Estell Allen

Estell J. Allen, 81, died on March 1, 2014. No services are planned. Estell leaves behind one sister and two brothers, Adeline Padilla and Juan Juarros from Colorado Springs, CO and Benjamin Juarros from Albuquerque, NM. Estell was born on a homestead farm in Mora County, NM. She was the youngest of nine children born to Adeline Alcon-Buck and Juan Juarros Arribas. Her father, from Covarrubias, Spain, became a naturalized legal citizen, and her mothers great-grandfather, George Buck, came as a stowaway from England at the age of 12. The family's youngest son dies as an infant, and Estell's father age 54, died during the great depression, leaving the family on a farm. Her mother lived to be 82, her oldest brother, Ricardo, 84, the oldest sister, Salome Planinsek, 93, a younger sister, Adelaide Kemm, was 88, and a sister, Isabel Higbee. The family learned during the Great Depression to be frugal and thrifty, holding more than one job at a time. Estell went into the field of Education attending New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM on a tuition scholarship, and after the Korean War, and marriage to Louis Hohmann, transferred to Eastern New Mexico University at Portales, NM. There, she received a Bachelors degree in 1966 and a Masters in 1969. During that time she worked as a classroom teacher for 3 years in Clovis, NM, Title VII Director for the East Las Vegas Schools in NM, then 5 years as a Junior High Counselor for the Clovis School District. She was widowed in 1973. For two years in the 1950's Estell worked as a psychometrist at the New Mexico Boy's School under Dr. Gardner, superintendent of schools. After her husband's death and her remarriage in 1974 to Pat Allen, she followed him to California where she lived for 5 years until her divorce at which time she returned to NM to live near her sister, Adelaide Kemm. While in Los Angeles, she worked as a bilingual teacher and attended Cal State University at Fullerton to get her bilingual certification. She later attended Loma Linda University at Riverside, CA. Estell's work ethics never changed. In 1989, the year she retired as a Public School Counselor after 6 years at the Grants-Cibola County schools, she also worked at night and Saturdays, teaching the Amnesty program of ESL and Citizenship for New Mexico State University in 1989 and 1990 in Grants. She was trained and licensed to sell insurance in 1989 right after she retired from her counseling job, but an opportunity was offered her to do the GED classes at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, which she could not pass up. Insurance became her part time job for four years. She received a 5 year plaque from the Agency on Aging of NM for working on the Conference on Aging as Conference Evaluation Committee Chairperson. Estell worked for 9 years as Manager of the Estate of an elderly lady, guarding her assets, hiring and firing caregivers as well as maintaining an office rental building in Albuquerque and a mountain home the lady owned in the Jemez Mountains in NM. Estell moved to Payson, AZ after the lady was gone. It was time to retire and downsize, but again Estell found that the community needed someone to help establish and finance GED computer labs in a community with 67% drop-out rate. Having been involved in the political arena she got the state legislator to appropriate computers and testing in Payson rather than having to travel 90 miles for those services. It was an interesting two and a half years of mountain living. Realizing that medical and airport facilities were limited there, she moved to Canyon, Texas, the home of West Texas State University, that also provided cultural life with drama and musical presentations. Obtaining a part-time job was impossible with college student competition, so again she looked for a volunteer job and worked for nearly 2 years under Gil Bailey, director of the Chamb