Rachel Pineda

Rachel Madrid Pineda, beloved wife, mother, teacher, and advocate for the poor, passed away on September 9th, 2026, surrounded by her family. Rachel was 92 years old and a resident of El Paso, Texas for 57 years. She was married to Gus S. Pineda for more than 63 years.

Rachel is survived by her children: Dr. Nancy Pineda-Madrid (Larry Gordon), Paul Pineda (Jody), and Michele Fernandez (Arthur); her grandchildren Angela, Catherine, Paloma, Nick, Josh, and Raynie; and her great-grandchildren Gianna, Christian, Donovan, Imogen, Livia, and Mateo. She was preceded in death by her husband, Gus, and by her son, Phillip Pineda.

Rachel was born on March 1, 1934, in Hachita, New Mexico, to Idalia García Madrid and Trinidad Madrid. Both of her parents migrated from Mexico to the United States when they were young. Rachel was born in a two-room section house while her father worked as a laborer for the Southern Pacific Railroad. Near their shared housing and alongside the tracks, her father planted a garden, and Rachel remembered it vividly all her life — watermelon, tomatoes, chili verde, frijoles, squash, and corn, coaxed out of hard ground. Her parents called her Raquelito.

She was the oldest daughter and last living member of a family of six children, with four brothers who each served in the military. From a young age she was the one who took care of those around her. At ten years old she became her parents' translator. When her brother Nacho was stationed in Germany, he would write letters home in English. Young Rachel would translate his letters, reading them aloud to her parents in Spanish. At times she relayed news that would bring them to tears.

Rachel started school at the age of four, in a one-room schoolhouse with seven other children. She loved school from the beginning. She graduated from Deming High School at sixteen and from New Mexico Western at twenty, the first person in her family to attend and graduate from college. With a double major in Education and Spanish, she began teaching immediately in Tucumcari, New Mexico. She taught throughout northern New Mexico for the next several years. She met discrimination at many points in her education and her teaching career, and she answered it the same way each time: she refused to be discouraged, kept working and moving forward. She remained a lifelong learner and an avid reader her entire life.

Rachel and Gus met in June 1956 in Silver City, New Mexico, and married in May 1958 in Deming. They raised four children in Albuquerque and Roswell before moving the family to El Paso in December 1968, where Rachel would live for the rest of her life. Together they built their lives around family, faith, and education. All four of their children went to college. Rachel would have counted that among her greatest accomplishments.

She gave much of her working life to the Catholic Church, beginning as a catechism teacher and eventually serving for many years as the Religious Director at St. Matthew's Church, where she helped generations of young people prepare for confirmation.

Her attention focused on those who needed the most help. Rachel worked to establish and lead Centro Santa Catalina, an organization serving poor and marginalized women and their children in Juárez. After helping launch a sewing cooperative there, she taught Spanish and ESL classes to help the women learn to read and write as well as to continue their own education. Over time the Centro grew to offer educational, life skills, health, and nutritional programs. Rachel served as a board member and as Vice President. In addition, she also served on the board of NETWORK, a Catholic leader in the global movement for justice and peace. That work took her to Washington, D.C., where she advocated for the poor and the vulnerable, and for the human values of dignity, fairness, and family.

Rachel was beloved by a wide circle of family and friends. She was forever thinking of others, hosting gatherings and drawing people together. She was a wonderful mother and grandmother. She was kind and warm in a way people remembered years later. And she loved to dance.

Through her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, Rachel's devotion to family, faith, education, and justice lives on now and for the future.

All are welcome as we honor and remember Rachel with the following services:

• Visitation at Sunset Funeral Homes-West on Wednesday, Sept. 16th from 4-8pm
• Rosary at Sunset Funeral Homes-West on Wednesday, Sept.16th at 6pm
• Mass at St. Matthew Catholic Church on Thursday, Sept. 17th at 12pm
• Interment at Memorial Pines Cemetery on Thursday, Sept. 17th at 1:30pm

In lieu of flowers, Rachel would have wished for donations to be made to any of the following organizations that were especially meaningful to her and held a dear place in her heart:

- Annunciation House

Online donations can be made at https://annunciationhouse.org/donate/. Checks can be made out to Annunciation house and mailed to the following address:

P.O. Box 11189

El Paso, TX 79995-1189

- Centro Santa Catalina

Online donations can be made at https://centrodesantacatalina.org/donate/.

- Loretto Academy

Online donations can be made at https://www.loretto.org/donate.