Efren Kaleb "Kal" Teran 71

Efren "Kal" Teran was born April 17, 1953 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. He was the first-born son of Efren Sr. and Estella Teran and spent his early years living between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. He did much of his schooling in Mexico City and became fluent in both Spanish and English. After graduating from high school in El Paso, Efren moved to Albuquerque where he started working for the phone company in operator services. In the late 90s Efren transferred with the phone company to Denver where he met his future husband, Kevin McCoy at a New Year's Eve party. Unfortunately Efren had already submitted his transfer back to Albuquerque to be closer to his father who was ill. Luckily Kevin was in the process of closing his family's travel agency so a long distance romance started until Kevin moved to Albuquerque the summer of 2001.

Efren and Kevin were legally married in September 2008 in San Francisco. They renewed their vows in September 2016 in the Episcopal Church when that became legal to do so.

Due to a rise in cell phone use and Qwest's merger with CenturyLink, Efren retired from the phone company and started working for the City of Albuquerque. He spent a few years in the Transit Department before moving on to the Solid Wase Department where he worked until he retired again.

Efren was indeed passionate about many things and loved collecting items such as hundreds of DVDs, X-Men action figures and comic books, Marilyn Merlot and Hawaiian shirts to name a few. But his true passion was anything Star Trek. He went to almost all of the Star Trek conventions in Las Vegas and other places and prided himself that he ended up with front row center seats for the event. He had hundreds of pictures taken with the actors from all the shows and movies and had most of them sined. His home office is affectionately called the Star trek room decorated with at least 65 of his favorite pictures of him and the stars.

Efren and Kevin didn't have children except the furry four-legged kind. Their babies were their four Westies and three cats that spread through their nearly 24 years together.

During and after Covid there were signs of cognitive decline that were alarming to Kevin and Efren's family. He was officially diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2022 and it progressed at a rapid rate. The long goodbye ended on Dec. 5 when Efren passed peacefully with Kevin and their cats with him.

Efren was preceded in death by his parents, Efren Sr. and Estella Teran. He is survived by his husband Kevin McCoy and his brother and sister in law Eric and Francine Teran.

Donations can be made to the Alzheimer's Association of New Mexico through their website alz.org/newmexico or sent to 6731 Academy Rd. NE, Albuquerque, NM 87109.