Reverend Harold E. Sanchez

Our servant of God, Rev. Harold E. Sanchez, 86, was called home to be with the Lord our Savior, December 20, 2016. Harold was born on June 10, 1930, in Alcalde, NM. He was the oldest child in a family of two brothers and two sisters. Harold was a graduate of McCurdy Mission School where he met his high school sweetheart, Audelia. The two were married June 5, 1947. He attended Highlands University in New Mexico, and once finished there he received an undergraduate degree at York College in Nebraska. Harold continued on to United Theological Seminary in Dayton, OH, and received a Bachelor of Divinity degree. Harold was ordained at the Evangelical United Bretheren (EUB) Church in 1956. Both Harold and Audelia were assigned and commissioned as home missionaries by the National Division of the former Board of Missions of the EUB church, now the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. Harold served as the Pastor at La Iglesia del Salvador in Hernandez, NM, for 14 years. He was bilingual, speaking English and Spanish. During that time Harold and Audelia served as counselors at Templed Hills (Rocky Mountain Conference) campgrounds. They were then assigned to El Paso, TX, where Harold taught at Lydia Patterson Institute for two years. Once retiring from the Rocky Mountain Conference the family moved to Albuquerque where Harold taught for many years in the Albuquerque Public Schools system and continued his involvement in the church. In 1995, the Lord blessed Harold and Audelia with the opportunity to travel to Israel. Harold expressed the journey to the Holy Land as, "an unclosing experience in the city of our Lord. It was too big for words and yet too life giving and exciting to withhold!" Years later Audelia cared for Harold following a debilitating stroke until her death when members of his family continued the care. Harold is preceded in death by his beloved wife, Audelia Marie; son, Philip Carlos Sanchez; daughter, Winona Susan Sanchez; father, Augustine Sanchez; mother, Ophelia Sanchez; former son-in-law, Mark Stephen Harvey; brothers Franklin Sanchez and Carlos Sanchez. He is survived by son, Stephen Harold Estevan II; daughter, Rebecca Lois Joy; daughter, Elizabeth Quintina Schenk; daughter, Anita Mae and husband, Mr. David Dotson; sisters Florence Howe and Edith Sanchez; grandchildren Kelly Denise Joy (fiancé Anthony Hinton) and Nicholas Stephen Harvey; numerous nieces and nephews, family and friends who love him dearly and will miss him! Funeral will be at St. Stephen's United Methodist Church, 4601 Juan Tabo, Blvd., NE, at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, December 30, 2016, with Burial to follow at Mt. Calvary Cemetery, 1900 Edith Blvd., NE. Arrangements entrusted to Riverside Funeral Home of Albuquerque, 225 San Mateo Blvd. NE, (505) 764-9663.