[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Page 26505]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      REMEMBERING SILVIANO ROMERO

 Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. President, it is with great 
sorrow that today I pay tribute to one of the finest men Northern New 
Mexico has ever known, Silviano Romero, or ``Silver,'' as he was known 
to all who knew and loved him.
  On Sunday, October 25, 2009, Silver passed away, 1 month shy of his 
90th birthday, in the small Northern New Mexico town of Embudo where he 
was born on November 27, 1919. But for his service to our Nation in the 
Pacific Theater and Phillipines during World War II, Embudo is where 
Silver lived his entire life with his extraordinary and beautiful wife 
and best friend of 67 years, Mary B. Romero, of Dixon. Together, after 
Silver returned from military service, they built the house in Embudo 
on County Road 0062 where their three sons, Alfonso, David, and 
Richard, grew up and where Silver lived and worked until his passing 
last week.
  Silver was a pillar of his community. He was a man dedicated to 
others--to his family, his community, his country, and his God. Like so 
many others of his noble generation, he served his country in the 
military and continued to serve his community upon his return home. Not 
only did Silver work for Los Alamos County, the Espanola School 
District, and as the Rio Arriba County clerk, but he was also actively 
involved as a county school board member, a Jemez co-op board member, a 
member of the East Rio Arriba Soil and Water Conservation District, and 
a lifelong active member of the Rio Arriba Democratic Party.
  Yes, Silver was a pillar of the extended Embudo community, and he was 
something of an institution in Rio Arriba County. But it was on County 
Road 0062, at La Junta, and the confluence of the Rio Embudo and Rio 
Grande, that one could see and feel Silver's love for the people and 
world around him. The cats, dogs, and horses who came under Silver's 
care knew full well the enormity of Silver's heart. And one need look 
no further than see the joy on Silver's face as he drove his four-
wheeler down the road to inspect what may or may not be a rattlesnake, 
wind whipping through his appropriately silver-colored hair, to 
understand his appreciation and love for life.
  That Silver lived at the confluence of the little-known Rio Embudo 
and the Rio Grande, one of the largest rivers in the United States, is 
appropriate. The Rio Grande stretches almost 2,000 miles, providing 
water and sustenance to parts of this country where no one has heard of 
the little Rio Embudo. Yet without it, and other tributaries along the 
way, the Rio Grande would likely not be the force it is.
  So, too, does a life like Silver's contribute to the world around 
him. Those of us who knew him and knew of his commitment to his 
community understand the contributions he made and the ways in which it 
improved the lives of many beyond Embudo, Rio Arriba County, and even 
New Mexico. But a life lived as Silver lived his touches even those who 
never had the honor and pleasure of knowing him. Quite simply, the 
world was a much better, kinder place with Silver in it.
  While we are profoundly saddened by the passing of this humble yet 
extraordinary man, we can take great solace in the fact that he is 
survived by many deeply touched by him: his wife Mary; his brothers, 
Tom and Uvaldo Romero; his sister, Julia Montoya; his sons, Alfonso, 
David, and Richard; his grandchildren, Ann Williams, Amy Shelly, Dee 
Romero, David Romero, Jason Romero, Ryan Romero, Richard Romero, Jr., 
and Marquita Romero; his great-grandchildren, Taylor, Tyrell, Ashton, 
Saren, Katherine, Emma, Isla, Noah Silviano, Juan Diego, and Mark.
  The spirit of Silviano ``Silver'' Romero lives on in all of them and 
will forever live in the Dixon and Embudo Valley, Rio Arriba County, 
and in all of the great State of New Mexico.

                          ____________________