Irene Hernandez-Gutierrez, who was 52 when she died of breast cancer at a Mexican treatment clinic Sunday, was fiercely devoted to her students and teeming with ideas realized by sheer will.
Hernandez-Gutierrez began working for Denver Public Schools nearly 28 years ago. She started as a teacher and taught children at Teller and Centennial elementary schools before moving to Bryant- Webster and Rishel middle schools.
She chose to work at schools where students often came from poor or disadvantaged homes. Hernandez-Gutierrez followed their homework prog ress and checked on their home lives.
“Once she adopted you, you had no choice but to do what she wanted,” said longtime friend Irene Martinez Jones, who was Hernandez-Gutierrez’s principal at Rishel. “That went for us, too. She always had great ideas, with a lot of work connected to them. Once she decided something needed to be done, there was no question about helping her.”
Her brainstorm for exposing slow readers to classic novels required everyone on the faculty, including the principal, to record a book on audiotape she provided.
It went without saying that she expected them to do the recording at home. For Hernandez-Gutierrez, vocation was avocation. It rarely occurred to her that others distinguished between work and home time.
“One Sunday,” Jones recalled, “she called me at 7 a.m., and said, ‘Boss, I have an idea!’ I said, ‘I’m still in bed!’ I said, ‘Irene, could you go to church first and then call me later?’ I don’t remember what she was calling about. Something to do with the kids. All her ideas centered around kids.”
Her kaleidoscopic wardrobe reflected her flamboyance, especially the yellow-and-black ensemble that Jones called “Irene’s bumblebee outfit.” She was relentlessly coordinated, down to the pink shoes that perfectly matched the rest of her favorite pink outfit.
Nine years ago, Hernandez- Gutierrez became a counselor at the elite Denver School of the Arts, a sea change from her other schools. Close friends understood that she chose the job because she wanted to bring more diversity to a sheltered, predominantly Anglo student body.
Her efforts included establishing a mariachi band. Four years ago, she marched into classrooms, pulled out some of the school’s best violinists, guitarists and trumpet musicians, and molded them into a mariachi group that will perform at her funeral, 10 a.m. Saturday at Romero Funeral Home, 4750 Tejon St., with a reception afterward at Denver School of the Arts, 7111 Montview Blvd.
Survivors include her husband, Richard Gutierrez of Lakewood; parents, Richard Hernandez of Pueblo and Ercilia Hernandez of Wheat Ridge; daughter Natasha Aragon of Denver; and sisters Liz Lunoe of Arvada, Roseanne Menjarz Bruce of Broomfield and Debbie Hagler of Joliet, Ill.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
