Doris Salazar

Saturday, November 27, 2021, our beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, sister, cousin, wife, and friend, Doris Salazar, of Tularosa, NM, went to be with the Lord in eternity.

Born September 28, 1933 to Willie and Carmen Hererra, Doris was a miracle from the beginning. Believed stillborn, Doris and her identical twin sister Maria were wrapped in newspaper and placed in a shoebox beneath a nearby stove while the doctor struggled in vain to save their mother. An attending midwife noticed the paper moving and raced to revive the babies, saving them both. 

Following the loss of her mother at childbirth, Doris was raised by Dee and Margaret Montoya, while her twin sister Maria, was raised by the Chavez Family. Doris would go on to take care of her dad for many of her teenage years, until she married Mike Salazar on December 31, 1955. Together they raised their three children; Bobby (1956), Cindy (1958), and Michael (1960), and loved and cared for Frankie Salazar in their family home on Marshall Street. While homemaking was her full-time job, Doris also worked as a teacher's assistant in the Tularosa Public Schools, and at Omega Jewelry in Alamogordo, NM, along with caring for friends, and volunteering at St. Francis de Paula Catholic Church. 

In 1985 Doris took on the role of grandmother, “Mamo” as we called her, with the birth of her two grandchildren by her daughter and son-in-law, Cindy and Charlie Blanco; Trae Blanco, of Murray, KY, and Tara Blanco, of Las Cruces. Born to be a grandma, Doris traveled, nurtured, and created the world for them both. Not a gymnastic meet was missed, nor a concert unattended, and every holiday or season she arrived with our “Pampo” by her side. Doris became a great-grandmother to Ophelia (2017) and Ellis (2019) Blanco, children of Trae and Kelsey Blanco, and found new ways to love and spoil great-grandkids. Mamo’s last outing with the great-grandkids was to the Alamogordo Zoo; perhaps one of the first places she took both grandkids, along with Pampo, nearly thirty years ago. 

Doris was preceded in death by her parents, Willy and Carmen Hererra; her husband of 47 years, Mike Salazar (2002), her sister Socorro (2006), her son, Michael (2014), her twin sister Maria (2014), as well as her Montoya family; Mary Helen Drake, of Alamogordo, Dee Montoya Jr., of Tularosa, Kathy Arnold, of Warner Robbins, GA, Benny Montoya, of Bayard, NM, Gilbert Montoya, of Alamogordo,, and Sonny Montoya, of Tularosa.

She is survived by her two children; Bobby, of Tularosa; Cindy and Charlie Blanco, of Farmington, NM; Trae, Kelsey, Ophelia, and Ellis Blanco, of Murray, KY; Tara Blanco, of Las Cruces, and her longtime companion, caretaker, and loving friend, Norman Oliver. Her loving Montoya family siblings; Nestor, of Alamogordo, James, of Nacogdoches, TX, Nina Cano, of Alamogordo, and many cousins and nieces and nephews. Doris was blessed by her beloved sisters' families (Socorro and Maria) whose children and grandchildren cared for her as their own mother. 

She was a devoted singer and choir member at St. Francis de Paula Catholic Church. Many of her friends have gone before her joining in the heavenly choir, and we know that Doris has joined that choir now in her death. She was the glue, love, heart, faith, and cornerstone of her family, and a friend to many. We know that through Mamo’s Roman Catholic faith, her life is only just beginning. There’s no doubt that our new angel has reserved a place for us around the throne of God, and has joined with those gone before her in the choirs of Angels.

A rosary will be recited at 10:30 a.m., on Friday, December 10, 2021 at St. Francis de Paula Catholic Church in Tularosa, and the memorial mass will follow at 11:00 a.m. Interment will follow at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Tularosa. 

Doris Salazar, our Mamo, was a devoted wife and friend and will be greatly missed by all those who knew her.

Eternal rest, grant unto her O Lord,
And let perpetual light shine upon her.
May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed,
Through the mercy of God,
Rest in peace.
Amen.

The Salazar family has entrusted their loved one to the care of Scenic Chapel to direct the funeral services.
To sign the online register book, please visit https://www.scenicchapel.com/.
 

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