Ofelia Valdez-yeager
January 11, 1947 - January 7, 2024 Riverside, CA
Ofelia Valdez-yeager passed away peacefully on Sunday, January 7, 2024 surrounded by her family.
Ofelia Valdez-yeager was born in Tayoltita, Durango, Mexico in 1947. She moved to Tijuana in 1948 where her family of ten waited five years for her father to earn enough money to buy a home and move the family to Montebello, California. When she was six years old she began her schooling in the first grade speaking no English but finished that first year at the top of her class. Although her parents’ education was limited to the third and sixth grades, they always held very high expectations for grades and encouraged her and her seven siblings in academic endeavors. Ofelia entered UC Riverside in 1965 with the first group of five Educational Opportunity Program students. She was mentored well, worked hard and graduated with a BA degree in Spanish in 1969. She married Ley Yeager on a Saturday, graduated from UCR on Sunday, and left on a honeymoon drive to Ley’s graduate education program at Stanford University on Monday. Upon returning to Riverside in 1970, she earned her elementary teaching credential from UCR in 1971. Valdez-yeager began working as a teacher for the Cucamonga School District's National Model Bilingual/bicultural Follow Through program focusing on grades K-3.
In her early working life, Ofelia worked as an Upward Bound residential tutor-counselor, a high school counseling assistant, an elementary school teacher, a bilingual resource teacher and in several consultant capacities with public agencies. While raising her family full-time, Valdez-yeager continued to work in the field of education as a resource teacher, a consultant for bilingual education, and a substitute teacher, often at Longfellow Elementary, where her husband taught and her children attended. During this period, Valdez-yeager was also the PTA President at Longfellow, striving to promote student success via parent and community involvement.
In 1992, Valdez-yeager was elected as the first Latina Riverside Unified School District Board Trustee. During Valdez-yeager’s time on the board, she noticed a need to increase RUSD'S capacity to reach Spanish-speaking families. As a result, working with Superintendent Paul Houston, the District’s first-ever translator/interpreter came on board, representing a monumental step towards access, equity and inclusion.
Valdez-yeager held several influential positions, including serving as an assistant to former Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge, Chief of Staff to former RUSD Superintendents Tony Lardieri and Susan Rainey, Chief Administrative Liaison to the Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Dave Long. She was also a founding member of the Latino Network, a philanthropic organization that provides a forum to address community issues affecting and impacting the Latino community. Ofelia was instrumental in spearheading the successful effort to construct the Cesar E. Chavez Memorial on the Downtown Riverside Mall.
She continued to serve as a community volunteer in various organizations committed to improving quality of life issues through committees and boards. She served as the Chair of the Altura Credit Union Board of Directors and the RUSD Bond Measure Committee.
Her most recent community contribution was The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture, a museum art collection in the heart of downtown Riverside. In partnership with Cheech Marin and the Riverside Art Museum, Valdez-yeager helped to raise $3 million in the project's first year to ensure its development. The Cheech opened in June of 2022 and is a testament to the importance of the Latino Community's influence on Riverside's cultural offerings and its pride in being known as the city of arts and innovation.
Valdez-yeager is a recipient of many awards for her community service and leadership, including the 2022 Athena Award Recipient, 2019 Mission Inn Foundation Frank Miller Civic Achievement Award, 2018 Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce Chairman’s Award, 2016 UCR Distinguished Alumna of the Year-graduate School of Education, 2016 UCR Alumni Service Award, the 2016 Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce President’s Award, and the 2001 OHTLI Award from the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ofelia leaves behind a legacy of service, love, and impact, including her husband Ley, four grown children, seven grandchildren, and 38 nieces and nephews. At this moment of profound loss, we honor the memory of Ofelia Valdez-yeager-- an icon, trailblazer, educator, and community advocate--who will be deeply missed. She is survived by her husband of 54 years, Ley Yeager; her brothers Mike Valdez, Bob Valdez and George Valdez; her children Marisa Yeager, Luis Yeager (Amy), Ana Yeager Lee (Brent Lee), Tessa Yeager; and her seven grandchildren: Hannah, Jack, Andrew, Henry, Felix, Elizabeth, and Amelia-bea.
A mass will be held in her honor on Friday, January 26th at 10am at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church followed by a memorial service at 12pm at the UC Riverside Student Recreation Center. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Riverside Art Museum and the Cheech Center to honor Ofelia’s legacy http://riversidemuseum.org/ofelia and consider donating blood if you are eligible at your local Lifestream location.