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SANCHEZ -- Felicita Yepa Sanchez, "Ada," "Ada-lou," "Felix," age 75, loving wife, mother, grandmother and sister went home on Tuesday, January 19, 2010. A resident of Albuquerque, she was born in Paguate, NM on February 6, 1934 to Lupe and Pablo Yepa who predeceased her in death and came to greet her and take her to meet Our Lord. She is survived by her loving husband of 52 years, Edward; her children Cheryl, Timothy and Johanna; her son-in-law Kurt Zoeller; her grandchildren Andrew and Zachary Ostapchenko, Joshua and Jacqueline Zoeller; her brothers Jimmy, Kemp and Walter Yepa, their spouses and children; plus a very large and loving extended family in Jemez, Laguna, San Felipe Pueblos and Albuquerque. She grew up in Jemez Pueblo, NM where she attended grammar school at the Jemez Mission and then moved to St. Catherine's Catholic boarding school in Santa Fe, NM for her junior years. At ninth grade she enrolled at the Santa Fe Indian School, where on her first day, she met her future husband, Edward. She would graduate in 1953. Upon graduation, she moved to Albuquerque to attend and graduate from nursing school as an LPN. She married Edward on December 14, 1957 at the San Diego Catholic Mission Church in Jemez Pueblo, NM. They settled in Albuquerque where she started working at St. Joseph's Hospital as a labor & delivery nurse. A few years later, she moved up Central Avenue to work at Presbyterian Hospital where she was a float-pool nurse and then was asked to join their newly designated heart floor. She took early retirement in 1988 to concentrate on her very successful Pueblo food business. In the 1960s she and her husband were instrumental in starting the New Mexico Council of American Indians along with many of their friends who carried the same passion. Through this organization the Indian Village at the New Mexico State Fair Grounds was created and a Native American scholarship fund was established through the sales of Native foods. It is said that she had a hand in the invention of the Indian Taco to help feed the Indian Village's daily crowds. As the Indian Village's popularity grew, so did the need to feed the dancers and artists who came to showcase their many talents. Never stopping, she volunteered to create such a kitchen dedicated to home cooked meals. After years of raising money for college scholarships for Native youths, she and her husband began Ed and Felicita's Famous Fry Bread to generate college tuition for their own children. They began by opening the first fry bread stands at the Santa Fe Indian Market and the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. With positive results they went on to sell their Pueblo style of cooking at the New Mexico Arts & Crafts Fair, the New Mexico State Fair's midway and at the Gathering of Nations Pow-Wow to name a few. Felicita carried on their food business for several decades and paid for her children's college educations at the University of Colorado at Boulder, University of California Los Angeles, Stanford University, The Teachers College at Columbia University in New York City and the University of Notre Dame. She took tremendous pride in working the food business because it allowed her children the opportunity to attend any university of their choosing, while employing some of their Native people. After seeing her children well educated, her efforts moved to her grandchildren. In her final years, she assisted her grandchildren in their educational endeavors at Harvard University and in St. Louis at Community School and MICDS and so a new generation has begun. Her resourceful way of paying for education will continue well beyond her time on earth. This will be her legacy. She was laid to rest in Jemez Pueblo on January 21, 2010 in her Native tradition with Catholic services at the San Diego Mission Church surrounded by her loving family and friends. There will be a mass said in her honor at Our Lady of the Annunciation Catholic Church on March 17, 2010 at 8:30 a.m. Please contact her daughter Johanna for more information at 636-448-7219 or zoellerfamily@msn.com. Memorial donations will be accepted at the San Diego Riverside Charter School, Attention Principal Jean Johnson, 504 Mission Road, P.O. Box 99, Jemez Pueblo, NM 87024. The memorial fund was established in her name due to her strong dedication and passion for educating Native American children. Felicita will be deeply missed for her bright smile, warm laugh and her loving and caring ways, but mostly for her encouragement to accomplish the unthinkable and unattainable. As she always said, "The sky's the limit! Go for it, kid!"
        Published on: Thu March 11, 2010