Beverly F. LaPaz

Beverly F. LaPaz, age 73, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, sister and daughter, passed from this life on Wednesday, August 9, 2023 at her home in Lower Elk Canyon on the Mescalero Apache Reservation.

Beverly was born to Arthur and Leeta (Cissnie) Blazer on November 26^th, 1949 in Roswell, New Mexico. During her early childhood, she grew up out on the Mescalero reservation in some fairly remote, yet beautiful, locations where her father then managed the livestock herd for the Mescalero Apache Tribe and her mother cooked for the ranch crew that was employed there. It was during this time she enjoyed the company of one of her early pets, her baby antelope, Top-top.

Bev attended elementary school in Mescalero and later graduated from Tularosa High School in 1967. She then went on to attend Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU) in Portales, NM, where she excelled in mathematics. On April 12, 1969, she married the love of her life, Alfred LaPaz, and just recently celebrated their 54^th Wedding Anniversary. During their early years together, while living at their home in Mud Canyon here on the reservation, Bev drove a school bus for Blazer Bus Company. They then moved to northern California for several years where Alfred worked as a law enforcement officer on the beautiful Yurok Indian Reservation and Bev was busy raising and caring for their 3 school age children. They then returned home where Bev began work with an all-female thinning crew with the tribal Department of Resources Management & Protection (DRMP). She then went to work for the Walmart Corporation in Ruidoso, NM and remained employed there until her retirement after a very successful career with the Company.

Beverly is survived by her husband, Alfred LaPaz, their daughter’s Christine (LaPaz) Sago and her husband Clarence, Geri (LaPaz) Moreno and her husband Jose and their son, Raymond LaPaz and his wife Saffenie (Ortega). Bev and Alfred have been blessed with a number of beautiful grandchildren and great grandchildren. She is also survived by her mother, Leeta R. Blazer and her brother’s, Arthur “Butch” Blazer and his wife Joyce and Kenneth (Kenny) Blazer. She is preceded in death by her father, Arthur D. Blazer, and brother, Thomas “Tommy” Blazer.

Services will be conducted by Father Emmanuel and held at the St. Joseph’s Apache Mission, located at 636 Mission Rd., Mescalero, NM. Rosary services will be on Sunday evening, August 13^th, 2023, beginning at 6pm, with Funeral Mass being held on Monday, August 14^th at 10am. Burial will take place at the Lapaz Cemetery, located in Lower Elk Canyon. A potluck family meal will be served at the Mescalero Tribal Gymnasium following the conclusion of services.