Matriarch turns 100 years old

Guess who is 100 years old?

María Lucinda Sánchez Romero turned 100 on Monday, Oct. 20. In her honor, her family and friends gathered to celebrate her 100 years of life with mariachi’s singing “las mañanitas” and some of Cinda’s favorite songs.

There was lots of food, birthday cake and sharing of memories with about 150 family and friends.

Cinda’s greatest accomplishment in her 100 years of life is her family. She has four children, nine grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. She is a woman of faith, who raised her children teaching them of God’s glory. A woman of prayer, Cinda taught her children to go to mass and pray for God’s blessings.

She is a proud graduate of Belen High School, class of 1946. During the same year, she married the love of her life, Daniel N. Romero. Together, they had four children, Michael, Annette, Lorenzo and Juliette.

She retired from the Albuquerque Public Schools as one of the best “lunch ladies” they ever had, in the days where all the meals were made from scratch. Grandma Cinda is famous for her homemade chile, beans and galletas. Sunday dinner’s after mass was always spent eating a delicious pot roast, homemade mashed potatoes and gravy.

Cinda has spent her lifetime committed to eating healthy and exercising, except for lately, just wanting ice cream for dinner. She was a proud lifetime Weight Watcher and did water aerobics until she was 93 years old.

She loves spending time with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, always singing to them in Spanish or a song from mass.

Her famous saying when her grandchildren are leaving is, “Be good! And if you can’t be good, be careful.”