Bernalillo: Yesterday's Sunshine Today's Shadows

Bernalillo:

Yesterday’s Sunshine

Today’s Shadows

English & Spanish

Collected and Translated

Nasario García

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Published by Río Grande Books

Los Ranchos, New Mexico

Copyright © 2014, Nasario García

Published by Río Grande Books

925 Salamanca NW

Los Ranchos, NM 87107-5647

505-344-9382

www.LPDPress.com

Printed in the United States of America

Book Design: Paul Rhetts and Barbe Awalt

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

García, Nasario.

Bernalillo : yesterday’s sunshine, today’s shadows : English & Spanish / collected and translated Nasario García Santa Fe, New Mexico.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-936744-10-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)

ISBN 978-1-936744-91-6 (ebook format)

1. Hispanic Americans--New Mexico--Bernalillo--Biography. 2. Hispanic Americans--New Mexico--Bernalillo--Interviews. 3. Bernalillo (N.M.)--History--20th century. 4. Bernalillo (N.M.)--Biography. I. Title.

F804.B47G37 2014

305.868’073078957--dc23

2013050802

Cover illustration: Mural, formerly Our Lady of Sorrows High School Gymnasium

Will future generations care as much for chronologies and casualty statistics as they would for the personal accounts of individuals not so different from themselves?

Max Brooks, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War

Contents

Dedication

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Bernalillo: Coronado’s Town

Charles Joséph Aguilar

Evaristo Aragón

Johnnie Archibeque

José Dario Chávez

Annie L. Durán

Rita Leyba-Last

Lugardita Anita Montoya

Rudy Montoya

Manuel José Pérez

Miranda Rivera Sapién

Cirilia D. Salas

Eustaquio Salas

Ophelia Ipolita María de Gracia Sandoval de Rinaldi

Eddie Torres, Jr.

Adelina Valdez Chávez Baca

Glossary

Special Vocabulary*

Suggested Reading

Other Rio Grande Books

Other Books by Nasario García

Dedication

To

Martha Liebert

and

Fellow Members of the

Sandoval County Historical Society

for Keeping History Alive

Preface

Bernalillo: Yesterday’s Sunshine—Today’s Shadows, like my previous bilingual books on oral history and folklore, features Hispanic old-timers (viejitos) of northern New Mexico. For some in this latest work their remembrances were a nostalgic journey to a bygone era replete with both joy and hardship, but for others sharing their experiences also meant putting their cultural legacy into perspective as the 21st century dawned upon them.

For over thirty years I have devoted thousands of hours and traveled as many miles to interview the old folks (ancianos). During that time I have joined hands with many of them, tape-recorded their reminiscences, and published numerous books. My first work on oral history, Recuerdos de los viejitos: Tales of the Río Puerco, no longer in print, saw the light of day in 1987.

From my own Río Puerco valley, the Río Pecos valley (El Valle), Las Vegas, Bernalillo, Albuquerque and across the American Southwest to Colorado, Texas, California, and Arizona I have gathered information on a variety of topics dear to their hearts and of utmost interest to me. The subjects ranged from religion, the cornerstone of their lives, death, education, politics, and folklore to customs and traditions.

Whether in the inner city or a small village in rural New Mexico, the reception accorded me as I visited home upon home was always with open arms, unmitigated, and devoid of preconditions. There is an old adage in Spanish that rings loud and clear as I reflect upon these remarkable men and women. "Amigo que no es cierto, cuídalo con un ojo cerrado y el otro abierto. In other words, An unsure friend, watch him with one eye closed and the other open. That is to say, Don’t trust someone you don’t know."

One thing for sure, I was never viewed with any kind of trepidation or suspicion. If anything, the old custom of the choque de mano (handshake) to show trust between two parties came alive as I stepped into their modest homes of warmth and comfort. Their dwellings turned into my treasure chests while the memories they shared with me grew to be my endearing booty to savor for years to come and to pass on to our grandchildren and the reading public.

There is no absolute way to assess or measure the value of our elders’ words, either singularly or collectively. Whether beset by hardship or blessed with good fortune, they accepted their life’s journey as willed from God. They spoke of honor, wisdom, independence and unselfishness, and so we as readers stand to learn a lot from them, if we dare to listen to what they have to say.

