Ramona Somoza, 93, attributes her love of reading to her mother, Josefa Cuervo Suárez. As she explains, "When I was a toddler, my mother would read the works of Dickens, Tolstoy and other authors aloud to me and my sister and two brothers. Even my father would sit in on these nightly readings."

As Josefa read the translated works of many classical authors to her family, young Ramona acquired an insatiable desire to learn more about the world through literature. Today, she is never without a book and reads at least three different books at once. "Right now I'm reading the works of Tony Hillerman. So far I've read 17 of his books, and I'm going back to Borders so that I can get the rest of his collection."

The world of literature is but one of Somoza's interests. In addition to enjoying her books, she takes a 40-minute walk around her neighborhood each morning. She tends to her garden, cooks her own meals and spends time with her three sons, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Despite her many activities, she never misses her siesta, the afternoon nap that was part of her daily life while growing up in the Asturias region of northern Spain.

Ramona Suárez Somoza was born in Gijón, Spain, in 1916. She spent her formative years in this quaint Spanish town before coming to the United States in 1919, when she was 3 years old. Her parents immigrated through Ellis Island in search of a better life and went to Luke, Md., where José Suárez worked in a paper mill. Later they lived in Elizabeth, N.J. In 1932, Somoza and her mother followed José back to Spain. As she explains, "My sister was married and had a family, and my brothers were working, so I had to accompany my mother back to Spain. We traveled by ship, which took two weeks, and when we got to the western part of Spain the crew went on strike, so we were stuck there for another two weeks. Every night I would go into town to go dancing. It was great fun."

After settling back into the site of her early childhood, Somoza relished the time that she had with her parents in the small town where most of the families raised sheep and farmed. It was an idyllic setting until 1936, when their tiny community, along with the rest of the country, saw its residents pitted against one another in a civil war. More than 50,000 people were killed during the Spanish Civil War, with both the Republicans and Nationalists suffering great losses during the next three years. The only people left in Gijón were the elderly, women and children. Somoza remembers, "All the men were away fighting in the war, and that's when I became a schoolteacher." At that time, Somoza said, the teaching profession in Spain was primarily a male-dominated field, and it was only because of the war that she was able to teach. It was an opportunity that Somoza relished, especially since that was how she met her husband, César Somoza. "He was the doctor in his battalion, and when his troops came to town, the principal at the school introduced us," she says.

Once the war ended, the couple married and lived in Spain for a few years before returning to Luke, where Ramona's Aunt Asención lived. Later they moved to New Jersey, and César commuted to Bellevue Hospital in New York City, where he worked as a pathologist. In the early 1960s, the family moved to Cincinnati, where César worked in pathology until he retired in 1979. At the urging of their youngest son, Arthur, who had fallen in love with the Southwest, Ramona and César moved to Santa Fe in 1979. "Of all the places that I've lived in my life, Santa Fe has been the best," says Somoza.

For the next 20 years, Ramona and César enjoyed Santa Fe, going on their daily walks together while spending summers at the family home in Gijón. But Ramona's life was turned upside down when her husband died of renal failure in 1991. "It was awful," she recalls. "After he died I sat and cried for a year. Then one day I said to myself, 'This is stupid. Everybody's going to die.' So I started going on my walks again."

When Somoza is unable to get to the bookstore to pick up new books, she rereads some of the thousands that she keeps throughout her house and garage. "When I reread my books, they're just as funny and interesting as the first time," she says. Somoza's love of books, her morning walk and other activities continue to bring her much joy. As she says, "Every day that I'm alive is a good day."

Ana Pacheco is the founder and publisher of La Herencia, a culture and history magazine, www.herencia.com, 505-474-2800. Her weekly tribute to our community elders appears every Tuesday.