Email Councilmember Raquel DeLuca

Raquel was born on February 2, 1951, in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, to Daro and Vea Jean Hamilton. Daro was stationed in Oklahoma during the Korean War. Raquel was one year old when they returned to Herriman to live on the family farm at 4258 West 13400 South, where she grew up. They dry farmed, grew sugar beets, tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, alfalfa and grains. The whole southwest valley was considered County at that time. Raquel has lived in this area for all but one year of her life.

Raquel attended Riverton Elementary. The middle school children were bused out of the area, so she attended West Jordan Junior High, and graduated from Bingham High School. After High School, she got her cosmetology certificate and is still working in her trade.

Raquel is married to Bobby DeLuca. In 1994 they moved into one of the subdivisions in unincorporated Herriman. Raquel has three children, Trevor Ohmie, Heather Forbush, and Tira Ohmie. She also has five grandchildren, Ciera, Oaklee, and Sydnee Ohmie, Kade Penrose and Kannon Forbush. Raquel’s roots come from some of the historical names of Herriman, Hamilton and Butterfield.

Raquel has always enjoyed community service. She was PTA Treasurer, Arts Council President at Riverton for 3 years, involved in various theatrical productions, Riverton Town Days Chairman for 3 years, a member of the American Legion Auxiliary, has been privileged to serve on two City Councils (Riverton and Herriman), served on the Salt Lake County Planning Commission until the incorporation of Herriman, at which time she was appointed to the City Council by the County Commission. Raquel is serving her second four year term. She was also appointed as Chair of the Planning Commission, where she still serves.

Raquel enjoys working outside with animals, mainly horses, and owns several dogs and cats. She has a unique yard which looks like a miniature theme park. She feels we need to educate ourselves on conserving water and use zero-scape or low maintenance plants for our landscaping. This is the time of year to visit Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District’s demonstrating gardens, and get creative ideas for landscaping, gardening, and conserving water. Raquel and Bobby have designed and created their whole yard. They have a small working cabin in the yard, with a wood or coal stove. They have many antiques around their yard. Raquel enjoys going back to the Amish country of Iowa, where she vacations with her family and they antique shop for her sister’s carriage business in Salt Lake. Raquel, along with her sisters, and brother, vacation with their parents as often as they can. They enjoy large family parties in the family pavilion across the street at her parent’s house.

The area where Raquel lives used to be the Scout winter camp; because it was so rocky it couldn’t be farmed. They also used the area for deer hunting. Before the foothills were developed, they used to walk through the area and didn’t see any wildlife except jackrabbits. As Raquel got older they started seeing coyotes and raccoons inhabit the area. She definitely has seen the area change over the years. Raquel stated, “My philosophy is that children need to have some place to live, and when you can no longer farm, you start smart developing and planning of your property.” This philosophy has given her children and other people’s children a place to live. She continues “with the way we are growing and the development, we are experiencing a lot of growing pains. We all need to work together and develop attitudes that will strengthen our community so that the new and the old can contribute to making this the best place we can live in. We want to give our children not just a place to live, but a sense of where they live and we all need to work together to preserve our past, our present and our future. Regardless of whether we live in the older part of Herriman, or in a new subdivision, we shouldn’t limit the ability of people to live where they want because of the size of their property.”

Raquel wants to serve Herriman as long as Herriman allows her to serve. She wants to visit with the residents of Herriman so they can get to know her better, and she can get to know them.