Mr. Vallecillo-Ortez died Sunday, Jan. 4, at his residence.
He was born June 14, 1962, in Managua, Nicaragua, to Yolanda Ortiz Gutierrez and Luis Felipe Vallecillo Sanchez. Following high school he earned a degree in philosophy from a Jesuit seminary and later received a degree in theology from La Facultad Teologica Hondurena in Honduras, where he became a professor of systematic theology. He married Gloria Jan. 8, 1995, in Honduras. They moved to the U.S. where he served a Lutheran congregation in Wilmar, Minn. They moved to Chicago in 1996 where he attended the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and launched a Hispanic mission church called the Lutheran Church of the Ascension. In 1999 they returned to Minnesota where he served another Lutheran congregation in Worthington. In 2000, they moved to San Antonio where he completed two years of residency as a pastoral chaplain. He became naturalized as a U.S. citizen Dec. 7, 2001. Following his residency he worked as a chaplain for Vitas Hospice in San Antonio while completing requirements for ordination in the Episcopal Church. He was ordained as an Episcopal priest Sept. 9, 2006. In 2006, the family moved to Temple where he became a chaplain for VistaCare Hospice where he worked until Oct. 2007. He was called to serve as interim pastor at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Lampasas from February 2007 to March 2008.
Survivors include his wife, Gloria Drews Vallecillo; a son, Rommel; a daughter, Grace, all of Temple; daughters, Rauqel Emilia Vallecillo Lopez and Maria Paola Vallecillo Ramirez; his mother; brothers, Felix and Luis Felipe Vallecillo Ortiz; sisters, Reyna Isabel Sanchez Garcia, Damaris Vallecillo Ortiz, Julia Haydee Ortiz Gutierrez; and three grandchildren, all of Mexico.
Memorials may be made to Leiomayosarcoma Direct Research Foundation or to any charity.
Visitation is 6-8 p.m. Friday at Dossman Funeral Home in Belton and two hours prior to services at the church in Lampasas.
