WHEAT RIDGE - Paul Ortega was buried Tuesday with a royal flush on top of his casket.

The best hand in poker was a fitting tribute for the lifelong jokester, gambler, amateur boxer and longtime owner of Rosita's Mexican Restaurant.

Mr. Ortega died of natural causes Aug. 15. He was 78.

About 250 family members and friends attended a Catholic Mass for him Tuesday that included a five-piece mariachi band.

"You know, my dad lived for parties, and he would want to go out with a big party," Mr. Ortega's daughter, Pauline Gallegos, said as she hosted a catered reception at her Broomfield home afterward.

"He told us to live for today and to hell with tomorrow because you don't know if you're going to be here," said Vickie Ortega, his youngest.

Born Sept. 5, 1928, in Belen, N.M., Mr. Ortega moved as a child to Denver with his nine siblings and his mother and father, a grocer.

Mr. Ortega dropped out of school after eighth grade and went to work in a Commerce City slaughterhouse. In his spare time, he "junked" for scrap metal that he resold for extra income. He ran a catering-truck business.

And he boxed.

"He was one of the most amazing athletes anyone has ever seen," said his oldest grandson, Tommy McKenzie.

His strength has become the stuff of family lore. He is said to have once picked up a 400-pound motor by himself.

His muscles helped him peddle watermelons at roadside stands around Denver.

"I have one last punch," he was known to say.

He and his wife, Margaret, were married in 1954. He had four children and two stepchildren.

Tired of slinging fruit and packing meat, Mr. Ortega bought Rosita's Mexican Restaurant in 1963. He put his integrity behind the hole-in-the-wall eatery and bar on West Colfax Avenue near Lakewood and, in time, it, too, became the stuff of family legend.

"If you walked in and said you had 30 cents, what could you buy, he'd feed you the biggest dinner and say, 'Keep your 30 cents,' and then find you a ride home," said his oldest daughter, Rosie Agurries.

Rosita's, which has moved to three different buildings since then, is now in Westminster and is owned by Gallegos.

At his rosary, someone asked those who had worked for Mr. Ortega to stand up. Half the crowd of 300 rose.

Many said Mr. Ortega had fired them multiple times, for trifling things such as breaking a dish or taking a nap in a back room at Mr. Ortega's urging. Knowing the joke was on them, they always came back to work the next day.

Two of Mr. Ortega's greatest joys were gambling and spending time with his grandchildren. In her eulogy to her grandfather, Lisa Douglas shared memories of sleeping with her cousins under the table, as her parents, aunts, uncles and grandfather played poker into the night.

She recalled riding in the bed of her grandfather's pickup to the bank, where she received lollipops. There were countless family trips to Las Vegas and to Central City, where they had spaghetti and caramel apples.

The enormous family required two group campsites for its annual reunions at Grand Lake.

"To hell with the other campers!" Mr. Ortega famously said. The phrase was inscribed on a ribbon draped around a flower arrangement at his funeral.

Mr. Ortega is survived by his wife, Margaret; his children, Gallegos, Agurries, Ortega, George Ortega, Alex Madrid and Della Marie Burrows; his sisters, Mary Sedillos, Nita Muniz, Virginia Quintana-Jukola and Lupe Aragon; his brothers, Nick and Arthur Ortega; 13 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren.

bargec@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5059

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