Lala Ortiz, 1909-2008: Master organizer played key role for four governors
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2/11/2008 - 2/12/08
There was a time when Lala Ortiz was one of the most influential women in New Mexico.
From 1937 to 1951, Ortiz was the executive secretary for four Democratic state governors: Clyde Tingley, John Miles, John Dempsey and Thomas Mabry. She was the person in charge of the Governor's Office. So if you wanted to meet with the governor, you talked to her first.
At the age of 99, Ortiz died Sunday at El Castillo Retirement Residence. She was known as a consummate professional who single-handedly ran the day-to-day operations within the Governor's Office.
"(Lala) started during Tingley's administration, and the other three governors asked her to stay because she knew so much about what was going on at the state Capitol," said Ana Maria Ortiz, Lala's niece. "She knew everything and everyone who came in and out of the office."
Her time in the Governor's Office ended in 1951, when Republican Edwin Mechem took office. Ortiz was asked to return to the same position in 1955, when Democratic Gov. John Simms took office, but she declined. She then went to work as executive secretary under state Superintendent Tom Wylie and later Leonard De Layo. She held the position until retiring in 1972 because of eyesight problems.
"Her bosses always felt bad about her vision problems because they felt her work was what led to it," Ana Maria Ortiz said.
In her last days, Ortiz remembered who her favorite governor was. "All of them," she said. "They were all good to me, and they all praised me for my work. I didn't have my job for talking. I was loyal to my bosses."
Ortiz never married or had children; her work was her life. Her job could be mentally taxing, personally satisfying and emotionally heartbreaking. "One of the hardest things she told me about being the executive secretary was when it came time for the governor to give pardons," Ana Maria Ortiz said. "Lala would listen to the mothers of prisoners who were on the pardon list. She'd tell me how hard it was to listen to them plead for their sons."
Two of her brothers, Adolfo and Alfredo Ortiz, were master artists who worked with silver and gold to create filigree jewelry. They owned El Ortiz Curio Shop, and some of their work is on permanent display in the Spanish Colonial Museum.
Ortiz, born Jan. 29, 1909, is also the second cousin of the late María Concepción Ortiz y Pino de Kleven, a former state legislator who is also considered one of the most influential women in New Mexico's history. But Ortiz's talents in politics and in organizational skills caused people to seek her out, not her relations. She was known as a perfectionist. Her ability to take precise notes was a skill she learned at Loretto Academy, and she said it was valued in whatever office she worked in.
"Mrs. Kagel taught me how to write shorthand," Ortiz said in a recent interview. "She was a good teacher. She was demanding and hard, but a very good teacher."
Ortiz was a member of the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi and a member for more than 50 years of the St. Francis Altar Society.
Visitation is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, followed by a 7 p.m. rosary at Berardinelli Family Chapel. Her funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at the cathedral. Internment will follow at Rosario Cemetery.
Contact Todd Bailey at 986-3088, or at tbailey@sfnewmexican.com.