Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Women of the West

Alta G. Secatero

(1920-2006)

Both Clara Winston and Violet Lucero are wives, mothers, and teaching assistants in the Magdalena Schools Elementary program. Their Navajo roots run deep, thanks to their mother, Alta G. Secatero. They both remember her as the most precious person on earth. According to the sisters, Alta would help anyone that needed help. If she didn't have what was needed, she would get it for you somehow.

Alta grew up around Alamo. She loved going to at Crown Point and the Santa Fe Indian School and told her children about her school experiences. She waited faithfully for the wagon to come each time. However, one day the wagon failed to show up and never came again.

Alta started to work at Alamo, where they had a school by the store. She walked long distances to work everyday. When she got paid, she gave her money to her father to be used by the whole family.

Alta died in the spring of 2006. She was a wonderful person who took care of lots of people. Her philosophy of life was to love and always forgive.

Clara and Violet attended the Dormitory School in Magdalena where they learned English, which is their second language. Mornings with their mother began with the traditional Navajo greeting ya ta yeh abin, or good morning. Each morning Violet honors her mother by using the same salutation. Alta taught her children to carry on the Navajo language and to present themselves to the world as who they really are: proud Navajo women.

Alta was a weaver and her craft taught them patience, Navajo patience. It is the weaver's patience, which gets them through each day. Violet is a weaver today and learned to have strength of thought and to rely on the natural ways of living from that craft. Rug patterns are a gift from inside and the patterns are thought to reside in the back of the weaver's head, in her mind.

Corn, for the Pueblo people is a metaphor for life. For the Navajo, that metaphor is sheep. From sheep everything flows: life's food, clothing and art.

In and through the skills of herding, lambing, daily care, counting, shearing, dying, carding, spinning and butchering for food, the fabric of the Navajo culture itself in woven. To the Navajo, the earth is like a sacred friend. It provides for the Navajo.

Violet has maintained her faith through difficult times and says she never panics, for example, when she is without electricity. The memory of her parents' life as simple yet rewarding has stayed with her and given her strength.

Ben and Alta lived a very natural life. They hunted animals for meat and hides, gathered piñon nuts and other delicacies like young green tumble weeds. They had no TV or running water. Violet remembers how her father literally lightened their lives by keeping the wood fire burning. Her mother lightened their lives with sweetness and generosity.

Two of Violets goals as a teacher are to pass on the Navajo tradition of patience through the art of weaving and to pass on the Navajo language. Clara and Violet's children are college graduates, who learned to value and honor their cultural heritage. Clara and Violet advised their children to do "better in life, and get an education so they don't have to work 10 jobs to make ends meet."

Through their teaching and thoughts Clara's, Violet's and Alta's other children — which includes three sons, Lorenzo, Jimmy an Albert; and two other daughters, Naomi and Alice — honor the vivid memory of their beloved mother each day.

Fiddie Godinez

When Fiddie was a young girl, she and her family moved to San Acacia from Polvadera, where she was born on May 28, 1933, to Dennis and Anastasia Giron.

San Acacia became a profitable place to live in childhood years. Fiddie and her siblings would seine for minnows and sell them to fishermen who would come to the area and fish.

Fiddie met her husband Nash Godinez, who was working at the Crabtree farm in San Acacia, and they married in 1949. A couple of years after getting married, Nash went off to Mexico to work for the U.S. Government inspecting cattle for hoof-and-mouth disease. Fiddie and their young daughter, Nadine, lived in an apartment in Mexico City while Nash was out inspecting the cattle.

Then, in 1951, Nash, Fiddie, Nadine and son Mike went to work for RA Canning at the Adobe Ranch near Beaverhead, and lived at what was called the Garcia Camp, 70 miles from Magdalena. Mail service was once a week — no electricity, no television. Cooking was done on a wood stove, kids were bathed in a metal wash tub and laundry was done on a washboard. Fiddie churned fresh butter, made homemade cottage cheese and preserved tomatoes. Fiddie was known for great chicken fried steak, rolls and great pies. One Thanksgiving, Fiddie and Nash had all the ranch cowboys over for dinner and all raved over the food except for the pumpkin pie. She had used salt instead of sugar.

In 1956, third child Buddy was born. Fiddie home-schooled Nadine and Mike at this time; setting up one of the extra rooms as a classroom, complete with desk and a teacher's desk. Even though Fiddie had not graduated from high school she was able to teach the kids.

