Obituary: Consuelo Mata-Olalde Farmer

Consuelo Mata-Olalde Farmer, a longtime resident of Carson City and wife of Nevada Appeal political columnist Guy W. Farmer, died Feb. 12, 2003, of pancreatic cancer at Evergreen Hospice in Kirkland, Wash. She was 66.

A native of Mexico City, Mrs. Farmer graduated from high school and secretarial school there. She emigrated to the United States in 1960 to work for the Mexican Government Tourist Office in Los Angeles.

She and her husband were married that year in his hometown, Seattle in 1960. After living in Klamath Falls, Ore., for two years, they moved to Carson City in January 1962, when he became the capital correspondent for the Associated Press. During the mid-1960s she was a sales clerk at Murdock's Department Store in downtown Carson City.

Mrs. Farmer became a U.S. citizen in 1967 when her husband joined the Foreign Service. Over the next 28 years, they lived and worked in Bogota, Colombia; Canberra, Australia; Caracas, Venezuela; Lima, Peru; Madrid, Spain; and Mexico City. During stateside assignments they lived in Alexandria, Va., and Newport, R.I., while maintaining their permanent legal residence in Carson City.

Mrs. Farmer was the bilingual secretary to the first State Department anti-narcotics coordinator in Colombia. She managed the American Embassy Commissary in Madrid and did extensive charity work with embassy women's organizations.

The Farmers moved back to Carson City in December 1995, following his retirement from the Foreign Service. During the past four years, Mrs. Farmer volunteered at Friends in Service Helping's Ross Medical Clinic, where her kindness and compassion earned her many new friends.

In addition to her husband of 42 years, Mrs. Farmer is survived by her children Guy J. Farmer of Reno and Maria Consuelo Farmer of Seattle; son-in-law Richard C. Green of Seattle; daughter-in-law Carol Gilman, of Reno; sister Lucia Mata de Flores of Mexico City; and numerous nieces and nephews. Her brother, Rodolfo Mata, preceded her in death.

Before she died, Mrs. Farmer wanted to thank her many friends in Northern Nevada for their love and their prayers. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Ross Medical Clinic, c/o "FISH," 131 E. Long St., Carson City NV 89706 and/or the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, 1111 Stewart Ave., Bethpage, NY 11714.

Memorial services are pending in Seattle and Carson City. Walton's Chapel of the Valley is making arrangements for a private burial at Lone Mountain Cemetery in Carson City.