As an interviewer you adapt very quickly to their temperament or whatever may lurk behind each beguiling face. Over the years I have learned to expect the unpredictable rather than to anticipate what they might say as though they were all cut from the same cloth. Oftentimes the more quiet and unassuming individual turned out to be the most reflective and hence provided insightful and unsuspecting tidbits of information. Personalities aside, I learned one thing after interviewing my paternal grandparents in 1968—my first-ever interview. Though you must always first talk to the husband, never interview both spouses together or you will find yourself playing the role of an arbiter.

Aside from myriad unforgettable experiences, many of them humorous, equally as rewarding was the lasting bond or relationship I established between my informants and me. A number of them have already ventured to Heaven, or what Spaniards refer to metaphorically as el más allá.

Special among them are colorful and unique personalities who appear in one or more of my books, including my father, Nasario P. García, who dropped out of school at the fifth grade to help his parents put food on the table. He was a veritable book of knowledge who recounted his past with zest and acumen (c/f Tata: A Voice from the Río Puerco). My maternal grandmother, Lucinda Atencio, epitomizes the consummate folklorist and compassionate folk healer, whereas Eduardo Valdez, a magician with words, connects New Mexico to Spain unlike any other storyteller. Or there is Pedro Gallegos whose altruistic nature no doubt paved his way to Heaven, along with Jesusita Aragón, the venerable midwife who was featured in The Inquirer for having delivered thousands of babies during her lifetime. And what can I say about Bencés Gabaldón, singer of the most mournful alaba(d)os (hymns of praise) I have ever heard? His indelible image of tears rolling down his cheeks remains with me to this day. Finally, how can I ever forget the inimitable and happy-go-lucky guitar strumming José B. Quintana?

Whenever I feel a bit disenchanted with life, however ephemeral the sentiment, I think of those extraordinary people I befriended over the years and I rejoice. As we celebrated New Mexico’s 100th anniversary of statehood in 2012, my fervent hope now is for Bernalillo: Yesterday’s Sunshine—Today’s Shadows to be an inspiration to anyone who is interested either in Hispanic folkways and language or in the preservation of their family’s culture and history.

Nasario García

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Acknowledgments

Foremost among special people whom I wish to thank are the venerable old-timers who comprise the heart and soul of this book. Their charitable contribution of time and energy enabled me to record their remembrances for posterity in the town of my birth. This in and of itself is a dream come true.

I also wish to extend a note of appreciation to Richard Flint, Richard Melzer, and Estevan Rael-Gálvez for their unselfish support of my work. Each one stands tall as scholars in the annals of New Mexico history. An expression of gratitude is due as well to Roy C. Skeens, Martha Liebert, and Dirk Van Hart for their generous assistance in helping locate historical photos in the Sandoval County Historical Society archives for inclusion in this book.

And of course no work can see the light of day without the genuine backing of publishers like Paul Rhetts and Barbe Awalt. As a team they are tireless workers and promoters of New Mexico history, culture, and folklore.

Introduction

Bernalillo: Yesterday’s Sunshine—Today’s Shadows is a compendium of oral stories from interviews tape-recorded in 2000-2001 with fifteen Hispanic old-timers (viejitos) that takes the reader back fifty-plus years to their beloved town with a colorful and long-standing history. They speak both proudly and sadly of their language and culture. Language, in spite of everything, cannot exist without culture or vice versa.

Two primary goals were considered in putting this book together: First, to shed light on the vitality of the Hispano’s centuries-old cultural traditions and way of life in a semi-rural community for present and future generations to reflect upon and assimilate irrespective of ethnicity. Secondly, to convey the sadness old-timers feel with regard to the future of their language and culture with no one standing in line to replace them to carry on their legacy.

If we are to preserve even a hint of our ancestors’ culture and language, our children and grandchildren must step forward. They are, in a manner of speaking, our trump card. Any hope of continuing our Hispanic folkways rests with them, but encouragement from us as parents and grandparents is indispensable. Otherwise, we are barking up the wrong tree.

