Clara Valdez Gonzales, a long time resident of the Grand Valley, passed away on Feb. 2, 2008 of natural causes, she was 98.

Clara was born Sept. 29, 1909 in Blanco, N.M.  Her parents were Jose Alejandro Valdez and Maria Madalena Valencia.  She was preceded in death by her six brothers.  The Valdez family farmed in Blanco and later in Red Mesa, Colo. from the early 1900s on.

As a young woman, Clara married Sam Wong in Durango in the 1930s when she was working in the old Canton Café on Main Avenue.  She subsequently married Ray Gonzales and moved to Telluride.  She opened a restaurant in Telluride in the 1940s and also cooked in the Old Sheridan and Roma cafes feeding the miners while her husband Ray was a town barber.  In the 1960s, she opened a café in her house in Telluride.  In 1951, she moved with her children to Grand Junction and opened Clara’s Coffee Cup in Clifton.  Regular diners knew her for her Mexican and American food.  She cooked and ran Clara’s Coffee Cup for 45 years until her retirement at age 88 in 1997.

She is survived by her three children: two sons — George Wong of Grand Junction, and Thomas Gonzales of Santa Fe, N.M. and Cedaredge; and one daughter — Patricia Autin of Harlem, Ga.  She is also survived by six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008, at Grand Junction Memorial Gardens Mausoleum at 1 p.m.  The family would like to thank the staff at Larchwood Inns Nursing Home for taking such good care of her.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be sent to the Front Range Community College Foundation, 3645 West 112th Avenue, Westminster, CO. 80031.  Arrangements are under the care and direction of Martin Mortuary.