When she’s not working, Antoinette Wheeler enjoys spending time with her kids and going on random road trips.
Cathy Cook | El Defensor Chieftain

Antoinette Wheeler is a lifelong Socorroan who enjoys her work as a server.

What do you do for a living?

I work here at Que Suave and I work across the street at Yo Mama’s Grill.

What do you like most about your work?

My customers and the employees I work with. I just love serving. I’ve always had the heart to serve. I do this at both jobs, so that’s why I work there at both jobs.

How did you get started serving?

I’ve been serving most of my life. It’s just something I’ve always loved doing.

What do you do for fun?

I have three kids and my nephew that I take care of, so I just love being at home with my family, spending time with them. Family time, going on vacations. We’re known as the random road trippers and we like to take random road trips, so I hang out with my family and my friends.

What’s the best road trip you’ve been on?

I’d probably have to say Oregon, when we went up to Oregon. We took a drive up to Oregon, Utah, Idaho, all of that area. We went up to Washington state. It was just kind of a random trip.

It was during spring break.

What’s the coolest thing you saw on that trip?

There was a lot of cool stuff I really enjoyed seeing. We went to the arches in Utah. That was cool, and then seeing the big cities. I enjoyed all the trees, all the greenery. Living in New Mexico you don’t see that. I liked the weather, I liked it all.

Do you have other activities you like to do with your kids and your nephew?

We do. Sometimes we’ll go to the park and we’ll take them there. We go to church, which is always one of our top things we enjoy doing as a family. We just have family time. We make the best of it.

How long have you lived in Socorro?

All my life. Born and raised here.

What made you want to stay here?

My daughter, she is actually going to be going to college here at New Mexico Tech so we’re staying here so she can pursue her dream of becoming a marine biologist. We’re here for that, but I like this town. It’s a small, tight-knit community and everybody knows everybody, and you know, safe, for the most part.

What’s the best part of living here?

Probably just the people.

Do you have a favorite movie?

Anything Disney. I pretty much have a good variety. Anything Disney, “Titanic,” “Dirty Dancing,” comedy, clean comedy.

If there were anything you could change about Socorro, what would it be?

I would say, bring more stuff in for the youth. The youth are our future and I think Socorro needs something for families in this town. I think we would get more families here if we had more stuff for families to do here in town. I’d say recreational stuff, bowling alley or skating rink, arcade, something for these kids to do in this town, because there’s not much here for them.

Cathy Cook | El Defensor Chieftain Editor