History of Alex (Elisandro) Carrillo

This obitituary was posted in The Daily Herald and following was a brief history written by Rita

Sunday, 11 April 2004

Alex E. Carrillo

Daily Herald

Alex E. Carrillo, 62, of Orem, died suddenly at his home, April 9, 2004, and joined his Heavenly Father and his loving parents. Alex was born March 22, 1942, in Monero, New Mexico, a son of Rafael Carrillo and Pablita Madrid. He moved to Utah in 1955 and graduated from Provo High School and Utah Valley State College. He met his sweetheart, Rita K. Johnson, and they were married on September 12, 1962. The marriage was solemnized November 4, 1964, in the Salt Lake Temple. They made their first home in Vineyard, and then moved to Orem. He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Alex worked 35 years at Mountain States Steel, retiring in 2001. He was a very hard worker and very good with his hands. He could fix almost anything. He loved gardening, woodworking, and just keeping busy. He loved collecting things and had a whole room decorated with things he had collected over many years. He loved camping and traveling with his family, and just being with his grandchildren. He would give the shirt off his back for any of them. He taught his children the value of hard work. Alex is survived by his sweetheart of 41 years, Rita K. Carrillo; his daughters: Tina (Kipp) Clark, Monica (Jay) Riehle, Jennifer (Robert) Moulton, Tammy (Charlie) Bennett; his sons: John (Kathleen) Carrillo, Marty (Cherise) Carrillo, Matthew (Kelly Jo) Carrillo; his seventeen grandchildren and two great grandchildren. He is also survived by his brothers: Joe, Rafael, Cloroveo, and Bill Carrillo; and his sisters: Pilar Carrillo, Ruby Carrillo, Erminia Lopez, and Lupe Cambray. He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Nazario and Marcus; and his sister, Ruben. Funeral services will be held Thursday, April 15th, at Noon, in the Geneva Heights 6th Ward Chapel, 590 North 900 West, Orem. Friends may call Wednesday, from 6-8 p.m., at the Walker Sanderson Funeral Home, 646 East 800 North, Orem; and, Thursday, at the church, from 10:45-11:45 a.m., prior to the services. Burial will be in the Orem City Cemetery. Those wishing to send condolences may visit: www.walkerfamilymortuaries.com This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D4.

Alex was born in Monero, New Mexico on March 22, 1942 at home. His real name was Elisandro Criseno Carrillo. His family called him Lisandro. He changed his name to Alex. He was the 6^th child in a family of 12 children. Monero was a small mining town in the mountains. He did not have the luxury of running water or electricity.

He had to help a lot around his home with very little time for play. He had to chop wood and build a fire in the family’s coal stove. He had to help with the chores and with the gardening. So at a very early age he was a very hard worker. He learned of skills working with his hands. He made his own toys from old sardine cans strung together. His first job was making a fire for the Church each Sunday before services. The family was poor like all the other families in Monero, but Alex never knew he was poor. Their home only had two bedrooms for the whole family.

He learned to work on cars and wood at a very early age. His father taught him many skills. He loved horses and before the family got a car, their means of transportation was a horse and buggy or horse and sleigh. He often went horseback riding.

He had always wanted a sled for Christmas but he usually only got an orange and some candy and notepad. One Christmas he was surprised with a sled purchased from a mail order catalog. He loved to ride his sled on the many slopes of Monero where there was no shortage of snow. The first time he left Monero, it was to go into Colorado and harvest potatoes. That was the first time he saw indoor plumbing.

In 1955, the mine dried up and his family moved to Provo where they worked during the harvest. The whole family worked. Then his father found work at a hide company. Alex began school at Dixon Jr. High. They bought their first home there. Alex worked at China City Café in Provo.

He graduated from High School at Provo High. The Spring of 1962, he met Rita K. Johnson. They dated until September 12, 1962 and then they married. They lived in Vineyard Utah where Alex worked on a dairy farm. Their first child was born in 1963. Alex joined the LDS church on November 1963. On November 4, 1964, he and Rita became sealed in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. On December 28, 1964 they had another child, Monica.

The family then moved to Beverly Sub-division in Orem Utah and had 3 more children there: John on August 10, 1967, Jennifer on February 13, 1967 and Marty on August 7, 1970. Alex became employed at Mountain States Steel in Lindon Utah where he worked for 35 years. His position was a welder/fitter and a foreman. His company helped build the Church Conference Center and the Marriott Center. In 1970, they moved to another home in Orem where he had lived to this day. Two more children were born there. Tammy, born October 11, 1972 and Matthew, born August 30, 1980. The home had a acre of land which was heaven to Alex because he loved gardening and building. He was always building something or working on the land and in his shop. He had great cabinetry skills. He believed in hard work and taught each of his children the same. He was always there for his children and his spouse and was most happy when he could do things for his family and others. He loved to travel with his wife, in-laws and children and go camping in the mountains. Despite not having a lot of money, there was always food on the table and time for family vacations. In 1987, he graduated from Utah Valley Community College with an auto body diploma.

In his later years he suffered many minor health problems but nothing stopped him from working the land and building. He was an avid collector and had a complete room filled with novelties and miniature items. Among his collections were all types of telephones, clocks and trains. The family is planning on keeping his collection room intact and calling “Grandpa’s museum.”

Alex had both his knees replaced in February of 2001 and had to have them both replaced again in October 2001 because the joints were defective. His second operation for his knees resulted in complications and he nearly died of an infection and blood clots and a bowel obstruction but he pulled through. He won a settlement because of this and he and Rita were planning to have a good retirement and travel, but that was not to be.

On April 9, 2004, Rita found Alex lying face down on the floor of the bedroom. He was not breathing and was cold. He had been dead an hour or so. The cause of death was determined to be hypertensive cardio-vascular disease. His heart was enlarged and he was never told that and he was never told that he had high blood pressure. Rita believes his death was mostly in part because he suffered from untreated sleep apnea, something the family knew about but could not get Alex to do anything about.

We love you husband, Dad and Grandpa. You will be greatly missed, but your legacy and your teachings, example and love will go on.

He also leaves at this time 21 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.