María "Conchita" Concepción Delgado-Delgado

December 8, 1942 – May 7, 2022

Conchita was born in Humacao, Puerto Rico. She was the eldest daughter of Concepción Delgado-Delgado and María Delgado-Rivera. Her sister is Carmen (Caminí) Rosario Delgado-Delgado de Urbati. As a child she couldn’t get enough of playing with her sister Caminí and her cousins Benji, Toto, Ferdie, Lilian, and Gladys. Every Sunday, she wore a new dress hand-made by her mother. She cherished the picnics her father took the family on weekends, and loved dancing and singing. Staying in touch with family throughout the years would become a priority for her: visiting, calling, sending cards, and making sure the next generation knew their roots.

From her parents - a father who had to drop out of school in 8th grade to care for his family but became a master electrician, and a seamstress mother who went to night school to earn her high school diploma - Conchita learned the importance of an education to better one’s self, one’s family and one’s community. Throughout her life, she would instill this belief in her children and grandchildren. She would say she considered her job as a parent done when her children had achieved a college degree.

As a student herself, she amassed an impressive resume. She was first in her class every year from elementary through high school, maintaining a 4.0 GPA and graduating with honors. She was also the only student to graduate with a 4.0 GPA from the Ana Roque de Duprey High School business education program (with a specialization in secretarial sciences), a program considered the best in Puerto Rico at the time. She achieved the second-highest score on the college entrance exam in the island, and received a full scholarship to study at the University of Puerto Rico, where she majored in Business Education and graduated with honors. She would become a life-long learner, taking advantage of the years she lived in New York City to complete a Master’s degree from Teacher’s College at Columbia University, and pursuing a Ph.D. in Business Education well into her 50’s at Oklahoma State University. Conchita always carried reading material with her wherever she went, and found interest in every subject. She tried to read everything she could get her hands on, but particularly enjoyed the bible, biographies, academic journals, magazines, reference books and romance novels. She was also very proud of her dictionary collection, which she used extensively for translations.

Conchita loved the church with all her heart, energy, and talents; she made her relationship with God the central pillar in her life. In her hometown Evangelical Church (United Church of Christ), she became a great leader locally and island-wide. She took on roles as radio host, bible school teacher, and counselor in church summer camps, such as the Yuquiyú Center. She actively participated in plays and worked as the church secretary for some years. She married Reverend Jorge Luis Bardeguez-Román in 1965, and was soon embraced and respected by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Puerto Rico. Throughout the years, Conchita continued to assume additional leadership roles. She presided over the church’s board of officials, was a congregational representative at both the regional and general levels, and was a member of the Disciples of Christ’s General Assembly in the United States and Canada.

Conchita also served the church in a professional capacity. While her husband studied at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana, Conchita worked as administrative assistant to Dr. William Nottingham in the Latin American and Caribbean Department in the Overseas Ministries Division at the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) central offices. She also worked at the central offices of the United Methodist Church when she lived in New York City.

Later in life, as her graduate studies came to an end, Conchita felt the call to serve the Church in a new capacity. She returned to Indianapolis to work as executive assistant for the Office of the General Minister and President of the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) for the United States and Canada. While there she organized, implemented, and facilitated meetings, assemblies, and other important events. Moreover, she was editor of the hymnal Cáliz de Bendiciones, published in 1996 by Christian Board of Publications, and she served as translator of written works and coordinator of the group in charge of simultaneous translation for general assemblies and other church events. She continued this work as a volunteer even after she had transitioned to another career.

In her later years, Conchita joined New Palestine Christian Church, and although she represented the congregation at regional and general events, she wanted to be part of a smaller church where she could be less known for her accolades and just be part of the congregation. Preferring a role behind the scenes, Conchita focused more on being a friend and sister in the faith, not wanting an active elder position so she could remain more low-key; there for her personal faith and experience with God and God’s people. Conchita never wanted control, credit, or anything else. Just to be and offer herself however she felt called. She had a very clear perception of right vs. wrong, never wanted conflict, and never felt the need to take over a situation to fix it. Conchita was simply faithful, humble, and kind, with a wealth of knowledge and love to offer if she was asked or needed.

Most of all, Conchita was always a woman of prayer; a Christian who no matter how busy, dedicated time every day to “talk very privately with God”, as she would refer to her ritual. She always had a list of people and issues to be presented to God in prayer in an altar area she would set up everywhere she lived. Always a bible, the poster of a brown Jesus, a chalice, and her large wooden rosary. As part of the prayer list, she always included her boys, her family, the ill, her friends, her neighbors, the church, issues in Washington, leaders around the world, the poverty and misery in so many places around the earth, and peace with justice for her fellow human beings.

