Helen Maria Roybal

Helen Maria Roybal Dec. 24, 2020 Helen Maria Roybal, 76, of Santa Fe, passed away on Christmas Eve, 2020. She was diagnosed with lung disease a couple of years ago, and is now resting peacefully. Helen was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister and aunt and she loved caring for children. She especially loved her grandsons. Helen was born in 1944 in San Francisco, CA., to Adelina and George Lujan. They eventually moved back home to Santa Fe, where as a young woman, Helen was a candy striper and nurses’ aide at the Catholic Maternity Institute on Palace Avenue and the old St. Vincent Hospital in downtown Santa Fe. She met Charles Roybal of Española when he was on leave from the Navy at at a downtown dancing club, and it wasn’t long before they were engaged to be married. They marked 54 years of marriage in November. She was a homemaker who made the best biscochitos and worked at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center in the nursery, where she took care of children while their parents worked out. Helen is preceded in death by her parents, George and Adelina Lujan, and her brothers, Eddie Lujan and Mere Sena. Helen is survived by husband Charles, daughter, Rebecca Roybal Jones, son, Daniel Roybal, son-in-law Jeff Jones, and grandsons, Noah and Benjamin Jones. She also is survived by her sister, Emma Swann, her niece, Erika Morrison, cousins Pat and Cordy Quintana of Provo, Utah, and other extended family and friends who loved her. We all will miss her so.