Española resident had role in church restoration; remembered for her love
Funeral services are scheduled Monday for Isabel “Belle” Becker, an active member of the Española community who died peacefully April 7. She was 85.
Family members said she had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2001.
The lifelong resident of the Española Valley and one-time columnist for the Santa Fe New Mexican is being fondly remembered for her love of her church, the arts, gardening and the care and the consideration she showed to others.
Born in Española on April 28, 1932, Isabel M. Becker always went by Belle, said Joanne Karlson, one of five daughters. “The day she died she said to thank everybody for all the love they shared with her,” said Karlson.
“She was always concerned about other people more than herself,” daughter Isabel Becker-Hudson said in a telephone interview. “She dealt with Parkinson’s disease for the last 20 years and never complained. She was always taking care of other people even if she was hardly able to take care of herself.”
When friends passed away, Becker would either prepare food for the family or have it prepared, said Becker Hudson.
After she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, she said “I cried for a week and I decided I would dust myself off and get on with my life,” daughter Paulette Becker recalled. “It didn’t slow her down at all.”
“Her Catholic faith was so very important to her,” said Becker-Hudson. Belle Becker and her late husband of 63 years, Joe, devoted time and money to La Iglesia de Santa Cruz de la Cañada and played a key role in the church’s restoration from 1972-80.
She was a Eucharistic minister and taught catechism to school children “until she couldn’t anymore,” said Becker-Hudson. “She would always take them cupcakes and cookies and they were so happy with that.”
Belle Becker was on the foundation board for Northern New Mexico Community College, a board member of Amigos del Valle and a member of the Española Valley Opera Guild. She was also a member of the Amantes de Flores Garden Club. In the 1990s she wrote about Española Valley activities in her “La Vida Española” column for the Santa Fe New Mexican.
“She was an icon of our community,” said Opera Guild treasurer Gretchen Yost. “Kind of like royalty around here, and she will be missed by the whole community.”
Becker-Hudson said her mother was an avid gardener. “The garden was always full of flowers,” she said. “She got that from her mother. Flower arranging was a big thing with her.”
Belle Becker took civic pride in her hometown and organized two Saturday cleanups a year. “She was always concerned about keeping Española beautiful,” said Becker-Hudson.
Dancing and staying connected with friends also were important to her, her daughters said.
“She was a wonderful cook. She was very, very social. She had a vast group of friends,” said Becker-Hudson. “My mother loved to dance. Her and my father would go out every Saturday to dance until they couldn’t dance anymore.”
Becker-Hudson said her mother also enjoyed traveling, taking trips to Europe, California, the East Coast and Las Vegas, Nev.
Paulette Becker said her mother’s “relationship with my father was extra special … they pretty much had a perfect marriage.”
Becker-Hudson said her mother’s faith “kept her very strong and unafraid of death.”
A rosary will be recited at 10 a.m. Monday at La Iglesia de Santa Cruz de la Cañada, with a Mass of Christian burial to be held at 11 a.m. and burial to follow at 1:30 p.m. at Santa Fe National Cemetery.