The book’s structure is clear-cut and to the point. The interviewees appear in alphabetical order beginning with their black and white photographs and a brief biographical sketch. The latter provides the reader a succinct portrayal of their lives and family concomitant with past and recent impressions they possess of Bernalillo (Please note that some of the informants may have passed away since the interviews were conducted.).

Their respective stories follow thereafter, first in English then the Spanish. Once the narratives were extrapolated from the interviews and titled, they were organized so that each story flowed freely from one to another for smoother transition. Just as important, the stories are intended to communicate a collective esprit de corps that speaks to the character as well as the mode and tone of communication of each contributor.

Heretofore all of my books on oral history have been in English and Spanish. In every single instance Spanish was the mother language of the interviewees. The present bilingual book is no exception, but with the following caveat. For the first time some of my subjects not only speak both Spanish and English, but two or three have also earned college degrees. All the same, they along with the rest of their compatriots have kept the Spanish dialect of northern New Mexico pretty much intact.

This centuries-old linguistic phenomenon is—and continues to be—exceedingly important to many older Hispanos, including this writer. Except for New Mexico, no where else can the magnitude of archaic Spanish still be found in the United States. For that reason alone, it has been the practice of this author to maintain the integrity of the old-timers’ lexicon when transcribing their stories.

But being faithful to the language goes beyond old Spanish. Over time an assortment of words (c/f Glossary) has come into existence. In addition to Náhuatl terms, they include so called Mexicanisms, indigenous New Mexico terms, Anglicisms, and standard words whose meaning and spelling at times have also been altered by the local population. Suffice it to say that the temptation to standardize the old-folks’ language has never been a consideration simply to mollify the purist. On the contrary, showing the richness and longevity of language has been a top priority.

Since I began my fieldwork years ago I have translated hundred of oral stories, including various facets of folklore. Given that New Mexican Spanish is my native language, putting it into English has been relatively easy, but challenges pop up from time to time. They never go away because each interview invariably contains words or expressions whose meanings are apt to vary from one community to another and hence must be reconciled accordingly in translation. On the other hand, there are times when words assume a new interpretation that departs from the norm. Context at that point drives the translation.

Translating any work requires an implicit understanding of the culture at hand as well as the target language. Therefore, the spirit of words must often supersede a literal interpretation to avoid a colorless rendition of a perfectly colorful word or phrase. What people say and the manner in which they articulate something constitute important components that must not be sacrificed because of expediency. Understanding linguistic nuances may well constitute the difference between an excellent translation versus a mediocre one.

Another very important consideration is editing. The vast majority of old-timers are common, ordinary people and not storytellers per se. Even so, some have a knack for relaying their past with flair. But a story must flow smoothly without undue distractions. Therefore, if a paragraph contains an excessive number of pause words (i.e., pues), it makes perfect sense to eliminate those that smack of redundancy and add nothing of substance to the narrative. There are times also when an informant may inadvertently mix two unrelated topics or thoughts within a paragraph that result in a non sequitur, hence impeding the flow of the story, in which case one topic is eliminated or moved elsewhere for a smoother transition.

From the recorded words to the printed page marks a long and time-consuming process that demands inordinate amounts of time, patience, and dedication. I shutter to think of the countless times I drove long distances for a scheduled interview only to find out that my informant was gone to a doctor’s appointment or to visit family members in another town or village. Technical mishaps such as garbled tape-recorded material or cut tapes with nothing on them when I returned home, too, added to my frustration. But despite whatever drawbacks I experienced, nothing is more fundamental than to remain steadfast in one’s goals and objectives. After all, at the heart of any oral history project rest the rewards one reaps from interviewing proud, wise, and entertaining old-timers.

Seeing Bernalillo: Yesterday’s Sunshine—Today’s Shadows come to fruition represents a long sought after dream. The idea of interviewing old folks (ancianos) to produce a work on the town of my birthplace lurked in the back of my mind for a long time. But an oral history project is worth no more or no less than the time and effort one is willing to invest toward that aim. Much of the information may well be alien or even esoteric to a preponderance of readers—especially our youth—in this day and age of i-phones, cell phones, and texting. Notwithstanding this seeming anomaly, the old-timers’ words can still be edifying if we dare to listen to their powerful voices.

