When my grandparents were young New Mexico Tech students

Lucy Pino wasn’t the kind of grandma who baked cookies, but she did take me to the soccer fields to collect verdolagas (purslane) for dinner. We spent our weekends creating wild art made of trash and creating our own parades in her living room. As a lifelong activist and entrepreneur, my outspoken abuela was not fragile or delicate.

But still, for most of my life, I only saw my grandma as a tiny old woman, because that’s all I knew.

With New Mexico Tech’s 49ers approaching this weekend, I decided to dig through my stuff and find the black-and-white photograph of my grandparents with a burro. My grandfather, Elwood “Woody” Heiss, is sporting a full beard and looking at my grandmother, Lucy, who is smiling while riding a donkey. My best guess is that it was taken in 1953.

I cherish this photo of my abuela in her youth, full of vitality and a spirit of adventure. I can see that she radiates hope and excitement, with a world of opportunities ahead of her. I only wish I knew what she was thinking in that moment.

My abuela would tell me when I was young that she always felt a little suffocated by Magdalena life. She was a natural leader, independent, highly competitive and creative. I think she always wanted more from life than Magdalena could offer her.

“And remember the big book in the corner of the room, and look who is behind it. Why, it’s Lucy Pino! The only worry Lucy had was her grades. She really made good ones, too.” It states in the 1949 Magdalena High School yearbook.

Her fresh face and glittering eyes made their first appearance in the New Mexico Tech Yearbook in 1953, where she is featured in many clubs, including After Dinner Music, Cooney Mining Club (seated next to Woody), The Gold Pan staff and The Porphry staff.

My grandmother, Lucy, was proud to be one of the first Hispanic women accepted into the NMT. In her sophomore class only it appears there were only two other women, showcasing the unique challenges she faced in a male-dominated environment.

I like to picture my abuela, freshly graduated from Magdalena High School. I can imagine her boldly stepping onto the picturesque New Mexico Tech campus, with anticipation for the new experiences that await her.

Although she didn’t graduate, she met and married Woody, who was from Pennsylvania. And she got her ticket out of New Mexico. My grandparents moved to Chile, where Woody worked as a mining engineer and my uncle David was born. Woody protested against the inhumane working conditions—I’ve read his heated letters written in Spanish.

Eventually, he quit his job, and they ended up in Borrego Springs, California.

I never really knew my grandfather. He left our family and didn’t show much interest in me or anyone else, for that matter. All I have are a handful of letters he wrote to my grandma over the summer of 1954.

In one of the letters dated July 22, 1954 Climax Colorado, reads:

I’m growing a beard for the big burro race in Leadville on Aug 1 same deal as 49ers- get put in jail for no beard etc. I wish I had a good burro- first prize is $700. Race over the mountains to Fairplay Mount 22 miles. Would be a lot of fun.

Beard is getting kind of gray. I’ll shave before I come back- people might think I’m your granddaddy.

Work here is getting to be just plain work- I’ve learned every job on the crew, kinda boring now. Sure get tired of looking at “mud” we write enough in a month to relay every sidewalk in Socorro.

Take care of yourself, honey, write often.

Love Woody