Canning Ranches moved the family to Van Horn, Texas, for four years. Fiddie drove into town, 17 miles one way, and did babysitting for some of the teacher's children to help make ends meet.

In the summer of 1963, they moved back to the Adobe Ranch near Magdalena, and son Billy was born — and in 1964, daughter Shirley was born. Fiddie was the chuckwagon cook for one of the Canning Ranches last cattle drives. She followed the cowboys with the chuckwagon for the 70-mile cattle drive to Magdalena. Again, she followed Nash to White Lake, where they worked for Buck Harvey Ranches. A few years were spent at the Block Ranch in Capitan and back to Magdalena to the Adobe Speers Ranch, until Nash died in 1992. Not only was Fiddie a great cook, but she could wield a mean shovel or hoe when she found a rattlesnake in the hen house.

Submitted by Nadine Mahres.

Florence Real Jeffries

Florence ("Ike" to her family) was the youngest of six surviving daughters. Mother always claimed that after all those children, her mother was tired and never taught her how to cook. She could always set a table, decorate a butter patty and arrange flowers, but cooking was not her strong suit.

Mom was educated in McCook, Neb., first at the catholic schools and then in high school at St. Mary's in Kansas City, Kans. She completed two years at McCook Junior College before World War II. She was a product of the depression and to her last days, insisted on overstocking the pantry and freezer.

Florence snuck out of the house one night to run around with her friends. When she jumped into the rumble seat she stepped on the head of who was to become the love of her life. He had also snuck out of his house and was hiding in the boot, and so the adventures of the "two original juvenile delinquents" began.

When World War II began, the sisters came back to McCook as their husbands had joined the armed services. My father and mother had corresponded and dated off and on and were eventually married on June 17, 1943. My father had been and continued to fight in the South Pacific. Florence temporarily moved to California, so she could be as close as she could to him. During this long wait she gave birth to her first child, Dee.

After the war, her husband suffered from injuries and illnesses contracted in the Pacific and she cared for him. He had always wanted to return to New Mexico, and so they moved to Albuquerque where he attended and received his degree at the University of New Mexico. Their early adventures in Albuquerque could be considered legendary. Eventually they moved to Socorro where he was the Artist in Residence and graphic artist at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. This new opportunity gave mom a chance to quit work and raise her family. Socorro was abuzz at the time with various social activities of which whey participated and enjoyed.

This all ended in August 1963, when her soulmate died. Mom was offered and accepted a secretarial position at NMIMT in the Business Office. It meant half the salary dad was making. This was also a couples town and soon all the privileges she enjoyed before ended. So she threw herself into work and worked to raise her three children — Dee at UNM, Pat at Socorro High School and Peter in first grade. How she accomplished this ... her children still marvel and appreciate it. Her tenure continued for more than 26 years, until she was forced to retire at the age of 70. She had prided herself in her work, and enjoyed the social interaction of making many friends of both faculty and students.

The next 16-1/2 years of retirement was spent enjoying some travel, her children, her great grandchildren and the people of Socorro and New Mexico. Florence R. Jeffries joined her soulmate on Jan. 3.

Submitted by Dee Welling.

Hilda Kelly

The names Hilda and Tom Kelly are synonymous with Water Canyon. If pine trees there could talk, they would be telling intriguing stories about Tom's and Hilda's adventures in and around the Canyon.

Hilda's grandfather was Charlie Rienhardt, who had a ranch 20 miles southwest on the other side of the Magdalena Mountains.

Hilda began spending each summer with her grandfather in 1940. She loved it! The West, with its mountains and vast plains, suited her better than the flat lands of her native Oklahoma.

Hilda's Cherokee roots run deep. Her great-great-great-grandparents walked to Oklahoma when it was officially "Indian Territory" on the infamous "Trail of Tears."

Entertainment in Socorro County during the '40s and '50s consisted of a country dance one Saturday a month.

Tom and Hilda met at one of those dances in 1943. People came from miles around to attend, dance share gossip and stories.

At midnight, everyone would eat. People brought food and their children to the dances, which often lasted into the early morning hours. People often spent the night and went home in the morning.

In the l962, Hilda and Tom leased the Criswell Ranch, which was situated

on the Continental Divide, 90 miles to the west. They drove a pickup truck to the house and then worked cattle on horseback on the 72 sections. Each section is 1 square mile. There were few roads at that time.

Each day was a potential adventure with the truck.

