Carmen Teresa Gabaldon Rios was a skilled and intelligent business woman who helped make the Rios Wood Yard in Santa Fe the successful operation that it was for many years on Camino Monte Sol. She also raised a large family in which she was its heart and soul
Carmen Teresa Gabaldon was born on June 28, 1911 on DeVargas Street, in Santa Fe, N.M. She was the daughter of Pedro Gabaldon and Francisquita Padilla and a descendent of many distinct Santa Fe families, including the Senas, Apodacas and Chavezes. While working at Taicherts on the plaza she met her life partner. On June 30, 1934 she was united in marriage to Jose de Jesus Rios, who had been born in San Jose de la Boca, Durango, México. Jesus and Teresa raised nine children, who all continue to reside in Santa Fe. Together, Jesus and Teresa started the Rios Wood and Coal Yard in the late 1930s on Abeyta Street. They later moved the business to 324 Camino del Monte Sol, expanding it to include freight and demolition services. Today the Rios Wood Yard is recognized as one of the most successful, long standing Santa Fe business institutions. While Jesus has been rightly recognized as one of Santa Fe’s key entrepreneurs, the business was in every way a partnership and Teresa was its business manager for many decades. Teresa Rios’s role as a leading Santa Fe entrepreneur has not been fully recognized in the annals of Santa Fe history. She was a skilled and intelligent business woman who also raised a large family in which she was its heart and soul. Teresa Rios passed away on January 15, 2007.
Carmen Teresa Gabaldon Rios; Rios Wood Yard Santa Fe;