Upon her return to Puerto Rico in the late 1970’s, she developed into a consummate professional. Conchita became a professor at the University of Puerto Rico in the Secretarial Sciences department. She obtained the title of CPS (Certified Professional Secretary) and was the only professor with such distinction at the time. She was an active member of the Board of Directors for PSI (Professional Secretaries International; now The International Association of Administrative Professionals) and presided over many of its committees.

A painful divorce did not stop her achievements. The single mother of two continued to develop her career, offering secretarial and administrative training seminars in the United States, Latin America and Puerto Rico where she distinguished herself and obtained great success. Conchita became an active member and President of the Business Education Professors’ Association. In addition, she was designated as the official examiner for the CPS assessment in Puerto Rico, and developed the recruitment exams for secretarial personnel at the university. She was awarded the Secretary of the Year Award by PSI and became “Puerto Rico’s fastest typist” when she won first prize in a competition. Later, while still finishing course work in her doctorate program, Conchita, in collaboration with Amelia Maldonado Ruiz, wrote a reference book for the modern office (Manual de Referencia Para La Oficina Moderna 1st edition, 1994; paperback, 2004), which they later expanded and revised (Procedimientos Administrativos Para La Oficina 1st edition, 2001; 2nd edition, 2007). Before retiring, she worked as Manager of the Latin America Team at Covance, Inc. (a contract services organization for pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries) where she earned employee-of-the-year honors and distinguished herself training others on lab results, procedures, and analysis.

Working at Covance afforded her the opportunity to travel and meet new people, two of her favorite things. Any time she could, Conchita would stay one or two additional days wherever she was sent to work in order to explore the culture and go sight-seeing. She usually returned with books and gifts for her family. She was always thinking of others. Her travels were well-documented in the living room of her house. She collected arts and crafts from all the places she visited; she even had collections of refrigerator magnets and hotel key cards from all the places she had stayed at.

But more than things, Conchita collected memories and friendships from a lifetime of travel. She considered these friendships as her extended family. She knew her adjustment to new places could not have happened without “angels God placed in my path”. She liked to remind her children of how the congregation in Barrio Maná in Corozal opened their hearts to her. In particular, she was thankful to Efraín Berríos and Gina Avilés, who helped her family get adjusted to the church and the area. She recalled driving her jeep in the mountains and her porch conversations with the community. In New York, where her first son, Lemuel, was born, Luz and Víctor Maldonado became her family. She was very grateful for their help and support as she navigated a foreign language, motherhood, work, and school. She recalled walks in the park with Lemuel, the closeness of the Puerto Rican community there, and the time she won a poetry declamation competition, reciting the poetry of Wilson Naranjo. Conchita would also remember fondly her years living in Seville, where her youngest child, Abner, was born. With the support of Maripi and Emilio Estrada, she fell in love with the culture, the food, Maria Luisa Park, the Tower of Gold, dancing sevillanas and learning how to play flamenco castanets.

More extended family members were added when she worked in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico. Pedro Bonilla and Loyda Vázquez became her brother and sister. Their child, Pedro Iván, became her nephew. When she moved to Oklahoma, her family was taken in by Don and JoAnn Seamans and the rest of the congregation at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Don and JoAnn became honorary parents to her and grandparents to her children; they were her rock as she juggled being a single mother, studying, teaching, volunteering for the church, and supporting her children in their own endeavors. Conchita loved her time in Indianapolis as well, where she relished the joyful gatherings of “el corillo de la iglesia” along with David and Margie Vargas, Lucas and Manuelita Torres, Carmelo Alvarez, Hilario and Aurora Núñez, and other close friends living there at the time.

Conchita passed on May 7, 2022 with Lemuel by her side, sometime after listening to a live stream of her granddaughter’s performance as Elsa in a production of Frozen.

Conchita is survived by her sister, Carmen Rosario Delgado-Delgado, her two children, Jorge Lemuel Bardeguez-Delgado and Jorge Abner Bardeguez-Delgado, and her grandchildren - who endearingly know her as their “Abu” - Lucas Abner Bardeguez-Ferguson, Amayo Antonio Bardeguez-Barrera, and Alelí Alivios Barrera-Bardeguez.

A celebration of her life will be held at First Christian Church in Stillwater, OK on Saturday, May 28, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a contribution to the Conchita Delgado Endowed Memorial Scholarship. Gifts may be made payable to the Foundation for Oklahoma City Community College, 7777 S. May Ave., Oklahoma City, OK 73159 or by visiting https://secure.qgiv.com/for/occcdelgado.