The Honorable Rt. Judge Roger Cisneros and former Colorado State Senator is a WWII vet. He served with the Army Air Corps from 1943-1946 with the 333rd Bomb Group. He was a Sgt. at Okinawa, So Pacific. When he joined, he had planned to be a pilot, but they had their quota so they tested him and found he had a high IQ so they sent him to Cryptography school to learn to decode messages. When he was shipped over seas on those crowded ships he was requested to change places with some other soldiers because some did not want to be by Blacks. In Okinawa as the weather got hot he got very dark and he was called a Chink like the Asians. When he returned to Longmont, CO where his parents had a dairy farm, he went to a cafe to eat but they refused to serve him. They had signs that said "white trade only". The Spanish were always considered White, but I guess not in Colorado. He fought for his country and was treated like a second-class citizen by people that came later than his family who have been here before Plymouth Rock, since 1598.
Roger Cisneros began life as the fifth child born to parents living in the small New Mexico hamlet of Questa, New Mexico on January 22, 1924 where he attended a one-room school. For this budding scholar, the one room school was an asset rather than a liability since it provided him with the opportunity to listen and participate in third grade activities. Reading was a joy to him, and he read the few books available two and three times. He achieved the highest grade in Taos County IQ test as an eighth grader, and the Superintendent called this fact to the attention of his parents. Educating a boy in those days was a real sacrifice for struggling farmers who could barely eke out a living from barren, lifeless land with no irrigation. But sacrifice they did, and at Menaul High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he earned medals both as a scholar and as a track star.
World War II saw Roger Cisneros as a member of the army Air Corp serving in the South Pacific, and he eventually ended up in Okinawa where he was stationed when the war ended. He then graduated from the University of Denver with a degree in business. Not long after that he and Adelia Trujillo were married in 1949. Three children were born, Melvin, now deceased, Denise and Andreia. He now has two grandchildren and one great grandchild. The same year that his third child was born, 1957, he completed law school and set up his law office. He started his political career by running for the Denver Board of Education that he lost. This however was the only election he ever lost. He ran for the Colorado State Senate in 1964, won on his first attempt, and proceeded to serve three, four-year terms until retiring from the Senate in 1976. He was chosen by Tom Gavin, a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News, as one of three outstanding first-term senators.
Roger carried on a successful law practice for many years and still has found time to serve on civil boards and organizations. He has served on the National Advisory Board of the Small Business Administration (SBA), was a founder and served on the board of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF), has served as president of the Latin American Educational Foundations (LAEF), and is a founder of the Latin American Research and Service Agency (LARASA).
Additionally, he served on The Colorado Olympic Commission when Denver was assigned the Winter Olympics, the Denver YMCA, the Denver Art Museum, Girls Club Inc. the West Side Action Council, The Southwest Youth Service Board. He was appointed by the Denver school board to serve on the Committee on Denver Equality of Education Opportunity Committee. He was appointed by Federal Judge William Doyle to the Community Education Council to supervise Denver Schools integration program.
Perhaps it was his early struggles with the English language, herding sheep in lonely terrain, running barefoot in the sand, riding horseback for days, reading at every opportunity that prepared him for his role as a distinguished attorney, extremely able legislator and leader extraordinnaire. Whatever the reasons, we have all been richly blessed by his accomplishments.
Written by Mrs. Cisneros
