{"id":23033,"date":"2025-03-21T19:37:27","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T01:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-gathers-to-honor-orly-lucero-at-celebration-of-life\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:23:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:23:24","slug":"cortez-gathers-to-honor-orly-lucero-at-celebration-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-gathers-to-honor-orly-lucero-at-celebration-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez gathers to honor Orly Lucero at celebration of life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pastor
Pastor Todd Erlandson of Grace Fellowship Church conducts a memorial for Orly Lucero Friday at the Cortez Recreation Center. (Aaron Lewis\/Special to The Journal)(Aaron Lewis\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Following his death on March 7, David Orlando (Orly) Lucero, 67, was laid to rest on Friday after a celebration of life at the Cortez Recreation Center. Rather than flowers, his family requested that donations be made in his honor to the American Cancer Society.<\/p>\n

Lucero served as the mayor of Cortez from 2002 to 2010 and a member of the Cortez City Council from 2014 to 2022. He worked as a staking engineer at Empire Electric Association Inc.<\/p>\n

\"Orly
Orly Lucero<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Lucero was also known for his Christmas light display around the holidays. One of his blowup Santa decorations welcomed community members at the door of the Cortez Rec Center as they arrived to pay their respects.<\/p>\n

People of all ages crowded inside the rec center gym as a photo slideshow of Lucero began to play while \u201cVaya Con Dios\u201d by Freddy Fender and \u201cOn the Road Again\u201d by Willie Nelson played in the background.<\/p>\n

Pastor Todd Erlandson of Grace Fellowship Church welcomed attendees by reading John 14:1-6 and Psalm 23. Following the reading of the Bible passages, \u201cYou Raise Me Up,\u201d by Josh Groban played before Mayor Rachel Medina addressed the family and friends of Lucero.<\/p>\n

Medina honored the former mayor by speaking of his dedication to public service and his part in multiple projects in Cortez, including the rec center, new high school, the relocation of Walmart and more during his time of public service. He also served on multiple boards, including the Cortez Fire Protection District, Housing Authority, the RE-1 School District, and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe lent a helping hand whenever he could,\u201d Medina said.<\/p>\n

The next speaker was Lucero\u2019s niece, who shared she was still trying to \u201ccome to terms\u201d with his death. She spoke fondly of the many stories he would tell.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I can think of are his stories,\u201d she said. \u201cHow many people have that many stories?\u201d<\/p>\n

She told a humorous story of a time Lucero told her that Mohammed Ali was in the airport while they were traveling, but she didn\u2019t believe him. She ended up missing the opportunity to see Ali in person.<\/p>\n

She noted that Lucero had impacted countless people in his life by always making them laugh and feel loved, saying she hoped others would always remember Lucero when serving their communities and decorating for the holidays.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou knew exactly who he was, because he always lived fearlessly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Before Erlandson closed the celebration of life, \u201cHorses in Heaven\u201d by Randy Travis was played.<\/p>\n

Erlandson spoke of how Lucero\u2019s yard was always decorated for Christmas, and that his proudest moment was when his daughter, Felice, had graduated from pharmacy school.<\/p>\n

Erlandson also shared a poem called \u201cThe Dash\u201d by Linda Ellis, and how it reminded him of the way Lucero had lived his life. The poem focuses on the dash between a person\u2019s birth and date, and how we can forget how vastly important that little dash is.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor it matters not, how much we own\/ the cars, the house, the cash\/ What matters is how we live and love\/ And how we spend our dash,\u201d the poem said.<\/p>\n

While in chemotherapy, another man in treatment recognized Lucero, and the two struck up a conversation, further emphasizing his impact on others.<\/p>\n

\u201cOrly lived his dash well,\u201d Erlandson said. \u201cIt\u2019s OK to grieve and mourn.\u201d<\/p>\n

He urged those in attendance to celebrate Lucero\u2019s life, how lived the dream and lived out the words of Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove the Lord your God with your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor,\u201d Erlandson said. \u201cThen you\u2019ll be living the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a closing prayer and thanking attendees for their part in the celebration of life, pallbearers wearing Dallas Cowboy T-shirts escorted Lucero\u2019s casket to be taken to the Bayfield Cemetery.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

known for his catchphrase \u2018Living the dream\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[364,21,28,60,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-community","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77952,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23033\/revisions\/77952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23033"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}