Nieves Alvites Loayza Cruz

Nieves Alvites Loayza died on November 14, 2020 in Cheyenne.
She was born up on the Andes of Peru on August 5, 1924. She was born in a time when girls were denied education as they were not considered worthy, instead destined to take care of the family farm and livestock so her brothers could continue with their professional careers. She resented this kind of culture and she became rebellious to the point that she ran away from her village to a bigger one (Abancay), where she found employment in a restaurant and went to school there. Once she learned to read, she was an avid reader of a Catholic Bible, then became a person with strong moral conviction and faith in God. At 19, she became a teacher in a neighboring poor community. She advocated for the creation of more schools especially in rural communities, ending up going to Lima (Peru’s capital) to persuade the central government authorities for the creation of those needed schools.
In Lima, she met her husband, Demetrio Cruz Alarcon, also another poor and orphan boy from Pacobamba. They teamed up to help their poor communities. She learned to sew, cook, and basic first aid knowledge. So, when they went back to their communities, she became a Medicine Woman, tailor, and a spiritual leader. Her husband took a dipper roll in changing the social economic conditions of that time and became an advocate for much needed agrarian reform.
In the 1970’s, the North American Wool Growers Association created an office of recruitment of sheepherders from the Andes called Western Range Association. Her oldest son, Dimas Aparicio Cruz Alvites was a candidate, but was struck by lightning and died on November 13, 1972. This was a tremendous loss for the family. Her second son, Luis Delfin Cruz Alvites, was granted a three year contract to work in the U.S.A. in 1974, and he was able to renew several contracts and became a U.S. Citizen before joining the Wyoming Air National Guard, from which he is now retired.
In 1985, her husband passed away in Lima and she joined her son Luis and his family in Colorado in 1987. This is when she became an active member of the Jehovah Witness Congregation in Fort Collins, Colorado.
In 1991 she went to California to join Dante, who also came to the U.S.A. in the same sheep herding program and continued to be very active in her church congregation.
In 1996, she came to Cheyenne to join her two daughters, Norma Solano and Milsa Gutierrez who both work for Laramie County School District #1.
Visitation will be Thursday, 9-4, at Wiederspahn-Radomsky Chapel.