Carlota Mata Luna

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Carlota Mata Luna

1929 ~ 2022

Carlota was born on November 4, 1929, in San Gil, a small railroad town in rural Aguascalientes, Mexico.  Carlota was the first of 15 children born to Nicolas Mata Navarro and Carmen Luna Montero.  

To help the family makes ends meet, Carlota eventually got a job as a household servant for Enrique Perez Leon, an engineer from Mexico City who was working on a large dam and irrigation project nearby. In 1963 Carlota found herself pregnant and unmarried. Her father kicked her out of the house with nothing more than the clothes on her back. Homeless, pregnant and without a husband, she scraped together what little money she had and traveled to Mexico City, hoping that Sr. Perez Leon would give her work.

Sr. Perez Leon took Carlota in and hired her as a domestic servant, allowing her to live in the servants’ quarters behind his house in Coyoacan, D.F.  It was there that Carlota gave birth to her only child, Maria Victoria (Vicky). Over the years, Sr. Perez Leon, who had no children of his own, became a father figure to Vicky. After his retirement he opened a store in the fashionable San Angel district of Mexico City, where he and Carlota spent many years buying and selling antiques.  

During this time Sr. Perez Leon assisted Carlota’s daughter with her education, paying for her to attend a private school in Cuernavaca and, eventually, Loyola Marymount University in California, where she followed his example and became a civil engineer.  

Carlota remained with Sr. Perez Leon until his death in 2001. She returned to Mexico City for a time before moving to Utah in 2018 to live with her daughter and her family. In her final years, Carlota was able to enjoy her grandchildren and, eventually, a great-grandson.  

No matter where she lived, Carlota had a way of caring for people. She had many “children” wherever she went. Her great faith in God and her devotion to Nuestra Senora de San Juan de Los Lagos saw her through many difficult times in her life.

Carlota is survived by her daughter Maria Victoria (Vicky) Doehring (Fred), her grandchildren Josef Doehring and Gabrielle Nogues (Julio), and great-grandson Mateo Nogues, as well as many brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews.   

A funeral Mass was celebrated on May 24, 2022, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Salt Lake City. Committal followed at Mt. Calvary Catholic Cemetery.