to the Southwest as conversos with the Spanish conquistadores, culminating in her translation of the Mexican classic:"The Carvajal Family: The Jews and the Inquisition of New Spain in the Sixteenth Century." She received the Distinguished Service to the Profession Award from the College English Association in 1989. She met her husband, Dr. John Hernández of the Civil Engineering Department at NMSU, when they were both students at the University of New Mexico; they marries in 1951. She and her husband were co-recipients of UNM's Zia alumni award in 1998 for their contributions to higher education. Reading, writing and ballroom dancing were her favorite avocations; she an her husband figured as graceful and imaginative dancers on floors from the Raffles in Singapore, to the Mandalay ballroom in Auckland, and to Art Fountain's Basin Street West in old Mesilla. Their major hobby has been the purchase and rehabilitation of old adobes to provide low-income housing for families that appreciate the historic value of their residences. In some cases, these homes have been conveyed to long-term tenants. These houses are in Rio Arriba, Santa Fe and Doña Ana counties. In Pioneer Park area of Las Cruces they include the Knight, Bronson, and Nushbaum houses. The Hernández have lived in the Stern house for more than 25 years. The couple have no offspring, but became the guardians of the children of Mayor and Mrs. Robert C. Munson when the parents were killed 20 years ago in an airplane crash between Las Cruces and Albuquerque. The Munson children remain close to the Hernándezes, and they include Dr. James Munson and his wife, Melody of Longmont, Colorado; Joanne Munson and her husband, Dr. Dennis Essa of Seattle, Washington; John Eric Munson and his wife, Lisa; and Jennifer Munson and her husband, William Harty, Jr., all of Las Cruces. Blood survivors include her nieces, Lucinda Rinker Tripp and her husband, Dr. Robert Tripp, and sons Kenneth Scott and Alexander; and niece, Aimée Elizabeth Rinker Noble and her husband, Coast Guardsman Craig Noble, and children, Stephan Maxfield and Karen Elizabeth. Other relations are Judge and Mrs. B.C. Hernández of Albuquerque; and her sister-in-law and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Victor Dodier of Portland, Oregon. Cousins are Mrs. and Mrs. George Rector, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel C. Hernández, Mr. David Hernández, Mr. and Mrs. Don Letherer, Ms. Maria Elena Hoyle Armijo, Mr. Albert Armijo, Mrs. Antonio Andreoli, Mrs. Jeanne Wells de Keating, Mr. and Mrs. Parker Harris Wells, Dr. and Mrs. Norman Carson, and Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Harris Wells. Special friends are Dorothy Jean Michaels and her husband, Dr. John Kulhman, Dr. Laurence Olsen and Dr. Judith Quintana. Her faithful employees are Mrs. Genevieve Martinez and Mr. Alex Roman. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations will be accepted by Planned Parenthood, the Las Cruces Unitarian Church building fund, and the Las Cruces Gospel Mission. Cremation will be followed by a Memorial Service at the Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, 6 p.m. on April 11, 1999. Supper will follow the service at the Museum.
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