Longtime New Mexico state Sen. Garcia dies at age 87; champion of children, families, history

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - Mary Jane Garcia, a former state senator who served 24 years in the New Mexico Legislature, where she was known as a champion of historic preservation, families and children, has died. She was 87.

Garcia, a Democrat who served as majority whip during one stretch, represented District 36, including Doña Ana County and Las Cruces, from 1988 to 2012.

She died peacefully while surrounded by her family on Friday after entering hospice care in December, the county said in a statement on behalf of her family.

“Her community service extended across many areas of advocacy to include at-risk youth programs, animal rights, border health issues, education, historic preservation projects, human trafficking, subdivision, and welfare reform," the county said.

In recent years, she had been observed participating in cleanup days, clearing trash at the village’s historic cemetery, the county said.

State Sen. Jeff Steinborn, a fellow Democrat who now holds the District 36 seat, said Garcia was “a tremendous cultural and historic preservationist who worked for decades to preserve the history of her beloved community, the Village of Doña Ana, and cared deeply for her constituents.”

“New Mexico has lost one of its great public servants," he said in a statement.

A businesswoman, Garcia had been a co-owner of Billy the Kid’s Gift Shop in Mesilla and the Victoria’s Lounge bar in Las Cruces. From 1966 until 1972, she served as an administrative assistant for the U.S. military and a medical volunteer in Saigon during the Vietnam War.

She earned degrees in anthropology from New Mexico State University and published, as her master’s thesis, the first document history of the village of her birth.