Carl Valdez is a native of the Finger Lakes area of New York State and Gretchen is a native of Minneapolis, MN where they live and have raised 8 daughters, 8 grandchildren and a great-grand daughter. Carl is a veteran of the US Air Force of the Viet Nam era. Both are retired teachers, but Carl works full-time as an ordained deacon in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Su ministerio es primeramente con los de habla hispana.
Carl is named after his paternal grandfather, Carlos Borromeo Valdez. His father's ancestors originally settled in Abiquiu, NM in the early 1800's, then in Los Valdeses, Colorado (now Seven Mile Plaza) between Del Norte and Monte Vista in the San Luis Valley. The church there, San Francisco de Asís, was founded by Juan Pio Valdez, Carl's great (5 times)-grandfather who was raised in Abiquiu. The land on which the church sits is called La Loma (the Hill) near the Rio Grande; thus the name for our home, La Lomita. Our home is situated 100 miles south, also very near the Rio Grande.
Some of his aunts, uncles and cousins eventually moved back to Española, Santa Fe and Albuquerque, and it is primarily in Monte Vista and this area that he and Gretchen began regular visits more than 30 years ago.