Bernalillo: Coronado’s Town

History at a Glance.

The history of Bernalillo stretches across centuries to indigenous times although the Pueblo Indians did not become known to Europeans until the sixteenth-century when Spanish colonizers made their way to what is currently the Upper Río Grande valley of New Mexico. Across the Bernalillo riverbanks lie the ruins to the Kuaua Pueblo that date to the fourteenth-century (more later), whereas today Sandía Pueblo, founded in the 1300s, to the south of Bernalillo, and Santa Ana Pueblo, the Keresan village 500 years old to the north, are thriving.

The first colonist to blaze a trail to the local region and its environs during the 1540s in search of the mythical and illusive Seven Cities of Cíbola was Francisco Vázquez de Coronado who hailed from Salamanca, Spain where he was born in 1510. These days Bernalillo is proudly dubbed the Town of Coronado.

Forty years later (1582) after Coronado’s expedition to the Bernalillo area, Antonio de Espejo, purportedly inclined to serve the Spanish crown (historians differ on his real motives), ventured to New Mexico to rescue two friars, Agustín Rodríguez and Francisco López, who had accompanied the Francisco Chamuscado expedition of 1581.

In 1598 Juan de Oñate, the first governor of New Mexico, continued the flow of traffic from New Spain (Mexico) to the northern territory now known as the Land of Enchantment. Relations between Pueblo Indians and Spanish colonists were topsy-turvy at best. Ultimately the strife between both parties culminated in the Pueblo Revolt of August 10, 1680. The pueblos won.

By 1691 Diego de Vargas, then governor of New Mexico, vowed to recover the lost territory and bring it under Spain’s control once again. True to his word he spearheaded a successful movement that effectively accomplished the Reconquest on August 1692 without much opposition or fanfare. The victory was short lived, however. Four years later, in 1696, a Second Pueblo Revolt erupted; this one was a bloody mess. Scores of colonists and Indians died in the rebellion. Friendly relations between both sides remained tenuous.

To make matters worse for the Spaniards, sporadic Apache forays on Bernalillo also became a problem for Governor de Vargas. Fernando Durán y Chávez, Alcalde Mayor of Bernalillo at the time, appealed to de Vargas for help to stave off the Apache raids that persisted well into the eighteenth century.

Despite these incursions and the continuous conflicts between the Pueblos and Spaniards, Bernalillo was born. The father of the town, which he founded in 1695, was none other than Diego de Vargas, born in Madrid in 1643 and deemed the hero of the Spanish Reconquest of the territory of New Mexico. With two feathers securely in his hat, he subsequently fell ill and died in 1704 at the home of Fernando Durán y Chávez in Bernalillo, the town de Vargas helped to establish.

The unabated Apache attacks on Bernalillo notwithstanding, the town, destined to survive, grew little by little. In the early 1700s it already boasted its own church called La Parroquia de Nuestro Padre San Francisco de los Españoles. By 1776 the town’s population hovered around twenty-plus families and one hundred inhabitants, asserting itself as a potentially viable community.

In 1848 Mexico ceded the territory of New Mexico to the United States after both countries signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In 1851, Bishop Jean Baptiste Lamy arrived in New Mexico and soon thereafter (1857) ordered the construction of a new parish in Bernalillo called Our Lady of Sorrows (Nuestra Señora de los Dolores) that still stands today. The church was built with strong financial backing from José Leandro Perea who was a local sheep baron with important land holdings in the community.

With continued support from the Perea family, the Christian Brothers in 1872 opened the St. Nicholas School for boys. The Sisters of Loretto convent school for girls, with support once again from the Pereas, followed three years later. The boys’ school after educating young men for eighty-plus years shut its doors in 1950; the convent followed suit in 1966.

Meanwhile, Bernalillo indeed was beginning to hum with activity, but the prospects of the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe (AT&SF) railroad possibly locating the roundhouse in town, linking it to cities like Denver, were dashed in short order in 1880. José Leandro Perea, the proprietor of the land where the railroad wanted to locate, refused to sell his land for what he deemed to be bargain-basement prices. AT&SF officials scuffed at Perea’s ludicrous asking price of $425 per acre, so they headed south to Albuquerque. The land in question was reputed to be worth between $2-3 per acre. Some people maligned Perea for being greedy or recalcitrant, while others accused him of showmanship due to his clout in the community. The jury is perhaps still out on both counts.

