Rachel Linda Cordova (Obituary)

 

RACHEL LINDA CORDOVA 

April 17, 1931 ef March 27, 2024

Rachel Linda Cordova was born Raquel Verlinda Martínez on April 17, 1931, in an adobe home, near the banks of the Huerfano River and famous Trappers’ Trail in Southern Colorado. Indeed, Rachel’s parents were proud Hispano ranchers, and her maternal and paternal grandparents were Colorado pioneers, born within twenty years of the same land becoming part of the United States. Her ancestral lines include Native Americans and members of the first permanent European settlement in the Southwestern United States, near the crossing of the Río Chama and Río Grande rivers in New Mexico in 1598, pre-dating the pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620.

Rachel remembered her first job as herding sheep on the prairie with her sister, Della. However, she said she paid more attention to the probable and regular appearance of rattle snakes, which her father taught her to masterfully kill, each with a single bullet into the encroaching rattler’s mouth, open and ready to strike. Yes, Rachel had grit and learned to work hard from a very young age.

This same Rachel became a successful businesswoman in the fastener industry. She and her husband were co-owners of Cordova Bolt, Inc., in Southern California.

Rachel met her future husband, Moses Cordova, in school. Both graduated from St. Mary’s High School in Walsenburg, Colorado. Rachel was valedictorian of her class. They soon were engaged before Moses enlisted in the Navy and became a petty officer and radio man on the U.S.S. Wantuck during the Korean War. Meanwhile, Rachel attended Loretto Heights College in Denver, for a brief time, and then business school in Colorado Springs. She then practiced accounting skills, while working for an accountant in her hometown of Walsenburg.

Rachel and Moses married, during a month’s leave from wartime Naval duties, in January 1951. Their daughter, Karen, was born in November of the same year. When Moses was later stationed in the United States, Rachel and Karen moved from Colorado to live with him in Naval Quonset huts, first in Vallejo, CA, and later in San Diego. By 1954, the young family lived in a duplex in City Terrace in East L.A.  While Rachel kept a tidy home and made homecooked meals, Moses rose from a Kardex card clerk to sales manager at Triangle Steel and Supply in Vernon.

In 1954, the Cordovas purchased their first home and moved to the new city of Buena Park, where their sons, Mark and Matthew, were born in 1956 and 1962. Rachel was actively involved in their children’s educational and religious education, as well as their extracurricular activities. However, in the mid-1960s, Moses was offered the opportunity to be co-owner of a new fastener company, Circle Bolt, Inc., in Santa Fe Springs. He said, I thought I died and went to heaven. Rachel changed careers from being a housewife to working for her husband, managing the clerical staff and the accounting department. And Circle Bolt was profitable within the first month of doing business.

In 1975, Moses and Rachel founded Cordova Bolt, Inc. Cordova Bolt was first located in Santa Fe Springs and, later, moved to a larger location in Buena Park. Cordova Bolt became one of the premier fastener companies in the United States and, for many years, was on the list of the top 500 Hispanic companies in the U.S.

Moses and Rachel also started Centennial Bolt in Denver, CO, and were the company’s original co-owners with a former Cordova Bolt employee and their son, Mark. Moses and Rachel were involved with the National Fastener Distributors Association (NFDA), Western Association of Fastener Distributors (WAFD), Pacific West Fastener Association (Pac-West), and the Los Angeles Fastener Association (LAFA). They valued the many friendships they made within the industry and over many decades. Rachel was also on the national board of directors of LAMA (Latin American Manufacturers’ Association, later Latin American Management Association) in Washington, D.C.

Moses and Rachel loved and supported their church and were active participants in all parishes where they lived in Buena Park, Anaheim, Anaheim Hills, and Tustin. When she died, Rachel was a member of St. Cecilia Church in Tustin. They loved to travel and visited many countries, too numerous to mention. Local trips were often to Las Vegas.

 

Rachel Linda Cordova is survived

by her daughter, Karen,

& sons, Mark & Matthew (Lorrie);

 

grandchildren: Elizabeth, Emily (Dan),

Matthew Moses (Caitlin), Jacob,

Mark-Thomas & Crystal;

 

great-grandchildren: Jacqueline, Heather,

& Mila Marchel;

 

sister, Della Martínez Velarde;

numerous nieces & nephews,

great-nieces & great-nephews,

great-great nieces & great-great nephews,

& cousins.

 

Rachel is pre-deceased

by her husband, Moses Efren;

parents: Juan Andres Martinez

 & María Martha Archuleta Martínez;

 

brothers: Juan Silvano, Frank Esias, & Antonio Gilberto;

& sister, Helen Mary Martinez Hurtado.

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Viewing & Rosary 

April 12, 2024

Viewing: 6:00 – 10:00 p.m.

Rosary at 7:00 p.m.

 

Saddleback Chapel Mortuary

220 E Main St, Tustin, CA 92780

 

Funeral Mass 

April 13, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. 

St. Cecelia Catholic Church

1301 Sycamore Avenue

Tustin, CA 92780

 

Burial

following Mass

 Holy Sepulcher Cemetery

7845 Santiago Canyon Road

Orange, CA 92869

 

Reception

following burial 

Tustin Ranch Golf Club

12442 Tustin Ranch Road

Tustin, CA 92782