With deep sorrow and broken hearts, the family of Amalia Sorida Jones, age 98, announces her passing on May 21, 2026.

She was born in 1927 in Ojo Caliente, New Mexico to Antonio and Lucita DeHerrera. After graduating high school, Amalia moved to Los Alamos where she worked at the historic Fuller Lodge, the social hub and gathering place for the scientists and staff of the Manhattan Project. She would tell stories of her interactions with them, including J. Robert Oppenheimer and Edward Teller. After studying at New Mexico Highlands University, in 1951, she joined the U.S. Navy, where a lifelong love of travel was sown. She loved reminiscing about her amazing adventures while stationed in Japan, Alaska and Hawaii. After her Navy career, she began her civil service employment with the Department of the Air Force, retiring after 31 years of service from her last position at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory.

Of all her many noteworthy roles, the one Amalia considered her most important, her greatest accomplishment, was that of mom, grandma and Nana. She was the steadfast, unwavering foundation of her family. Pictures of her children and grandchildren were everywhere in her home; notes from them displayed on her refrigerator door. Her home was a safe haven for them when life’s storms proved too much. Her words, “Everything’s going to be okay,” soothed even the most troubled of hearts. Her Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts became legendary. Throughout our entire lives, she ended every phone call, every visit with, “I love you.” So it came as no surprise, those powerful words were her last.

She is survived by her children and grandchildren, to whom she devoted her life. Sons Mark and his wife, Love; Mike, his wife Louisa and their children, Jessica and Joshua; daughter Lisa, her husband Ruben and their son, Andres.

A committal service with military funeral honors will be held at the Santa Fe National Cemetery on June 17, 2026 at 12:30 p.m.