Jose Ivan Rael

Jose Ivan Rael passed away Thursday, May 22, 2014. He is survived by son, David wife Linda, grandchildren Matthew and Elizabeth; son, Steven wife Leslie, grandchildren Samuel and Madeline; son, Michael wife Sandra, grandson Kristopher; daughter, Lynda. He was born January 31, 1929 in Sile, New Mexico, the sixth child of thirteen born to Leopoldo and Sophia Rael. He was raised in a cattle-ranching family among the Indians of Cochiti Pueblo and attended schools in Pena Blanca. At age 15 he moved to Richmond, CA and worked in the shipyards during WWII. In 1949 he enlisted in the Air Force at Nellis AFB near Las Vegas, NV. It was here Ivan met Millie, and they married in 1950. In 1951, David was born, then Steven in 1953. Ivan was transferred to Kunsan AFB in Korea until 1954, after which he and his growing family spent the next year in Merced, CA. His next overseas assignment was in Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands, in 1956. Retuning stateside, Ivan and Millie moved to Albuquerque, NM where Ivan was stationed at Kirtland AFB, a time during which third son Michael and daughter Lynda were born. Thule, Greenland, in 1961, followed by Luke AFB in Phoenix, AZ in 1962 were the next stops in Ivan's military career. Ivan's last tour of duty with the Air Force was at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, AK in 1966, where he was also able to take his family. Retirement from the Air Force came in 1969, and Ivan briefly owned and operated Billy-Joe's Restaurant in Anchorage. Having tired of the Alaska cold, the Rael family moved back to New Mexico in 1970, and Ivan attended the University of Albuquerque. In 1975 he began his second career by joining Teledyne Company and helped manage the Albuquerque Job Corps for 17 years before finally retiring in 1992. Ivan's 85 years were woven throughout a great fabric of experience and adventure in the 20th century. He was born during the Great Depression, raised in the hard-working morality and self-reliance of a proud and loving family, welded rivets in the warships of WWII, served in the Korean War, witnessed the detonation of an atomic bomb, helped maintain the arctic perimeters of our air defense in Greenland, crafted the cockpits for pilot training in jet aircraft, experienced the hunting and fishing and occasional earthquakes of Alaska, acquired higher education at the University of Albuquerque, and assisted in the mission of the Albuquerque Job Corps to provide vocational instruction to at-risk youth. Ivan was always a bright smiling man who loved singing, dancing, magic tricks, roller skating, card playing, boxing, bowling and bing cherries. He loved Cochiti Pueblo and his brothers and sisters and the Rael ranch, and enjoyed working at the ranch and caring for his cattle and two horses, Queen and Bumps. With Millie, he raised, provided for and fiercely loved a family who remembers and misses him and who now celebrate a life lived intensely, generously, passionately, and ultimately, especially towards the end, with great toughness and strength. Memorial services will be held at Church of the Risen Savior, 7701 Wyoming NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87109, 10:00 am, Thursday, May 29, 2014, with Rosary at French Funerals, 7121 Wyoming NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87109, 7:00 pm, Wednesday, May 28. Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, or to cat shelter fatkatzabq.wix.com/fatkatz