Hilda said, "Every morning we were our own weather predictors. We looked up at the clouds and decided whether it was a pickup day or a horse day."

Because of the lack of roads, the numerous rocks, and the potential running arroyos, that decision was very important.

Tom Kelly's mother Elizabeth Kelly was a school teacher in Magdalena. She cared for the children during the week. On Friday afternoon, Hilda picked up the children and brought them out to the Criswell ranch. Very early on Monday morning, she brought them back. On the ranch, everyone had a job.

"There wasn't much opportunity for the kids to get into trouble," Hilda said, "They were too busy working."

Tom and Hilda ranched the Criswell place for 27 years.

In its heyday, according to Tom, Water Canyon had a population of approximately 200 people, which included old bachelors, civil war veterans, miners and ranchers.

Joanna Tinguely, Tom's maternal grandmother, was a teacher in the school situated, along with the post office, in the storeroom of Prices' grocery store, which was open up until 1898.

The store was located at what is now the Water Canyon picnic grounds, which, at the time, was the center of Water

Canyon village. Most of the inhabitants had left by the 1920s and no trace of the village remains.

Juana Maria Olguin

(1886-1953)

Juana Maria Olguin was born to Evarista and Jose de la Cruz Olguin on July 21, 1886, in San Marcial, New Mexico. She had three siblings: Marianna, Tomas and Catalina. She spent most of her childhood in San Marcial.

As a young girl, Juana met and had a short courtship with Bernardo Olguin (no relation) from Valverde. They married and had seven children: Nestor, Carolina, Felipe, Evarista, Viola, Joe and Sarah.

When the river flooded San Marcial, in 1929, Juana Maria Olguin and her children moved to Albuquerque. Her son, Felipe, married and his job with AT&SF Railroad transferred him to San Bernardino, Calif. Juana and her other children then moved to San Bernardino to be with her other son and his family. She ran a boarding house, did domestic work, and took in laundry to support and raise her family. She was able to purchase a home on her small income. As her children married, she was able to receive a little help from them. She continued to live in San Bernardino for the rest of her life.

Juana Maria Olguin and her sister, Marianna Gallegos, died on Oct. 1, 1953. Marianna lived in Albuquerque. They died on the same day, and very close to the same time of day. Juana Maria was brought to be buried with her sister in Albuquerque.

A little history of San Marcial

The original town of San Marcial had its beginning in the early 1850s on the east bank of the Rio Grande, a few miles south of what was then Fort Conrad. In 1866, the town was wiped away by a flood. Fort Conrad had been relocated to the west bank of the Rio Grande a few years before the flood. That provided reason to rebuild San Marcial on the west bank and the people lost no time in re-establishing their community.

No sooner had the new town began to grow when, in July 1881, it was almost totally destroyed by fire. Once again, the town was rebuilt and grew to a community of 1,000 residents and became the center for agricultural and irrigation projects.

By 1929, the population peaked at 1,400. Then, on the night of Aug. 13, the waters of the mighty Rio Grande began to rise and soon reached flood stage. By the next morning the town was submerged up to the second floor of the buildings. Most of the residents, seeing their homes a total loss, left. See www.ghosttowns.com.

Linda Brown

Dewey, Linda's husband, had a chance in ranching, and since he was getting nowhere working for someone else, they thought, "Why not move?"

So, Linda and Dewey, and their kids, ended up in Bingham, in 1979, still working for someone else. They had a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old. Living at the ranch when her youngest child started kindergarten she went to work and was business manager for the Carrizozo schools.

Both Linda and Dewey wanted a ranch of their own. So, in 2002, they bought the Fite Ranch near San Antonio, N.M., and remodeled the house, which had been damaged in an earlier fire. Linda had always dreamed of owning a bed and breakfast. Dewey liked the idea and they were able to accomplish their dreams together. Once they bought the ranch, Linda became an immediate cook to five ranch hands. She had to cook three meals per day for two years to feed the ranch hands.

Before starting the B&B, she worked 3-1/2 years at Socorro High School in the Counselors Office. She made sure kids went to the work force as a job shadower, which gave them an idea of what career they may want to pursue in life.

Since starting the B&B, she has met a diversity of people as her guests.

Linda says, "it's a great avenue to get to know people."

A positive influence was her late mother-in-law. Linda admired her, and saw that she never gave up and always saw the best in things. Everything has a purpose regardless of where you are.

