Final tribute: Carpenters Union furnishes casket for Dolores Huerta

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Tuesday, a piece of New Mexico began its journey to help the late civil rights and labor activist Dolores Huerta reach her final resting place.

“She had the ability to talk to people coming from all walks of life,” Huerta’s cousin Gilbert Benavides said. “She was able to persevere all those years and make sacrifices. And you know, her message was a strong message, right? You know, people have the power.”

The trailblazer was born in Dawson, New Mexico, and later moved to Bakersfield, California. She formed the United Farm Workers Union, but it wasn’t just farmers she helped. For decades, she dedicated her life to making sure workers were being treated properly.

Locally, she would often appear and participate in the New Mexico Carpenters Union events. After she passed away, her son called our carpenters union to create her coffin—something her family said was only fitting to have workers’ hands create.

“As we had all of these events every year, carpenters have always been strong supporters. In fact, they were the towers. They protected Dolores,” Linda Garcia Benavides said. “They were contacted by Emilio, Dolores’ son, and said, ‘We would like for you to build her casket.'”

“I can’t fully describe, you know, what that meant to us to hear that after her friendship, her mentorship, her support, you know, how can we possibly say no? For a woman who spent her life bringing working people together, it was only fitting that working people would come together one final time for her,” Carpenters Local 1319 Union President Rosendo Najar said.

One of the union’s laborers traveled to Dawson to bring back dirt and branches for Huerta’s casket. From the branches, they created a cross.

“The cross from the birthplace of my mother, where her mother was born, where her father was born. Right, that history was always in her. From day one, she always talked about Dawson, New Mexico,” Huerta’s son Emilio Huerta said. “So it’s fitting to have a cross from the town of her birthplace and the dirt from Dawson, you know, from the cemetery where her great grandfather Leonicio Fernandez is buried.”

During the blessing ceremony, Lt. Gov. Howie Morales presented Huerta’s family with a certificate and the flag that flew over the state capitol in her remembrance.

“Your body, Dolores, will be gone and will be rested in this beautiful, beautiful casket that so many of the carpenters made for you to rest in peace. But your spirit will always be with us,” Lorraine Cordova said as she conducted the blessing ceremony.

Monica Logroño: “What does it mean that the carpenters’ union, that New Mexico, is part of her final journey home?”

“It is part of her journey, right? And it’s a story that needs to be remembered,” Gilbert Benavides said. “You can come from different places and you can change the world, right? Which is a big job, and it takes perseverance, and it takes decades sometimes to realize the fruits of your efforts, right? But she kept at it and she didn’t get discouraged.

“She’s taught us what we need to do, and in those fights, Dolores will live. She will live in all of us,” Huerta said.

The casket will be taken to Bakersfield, where Huerta passed away.

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