Bernalillo, proud as a peacock, continued to grow, claiming a population of more than one thousand people as the nineteenth century drew to a close. The town by all accounts was booming. A cornucopia of businesses from merchandise stores, banks, hotels, drugstores, medical practices, newspapers to saloons and dance halls sprung open here and there. Bernalillo was on the move.

No business enterprise was more instrumental in bringing jobs to Bernalillo than the opening of the local sawmill. Since the White Pine Lumber Company was slated to be the new employer, the townspeople donated land west of downtown for the mill to become a reality. The cost of building the sawmill ran into the tens of thousands of dollars, but in September 1924 El Molino, as local Hispanos christened it, was ready to roll. Opening the sawmill, which employed countless people from the community, was a tremendous boost to the local economy.

But with the Great Depression looming on the horizon, and lumber prices plummeting precipitously, the sawmill was forced to shut down in 1931. This was a devastating blow to Bernalillo, but thanks to the New Mexico Lumber and Timber Company, El Molino breathed new life and resumed operations that same year. Unfortunately, prospects for a rosy future for employees remained bleak. Working conditions were dismal, wages low, hours long, and retirement and health benefits non-existent. Workers needless to say, were an unhappy lot.

Disgruntled employees united, formed a union, and labor strikes ensued, much to the dismay of management. In spite of labor problems, the sawmill limped along until the New Mexico Timber Company decided to shut it down for good (circa 1948), although the planing mill continued to operate, some sources say until the 1960s or early 1970s.

The reason(s) for the sawmill’s eventual demise, according to a few old-timers interviewed for this book, rests squarely with the union organizers and their tactics. The employer’s indifference, arrogance, and total disregard for workers rights and equitable pay for their labor sealed the mill’s fate. Bernalillo’s glorious sawmill days were behind it.

To add insult to injury, World War II, too, struck a severe blow to Coronado’s town. An exodus of residents left for California, the Land of Milk and Honey, in search of jobs at the shipyards or wherever they could find employment. Many of these people never returned although some come back periodically for the annual San Lorenzo fiestas in early August to visit relatives and commingle with friends, some of whom no doubt appear in this book.

Nearby Historic Sites

As we have already witnessed, a multiplicity of significant events has transpired since the sixteenth century when Coronado first set foot on Bernalillo’s environs. West of the town across the renowned Río Grande lies the Coronado State Monument, named in honor of the Spanish explorer, where history buffs can learn of his entrada, expedition. As mentioned at the onset, he did not find the Seven Cities of Cíbola, but he encountered thriving Indian villages along the Río Grande.

Among those communities were the Tiwa-speaking indigenous people who once inhabited the Kuaua Pueblo (circa 1325-1550) where the Coronado State Monument is situated. The Kuaua ruins were excavated under the auspices of the WPA (Works Progress Administration) during the Great Depression. In addition to history, a visitor can gain invaluable knowledge about archeology. The exquisite kiva murals alone, second to none in Pre-Columbia art of North America, are priceless in learning about the language and culture of these amazing people.

Today the monument sits proudly on idyllic and bucolic grounds that straddle the Río Grande. The majestic Sandía Mountains that often resemble a watermelon at sunset, hence the name, loom to the east across the river while rising almost 11,000 ft. into the heavens. At the same time, the Santa Ana Casino, modest dwellings, the DeLavy House, home of the Sandoval County Historical Society, plus a potpourri of small business enterprises can be found neighboring the Kuaua Pueblo ruins where ancient and modern times come together.

Beyond the Kuaua Pueblo ruins history aficionados can visit a handful of Indian Pueblos nearby, namely Sandía, Santa Ana, San Felipe (founded in 1706, same year as Albuquerque), and Zía (the sun symbol of the pueblo is the official emblem of New Mexico found on license plates, etc.) whose histories date back to prehistoric times. But in modern times they are just a few minutes by car from Bernalillo, and each one has