María Concepción "Conchita" Dapena Quiñones (November 8, 1913 – February 25, 2003) was the wife of former Governor of Puerto Rico

Roberto Sánchez Vilella Roberto Sánchez Vilella (19 February 1913 – 24 March 1997) was the governor of Puerto Rico from 1965 to 1969. Sánchez Vilella successfully ran for governor in the 1964 elections for the '' Partido Popular Democrático''. He is also the fou ...

and served as First Lady from 1965 until their divorce in 1967.

Biography

Dapena was born in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...

, in 1913. She married Roberto Sánchez Vilella in a Catholic wedding ceremony in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...

, on July 10, 1936.Conchita Dapena
on FindaGrave Dapena became

First Lady of Puerto Rico First Lady or First Gentleman of Puerto Rico ( es, Primera Dama o Primer Caballero de Puerto Rico) is the official title given by the government of Puerto Rico to the spouse of the governor of Puerto Rico or the relatives of the governor, should ...

on January 2, 1965, when Sánchez Vilella was inaugurated as Governor of Puerto Rico. In March 1967, an affair between Governor

and his 35-year old legislative aide, Jeannette Ramos Buonono, became public in a major

political scandal In politics, a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians, government officials, party officials and lobbyists can be accused of various illegal, corrupt, uneth ...

. Once the scandal broke, Governor Sánchez Vilella announced that he would seek a divorce from First Lady Conchita Dapena, ending their 31-year marriage, in order to marry Ramos. Just two days after the divorce between Dapena and Sánchez Vilella was finalized, the Governor married Jeannette Ramos in a civil ceremony in October 1967. Sánchez Vilella's affair and divorce from First Lady Conchita Dapena is credited with ending his political career. He announced that he would not seek a second term as governor. Dapena died on February 25, 2003, at the age of 90. She was buried at

Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery __NOTOC__ The Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery is a colonial-era cemetery located in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is the final resting place of many of Puerto Rico's most prominent natives and residents. Construction began in 1863 under ...

Old San Juan Old San Juan ( es, Viejo San Juan) is a historic district located at the "northwest triangle" of the islet of San Juan. Its area roughly correlates to the Ballajá, Catedral, Marina, Mercado, San Cristóbal, and San Francisco sub-barrios (s ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dapena, Conchita 1913 births 2003 deaths First Ladies and Gentlemen of Puerto Rico Burials at Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery People from Ponce, Puerto Rico

Biography

See also

References