The most influential person nowadays is Evelyn Fite.

"The person I most want to be like when I grow up is Evelyn Fite," says Linda.

Maria Pilar Sarracino

Pilar Sarracino was born on Aug. 26, 1930, to Victor and Tere Lopez. She was christened Maria Pilar Sarracino, but is called "Pilar" by the family and friends. She was an only child but grew up with aunts who were very close in age. Her mother came from a very large family of 24 siblings.

Pilar was born in Chamisal, an area now known as Lopezville. This area was named after her father's family. Many Lopez families still live there today.

Pilar has fond memories of growing up in that area. She recalls the families getting ready for church services. The women would ride on the horse-driven wagons and the men would walk with their children. Pilar says she would grab her father's hand and walk the trip that was faithfully done every week.

Pilar and her parents moved into Socorro when she was around 7 years old. She remembers visiting with close friends of her parents, Frank and Lupe Bernal, who were the owners of the Spanish Inn.

Lupe spoke to Pilar's mother about helping out in the restaurant and at the young age of 10 years old, Pilar started working. She continued to work and attend Mt. Carmel Catholic School.

On June 21, 1947, she married Ramon S. Sarracino in the San Miguel Church in Socorro. Pilar speaks of a beautiful marriage of 59 years to Ramon, and a family of five children. Her first son died when he was only 38 years old and left, as she says, "an empty hole in my heart."

Pilar and Ramon served as mayordomos in the San Miguel Church for several years. She recalls that time as one of the happiest in her life. Her husband passed away in March 2006, and she continues to live in the same home they built together. Pilar, at the age of 76, still and will always invite you into her warm kitchen for good food and stories of a full and happy life.

Submitted by Kathy Gonzales.

Marie Bianchi Sullivan

If you ever sat in the brazo of the San Miguel Church in Socorro, you might have noticed a statue of Christ the Risen Savior dedicated to a person with the last name Bianchi. Bianchi is a very rare surname brought to New Mexico by Italian immigrants who ventured west and ended up on a ranch west of San Antonio, N.M.

Maria and Bautista Bianchi's only daughter, Marie, was born on April 21, 1905, on a dusty wagon trip en route to Socorro. Marie was so small her mother placed her in a shoe box for the ride back home. In order to provide her with social contacts and schooling, Marie's parents moved to San Antonio. They instilled a strong work ethic in Marie as they continued to run their ranch and opened up a saloon. The Bianchi's neighbors, the Hiltons, had a little boy named Conrad who was a favorite playmate of Marie's. They used to ride burros together on the ditch banks of San Antonio. Marie went on to make her First Holy Communion at San Antonio's Catholic Church, which, at the time, was part of the Luis Lopez Parish.

At age 18, on May 11, 1923, Marie graduated from San Antonio Public Schools. As an active church member, Marie taught Catechism and, at one time, had 32 children in a class. At that time, San Antonio had a social club called the Sweet Heart Club, of which Marie was a member.

She looked cute in the club's little heart-shaped hat as she posed for pictures. Marie meticulously saved a treasure trove of pictures and letters. This primary source of history included the names of people, places and events of the era. Some of Marie's many pictures show her as a child in long braids and growing up to be a young lady in a fashionable bob.

Marie's letters document a traditional courtship leading to marriage to Fred Chavez Sullivan.

He corresponded with Marie form Monticello, located in the newly formed Sierra County that incidentally was created by Fred's Tafoya-Sullivan families.

Marie and Fred were married in San Antonio on May 27, 1927. They lived in Monticello immediately after their marriage.

When their first child was nearly 8 months old, they moved to New York City where Fred worked. After only a few months, Fred's brother bid them to return to Monticello to form a partnership in their father's established mercantile business.

Marie learned early in the marriage to have a bag packed and ready to go whenever Fred felt adventurous. She helped him to set up a liquor business in Hot Springs (now Truth or Consequences). There, she gave birth to two sons, Charlie and Dillard.

Marie kept the business and home fires burning in 1948, while Fred went off to New Orleans to try his luck in the Tucker automotive making business.

That ill-fated venture didn't knock Marie down. She and Fred moved the family to Bayard and Central (Santa Clara), where they operated a successful clothing store, a Firestone store and a liquor store.

They continued their success in Las Cruces with another liquor store.

Marie lived the rest of her life in her tranquil home in Las Cruces, where she kept an impressive collection of autographed movie stars' pictures.

