Luis Azpe-Pico, 85, died Thursday, December 14, 2023 near Perkins, Oklahoma. Funeral services will begin 10:00 a.m. Thursday, December 21, 2023 at the Saint Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Stillwater followed by burial in Olivet Cemetery southwest of Perkins. Strode Funeral Home and Cremation is in charge of the arrangements.

Luis Azpe was born on January 13th, 1938 in Gomez Palacio, Mexico, the son of Luis Azpe Sr. and Marina (Pico) Azpe. Luis was raised in and around the rural town of San Pedro in the state of Coahuila, where his father was a store owner and ranch manager and his mother was a homemaker.

Luis attended the prestigious Ateneo prep boarding school in Saltillo and had a university degree from Universidad Autonomo del Noreste in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico.


In 1966, Luis married Bibi Orduna, to whom he was married until her passing in 2020. Luis and Bibi had one daughter, Lilia, his pride and joy.

Luis was by vocation a teacher, affectionately called "el profe", and teaching Spanish and other subjects in Mexican junior high and high school for about 50 years. For many years he taught in the Carlos Pereyra, a Catholic school in Torreon, Mexico, operated by the Jesuit order.

It's estimated that Luis taught more than 10,000 students, some of whom still keep in contact with him.

Luis was well-known and respected in the Mexican metropolitan area of Torreon and participated in talk shows on the radio, TV and the Internet.

Luis was very zealous in his defense of correct Spanish usage and would often correct errors used by speakers of the language.
Luis was an avid conversationalist and had many interests, wrote poetry, enjoyed watching old movies and liked World War II era aircraft.

Luis was an accomplished artist, painting desert scenes and other artwork. In Torreon he helped to publicly promote art exhibitions and in Perkins he donated his illustrated bookmarks to the public library.

In the 1970s in Torreon, Luis discovered that there were boys whose families didn't have the money to join the Boy Scouts, so he organized his own organization that would take boys on camping trips in the Mexican desert.

Following his wife Bibi's death in 2020, Luis came to live with daughter Lilia and family on the Charles Wall farm southwest of Perkins, where he was residing at his time of death. There Luis spent much time with Lilia's family and also with neighbor and niece Monica Wall and family.

Luis loved the Perkins community and made many friends here. He also enjoyed taking trips in Oklahoma to see tourist attractions and the countryside.

Luis was a lifelong Roman Catholic and while health permitted also attended and made many friends at the Perkins church of Christ.

Luis was preceded in death by his parents, two brothers and two sisters.

He is survived by his daughter Lilia (Azpe) and son-in-law Allan Wall; his grandsons, David Wall, of Broken Bow, and Raphael Wall, of the home; as well as many relatives and friends both here and in Mexico.

Donations in Luis Azpe's memory may be made to the Thomas-Wilhite Memorial Library of Perkins.