Zoraida Navarro arrived in Bozeman in 1983 with a master’s degree in civil engineering and a job offer from the state highway department. She intended to stay two years, maybe three, long enough to pay off her student loans and see what the mountains looked like in July. Forty-three years later she was still here, still mentioning the loans at Thanksgiving, still taking the long way home to avoid the new roundabout on North 19th.

She worked on the widening of I-90 through the canyon, the replacement of the Jack Creek bridge, the culvert project that took three summers because the ground kept moving. Her crews called her Jefe. She called them by their first names and knew which ones had kids in Little League and which ones were saving for a down payment that kept receding.

Zori bought a house on West Babcock in 1989 for what her daughter now calls a fictional amount of money. The neighborhood filled in with infill duplexes and a three-story apartment complex that blocks the Bridger view she used to drink coffee to. She attended every planning meeting. She spoke for three minutes each time. The commissioners knew her by name.

She is survived by her daughter Marisol of Belgrade and her grandson Mateo of Bozeman.

A rosary will be recited at Holy Rosary Catholic Church on Thursday at six.