Submitted by Gloria Torres Armijo.

Melchora Gonzalez

Folks who live well beyond the lifetime of their colleagues often are not much remembered when they die. Not so educator Melchora Gonzalez, who died at her home in Socorro on April 19, 2005, at age 99.

Melchora left behind hundreds of former students and teachers she inspired, each of whom carried a treasure trove of memories about her and remember her grassroots efforts to educate youngsters in Socorro County from September 1929, until her retirement in 1970.

Although her name may be permanently on file in the public record for her highest ranking job, Socorro County School superintendent, she will best be known as a grade school teacher who inspired impoverished rural students, including this writer, to excel and pursue a better life.

"She started teaching in San Marcial in 1929, the year the river flooded the town," said her sister Placida Gonzalez of Socorro. "From there, she went to Tokay, San Pedro, La Joya, Escondida and San Antonio, and then she ran for superintendent of schools."

"Somewhere in there she also taught at Dusty," according to Yolanda Bianchi-Cook, a cousin and first-grade student of "Miss Gonzalez."

Dusty was a ranching and mining community in the southwest corner of Socorro County.

Why Melchora moved from school to school during her early career is not entirely clear, but it probably was the result of outlying communities becoming ghost towns or consolidating with larger schools. San Marcial's schools never reopened after the 1929 flood and Tokay also disappeared. San Antonito's school burned down and the students were moved to San Antonio. San Pedro's students eventually were bused to San Antonio.

In 1942, about age 37, Melchora defeated Martin Lopez, Jr. by a count of 2117-1757 for the job of county school superintendent, according to State Library archives. It would be interesting to look at the precinct results, but it's probably safe to assume that large majorities for Gonzalez came from the rural school precincts where she worked.

In 1944, Gonzalez, born in San Antonio, returned "home" to San Antonio Grade School. Thanks to Miss Gonzalez' efforts in teaching, many students became successful in their careers. She gave her students the fundamentals and the basics to build an education — she expanded their horizons.

Submitted by Ben Moffett.

Nuestra Senora Del Socorro

Nuestra Senora del Socorro, or Our Lady of Help (Succor), was one of the first "women" to colonize New Mexico. She arrived with the Oñate expedition of 1598, to the Socorro area. Here, the inhabitants of Pilabo Pueblo assisted the famished colonists. In gratitude for their help, the Spaniards named this mission "Nuestra Senora del Socorro de Pilabo."

A devotion to "Nuestra Senora del Socorro" was already popular among Spanish settlers in Mexico, from which the New Mexico expedition hailed. The devotion was brought from Spain, where "Our Lady of Help," also called "Nuestra Senora de los Remedios," (remedies) was particularly invoked for help in sicknesses.

The Spanish mission was built in 1626, but the Spanish and some of the Piro people were forced to flee south during the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. These people formed a new mission near El Paso, Texas, and named it Socorro del Sur. Socorro, N.M., was resettled by the Spanish in 1816.

A group of women in Socorro are currently working on a colcha embroidery banner of Nuestra Senora del Socorro.

The embroidery style uses wool fabric and wool yarn, often handspun and is dyed with native traditional dyes.

The finished colcha embroidery image of Nuestra del Socorro will be donated to San Miguel Church, which was originally named in her honor. Her traditional feast day was celebrated on Sept. 1.

Adrianna Carilli, of Socorro, drew the design of Nuestra Senora del Socorro based on an 18th century retablo painting by Jose Rafael Aragon, using traditional colors.

So this election of Nuestra Senora del Socorro as a "Women of the West" is not only about Mary, the Mother of God, as namesake of our town — it is also about the women who are trying to keep her image and traditional New Mexican crafts alive.

Submitted by Sheri Armijo.

Patricia Arlene Haley

Patricia Arlene Brown wasn't named after anyone in particular. She was the fifth of five girls and said that her mom probably ran out of names. She doesn't have any brothers.

Originally from Plainview, Texas, Pat and her family moved to Ruidoso when she was 9 years old.

Her mom and dad, Ralph and Hettie Brown, ran an airport in Ruidoso and the family lived on a ranch.

Pat always liked to be outdoors and said she would rather be cleaning the barn.

Pat grew up on a farm in Plainview with horses, and then in Ruidoso they also had horses.

In high school, there were 25 people and Pat was third from the top.

Since there were no sports for girls and no physical education classes in high school, she was in many clubs.

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