Rev. Raquel V. Welty
February 2, 1933 † October 9, 2023 Raquel was born in Madrid, Spain on February 2, 1933.
Her early life was profoundly affected by the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco. Perhaps because of her early trials, her life was deeply rooted in hope and unshakable faith.
Raquel’s father, Pedro Vazquez Rabade, was a violinist and poet who opposed Franco’s dictatorship and fled to Cuba. Raquel’s family was not permitted to follow him. Raquel and her sisters were raised by family in Saavedra, Galicia, Spain, while Raquel’s mother, Carmen, struggled to earn a living as a seamstress and survive persecution. After 11 years, Carmen managed to find a way out of Spain and join Pedro in Cuba by using her sister’s passport. Raquel’s mother was her hero, and she could hardly speak about her mother’s courage and intelligence without tears of gratitude and admiration.
Raquel’s experiences in Spain, including the cruel persecution by the Spanish government, contrasted with the abiding encouragement and support she received from Methodist missionaries in Cuba, inspired Raquel to a life of faith. She enrolled at the Seminario Unido de Teología in Matanzas, Cuba with an ambition to be ordained to pastoral ministry.
Raquel and Tony met at the seminary in Matanzas, Cuba. They were inseparable from the first day they met. Raquel would say that her friends knew that Raquel and Tony were meant to be, even before they had actually met. They married in June 1957.
Raquel withdrew early from seminary to join Tony in the ministry of the protestant church in Colombia. Raquel was a leader and teacher, as well as a pastor’s wife during the most dangerous years of the persecution of protestants in Medellin, Colombia.
An opportunity to study arose which Raquel and Tony accepted, so they moved to the US with their two young sons, Marcel and Alex. Raquel began life in the US in Princeton, NJ. Tony accepted a call to organize an Hispanic Presbyterian congregation in Washington, DC. Raquel supported Tony’s demanding work, while also raising their two sons and having their third son, Ivan. She improved her English by volunteering at the Arlington hospital. She taught Spanish in a Methodist school and served as a highly respected, beloved, and admired church leader and as an immensely capable pastor’s wife.
After years of diligent effort and sacrifice, Raquel was finally able to obtain a refugee visa for her family in Cuba, and she helped them settle to their new life in the US. During those eventful and challenging years, and in the midst of the civil rights and racial justice struggles, Tony founded The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Direct Social Services. Raquel made Tony’s work possible by her own commitment, incredible skill and dedication as an extraordinary helper, partner, and leader, while also a steadfast and loving and caring wife and mother.
In January 1977, Raquel and Tony with their three sons pursued a call to work in Antofagasto, Chile during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Raquel worked with the people there, befriending and forming enduring, supportive relationships and inspiring faith, hope, and courage.
Upon returning from Chile to the US in 1980, Raquel fulfilled her lifelong ambition by graduating from the Union Theological Seminary in New York City and finally becoming an ordained minister.
Raquel pursued learning her entire life, which continued even as she served as the beloved pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Ossining, NY. She also earned the required certification and worked as a psychoanalytic pastoral counselor, became a staff advocate for prisoners at the nearby Sing Sing Prison, served the Presbyterian denomination by sitting on the historic commission that helped decide where the reconstituted Presbyterian Church (USA) would be headquartered, and was a colleague helping write curricula for the denomination’s church schools. Raquel gained a reputation as an impeccable translator and had a role in translating many important church documents, she reviewed ordination examinations, and Raquel served in many other important and gratifying, sometimes weighty, roles on various boards, councils, and church bodies.
On the occasion of her introduction as the Associate Pastor for Bilingual Ministry at the congregation in Ossining, Raquel summarized her call to faithful commitment and her vision which transcends any single lifetime of commitment, service, grace and caring:
“Christ is the center of my faith. He transformed my life; to have Christ as our center means to love God and all people in practical ways, so that God’s redemptive purpose for this world may be fulfilled” ~ Raquel
Raquel’s life continued to touch many lives. With her goodness, and in her unique way, she made us a little kinder, more patient, wiser, and nobler. Raquel made the world a better place and will be dearly missed.