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A tireless volunteer and community activist, Elena Pacheco seemed to be involved in almost every cause in Mountain View — affordable housing, food pantries, health care and church groups.
Pacheco died in hospice care on Saturday, May 13, after a long battle with lymphoma. She was 60 years old.
Growing up in Santiago, Chile, Pacheco was the only girl in a household with six brothers. She came to the U.S. in the late 1980s to study for a job as a teacher and translator in English, Spanish and French.
By her account, her passion for volunteering came not long after she arrived in the U.S. Sitting in a local hospital waiting room, she watched as a 10-year-old boy struggled to translate between his mother and doctors. The same day, she offered to volunteer as a translator.
Over the next 30 years, Pacheco invested herself in a long list of Mountain View’s civic organizations. At ease speaking in front of groups, she brought the concerns of the Latino community to mostly-white political leaders at public meetings. She frequently led workshops for the Latino community on government and nonprofit programs for nutritional health, voter registration and immigrants’ rights. For more than 25 years, she volunteered as a translator at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, and she made several trips to Central and South America as a translator for Doctors Without Borders.
For her whole life, Pacheco was dedicated to helping others, explained her brother, Sergio Pacheco.
“She didn’t do anything because she wanted to be famous,” he said. “Even in Chile she was the same: she volunteered because she wanted to do it.”
Castro Community in Action Team co-founder Marilu Delgado recalled meeting Pacheco about 10 years ago, as efforts were mounting to create a neighborhood teen center on Escuela Avenue. Pacheco invested herself in the project and was able to draw on a huge network of contacts between government and nonprofit groups, Delgado said.
“Elena would just show up solo and be a real strong advocate for things she was passionate about,” she said. “She used her talents the best that she could and was very generous about it.”
A single woman, she sometimes referred to the community she created as her extended family.
In her last years, Pacheco’s experience showed how thin the social safety net can be for those living in Mountain View. In 2013, she was diagnosed with lymphoma after suffering a seizure while teaching a Spanish class. Lacking medical insurance, she exhausted her savings to pay for her chemotherapy treatment, which left her fatigued and unable to work. Around the same time, the rent kept increasing on the apartment where she lived since 1995. Ultimately, she had to move out and live with friends.
Pacheco allowed the Voice to document her struggle with both cancer and housing in a story that published in 2015. At the time, she said that her illness forced her to learn how to rely on others, a not-entirely comfortable role reversal. Friends helped provide her with meals, rides to the hospital and other help.
Her cancer had gone into remission, but it came back aggressively in November. Word spread among Pacheco’s friends and colleagues as it became clear the cancer would be terminal. Pacheco’s brother and his wife say they were flabbergasted by the number of people who came in to visit her.
“She knew so many people: doctors, friends, journalists, priests, students — everyone wanted to visit her,” her brother said. “I had no idea she knew so many people.”
A memorial service was held for Pacheco on Saturday at the Martinez Family Funeral Home in San Jose. According to her wishes, her family is planning to send her ashes back to Chile.
Besides Sergio Antonio Pacheco and his wife Angela Edwards Pacheco of Roseville, Pacheco is survived by four other brothers, Roberto Pacheco Reyes of New York, and Humberto Pacheco Reyes, Marcelo Pacheco Reyes and Rene Pacheco Reyes, all of Santiago, Chile.
To a truly wonderful person who has dedicated their life to helping others, even with cancer she still managed to be happy. She has really impacted this community. I’m very impressed with her work and heart.
Elena would be glad to know that the room was overflowing with love at her memorial. RIP, Elena.
Yes, very sad. Elena did a lot for the community, so the loss will certainly be felt by many.
Rest in Peace, Elena. It was an honor to create your website: mvdreamers.org
You will always be an inspiration to me.
Heartbreaking. Our lives only intersected a little, but Elena truly shone and had a lasting impact. She was joy and love, through and through.
I held her hand and supported her through that seizure, just before the diagnosis. I cheered through her recovery, but lost touch when I changed jobs and moved. I send my love to her friends and family.
Elena’s passing leaves a hole in the heart of local activism. Her presence was always welcome and her demeanor and comportment of the highest qualities. Although we did not always agree on the issues, I always felt as if she and I were friends. Some people are just like that. And if you were lucky enough to meet her, you’d feel the same.
She will be missed.
Ken Rosenberg
Mayor
City of Mountain View