Linda Chavez - Early Life and Family

Early Life and Family

Chavez was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the daughter of Velma Lucy (née McKenna) and Rudolfo Enrique Chavez, a house painter. She is of Spanish descent on her father's side (her father was descended from immigrants to what is now New Mexico from Spain in the 17th century; his family had lived in New Mexico for several hundred years, and one of his ancestors was a Governor of New Mexico while it was still under Mexican control). Her mother was of English and Irish ancestry. Chavez earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Colorado in 1970. She attended graduate school at UCLA.

She is married to Christopher Gersten, former Bush Administration official, and is the mother of three adult sons, David, Pablo, and Rudy. She is a grandmother of nine and resides with her family in Boulder, Colorado. Chavez was raised Catholic and converted to Judaism when marrying her husband. She later returned to Catholicism. Some of Chavez's distant paternal ancestors had been Conversos (Sephardic Jews who converted to Catholicism).