Elsa Eva Heimer Monterde Love had a life as exceptional as her name. She was born in Bayate, Cuba on June 6, 1934. Her parents, Oscar and Magda, had sixth and fourth grade educations and raised three children with advanced college degrees.

Elsa was raised on a farm in Caney, Cuba until she was ten, then the family moved to the U.S. Naval base at Guantánamo. She started fifth grade there but did not know a word of English. For the first month, Elsa said that she was concentrating so hard that she had a splitting headache by the middle of the day. She brought her social studies and history homework to her father who translated it into Spanish. He wrote down her answers in English. She said that she didn’t earn the best grades, but she passed, and she learned English. Elsa earned her high school diploma in Santiago, Cuba.

She met William Burton Love when he came into the Tourist Commission where she was working and requested a Spanish tutor. She suspected he had other motives when he brought dance albums to his first lesson. By the way, Dad couldn’t dance or speak Spanish. They were married in December 1956, and mom took her first trip to the United States for their honeymoon. After Castro nationalized the egg business that they were partners in, Dad, a U.S. citizen, had to leave immediately. Mom left later with Maggie, who was three, and Betty, who was one and one-half, through the Naval base. With a barrel of personal possessions and $200, they started again in Cortez.

Despite being an Associate Professor at the Universidad de Oriente for four years, Mom had to prove her qualifications to teach high school in Cortez. She resumed her teaching career in 1964 with a starting salary of $4,700 per year. She taught English, Spanish and Reading at MCHS for 25 years. As many of her students said, “she was a great teacher”. Elsa’s favorite subject was American Literature because “it spanned the spectrum of reading abilities”. She was particularly proud of the programs she created: a competitive Spanish Club, Spanish for Spanish Speakers, and a reading program.

In the middle of her career, she earned a Masters Degree in English as a Second Language from the University of New Mexico. She did this by bringing her three young children and her nearly 80 year old mother-in-law and living in a 27 foot trailer in Albuquerque.

Upon retirement, she continued to teach AP Spanish to her grandchildren. She also taught Sunday School, a children’s Spanish class and Spanish to the “Meth” Ladies for 10+ years.

Family was always priority with Nana. In addition to working full time and writing appraisal reports for our family business, Nana was a Girl Scout leader, swim meet and gymnastics parent, and a Rainbow Mother Advisor. She also went on way more family backpacking and camping trips than she would like. Nana took her grandchildren individually and collectively on many adventures. What a sport!

Elsa died May 3, 2026 under the compassionate care of Madison House and Hospice of Montezuma. A memorial service is planned for Saturday, May 9 at the Methodist Church in Cortez at 11 am. She is survived by her brother and sister, three children, Maggie, Betty and Deena, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.