Mary Armijo was “tiny but powerful” as she went door to door to get people out to vote, said her granddaughter, Lorrie Duran of Littleton.
Always in high heels and often in a robin’s-egg-blue suit, Armijo enlisted the help of her six children and four grandchildren to distribute fliers about candidates (always Democrats) along with yellow sample ballots.
Armijo, who died Jan. 17 at age 92, would have people over for meals and snacks to meet candidates, “just using the neighborly approach,” said Denver City Councilman Doug Linkhart. “She was a bridge to those not interested in the political system and charmed them in.”
“As kids, we tirelessly walked both sides of the street” to distribute literature, said Louis Armijo of Brighton, Mary Armijo’s son. He estimated they covered at least three square miles.
Armijo had the advantage of speaking Spanish and English, “so she could explain the issues and candidates to everyone,” said her daughter Lorraine Allison of Lakewood.
Armijo also helped at bingo games to raise money for candidates.
Her mantra was that people could make changes in their community and one vote could make the difference, Allison said.
Armijo attended City Council meetings, called public officials and wrote them letters about neighborhood issues, said her friend Jan Bell of Denver. “And they called her back. If they didn’t, she told everyone they didn’t return her calls.”
She rarely showed anger, but if someone aggravated her, she would say, “He’s a pill.”
Armijo seemed never to run out of energy. “She was snow-tubing in her 70s and cleaning out the gutters on her house when she was in her 80s,” Allison said.
Eralia Maria Torres was born in Vermejo Park, N.M., on Nov. 19, 1915.
She loved horseback riding, and one ride might have given her the toughness she later exhibited. One day a cougar spooked her horse, and the horse bolted toward the barn. The 14-year-old Torres slipped off the back, but she held to the horse by locking her hands under its neck all the way to the barn. She suffered no injuries “because she just hung on, swinging to and fro under the horse,” said Louis Armijo.
When she was young, Torres moved with her family to Sopris, a Colorado mining town near Trinidad, where she went to high school.
She married Art Armijo Sr., and they lived in California for a short time while he was in the Army.
They moved to Denver in 1953. He preceded her in death.
In addition to her son and daughter, she is survived by another daughter, Joyce Laffea of Lakewood; three other sons, Art Armijo Jr. of Denver, Gilbert Armijo of Aurora and Eugene Armijo of Littleton; four grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; three sisters, Eileen Chavez of Trinidad, and Mary Ann Craig and Frances Roque, both of Denver; and her brother, Richard Torres of Denver.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
