Majestic Living Summer 2014

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contributors DebrA MAyeux, of Farmington, is an awardwinning journalist with recognitions from the Associated Press of New Mexico and Colorado and the New Mexico Press Association and the Colorado broadcast Association. she has covered stories throughout the southwest and in Mexico and Jordan, where she interviewed diplomats and the royal family. After nearly 20 years in the business, she recently opened her own freelance writing and media business. Mayeux enjoys the outdoors, reading and spending time with her family. she is the coordinator of Farmington Walk and roll, a safe routes to school organization. she is married to David Mayeux and they have three children: Nick, Alexander and Peter.

Dorothy Nobis has been a writer and editor for more than 25 years. she authored a travel guide, the insiders Guide to the Four Corners, published by Globe Pequot Press, has been a frequent contributor to New Mexico Magazine.

MArGAret CheAsebro has been a freelance writer for over 30 years. her articles have appeared in many magazines across the country. she was a correspondent for the Albuquerque Journal and worked for several local newspapers. she has four published books of children’s puppet scripts. A former elementary school counselor, she is a reiki Master and practices several alternative healing techniques. she enjoys playing table tennis.

ViCKy rAMAKKA is retired from san Juan College where she directed programs and taught teacher education courses. Vicky and her husband reside north of Aztec, where she does free-lance technical writing. Vicky says she meets the most fascinating people in the Four Corners area, and finds them always willing to share their expertise during interviews. she enjoys photographing the flora and fauna that reside in her ‘backyard’ which she considers any place within a mile walk. she is on the board of Directors of the Aztec Museum and volunteers with the citizens’ steering committee to raise funds for a new animal shelter.

toNy beNNett grew up in Farmington. he received his bachelor’s degree in photography from brooks institute. he owned and operated a commercial photography studio in Dallas for over 20 years. he was also team photographer for the Dallas Cowboys for 10 years.

Now back in Farmington, tony wants to bring his many years of photo experience to photographing families, weddings, events, portraits, and more, to his hometown………and sKi ! he teaches at san Juan College.

WhitNey hoWle was born and raised in Farmington and is proud to call san Juan County home. the richness of the landscape and the diverse people, culture and traditions are a photographers dream. Whitney has his bA in Visual Communication from Collins College in tempe, Ariz. he is a co-owner of howle Design and Photography—a family owned studio offering graphic design, photography, market research and consulting.

Josh bishoP is a recent graduate of san Juan College with an associate degree in Digital Media Arts and Design. he currently works at Majestic Media as a video producer and photographer.

publisher Don Vaughan managing editor Cindy Cowan Thiele designer Suzanne Thurman

MAGAZINE

writers Debra Mayeux, Dorothy Nobis, Margaret Cheasebro, Vicky Ramakka, Bill Papich

Celebrating the lifestyle, Community photographers Tony Bennett, Josh Bishop, Whitney Howle and Culture of the Four Corners

Cover photo Comments Follow us on

stacie Voss by Whitney howle

Majestic living welcomes story ideas and comments from readers. e-mail story ideas and comments to editor@majesticmediausa.com.

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6 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2014

@MajesticMediaUS

Vol. 6, No. 3 ©2014 by Majestic Media.

Majestic Living is a quarterly publication.

Material herein may not be reprinted without expressed written consent of the publisher. If you receive a copy that is torn or damaged call 505.516.1230.

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summerfeatures: 10

Things are looking up for cats and dogs

“I’ve never been one to take a job just to have a job. I want to make a difference in whatever I choose to do,” says Stacie Voss, director of the Farmington Regional Animal Shelter.

By Vicky Ramakka

16

Community minded network

More than 25 years ago, Dr. James Henderson, then-President of San Juan College, decided he wanted to grow something.

By Dorothy Nobis

20

A Trip through time

Time travel is entirely possible in Northern New Mexico. There are various spots that allow the imaginative individual to travel through history and experience life as it once was. El Rancho de Las Golondrinas is one of these places.

By Debra Mayeux

26

30

County’s first women barber

Stella Castro easily recalls when she became a licensed barber in New Mexico.

It was just before President Kennedy was shot on Nov. 22, 1963.

By Bill Papich

From chef to agricultural agent

As the new Cooperative Extension Service agent for San Juan County, Bonnie Hopkins can recommend how best to grow your food, based on the latest agricultural scientific research and technology.

By Bill Papich

8 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2014

40

Peepers started it all

Peepers has wobbly cat syndrom. Rescued in 2005 when his eyes were just opening, the kitten survived, but some connections in his brain never developed, leading to poor muscle control.

By Margaret Cheasebro

34

Love notes

Music brought Joe and Cathy Pope together, and it continues to play an important part in their lives.

By Margaret Cheasebro

50

Family and community

Farmington has long been touted as New Mexico’s best kept art secret. As home to several world-class artists, the city has a history of celebrating art and culture among the locals.

By Debra Mayeux

46

Clear vision

It wasn’t an easy childhood for Abiegail Yazzie. Raised in a hogan with a traditional Navajo upbringing, Yazzie was the fourth of nine children and the oldest girl. When she was 5 years old, Yazzie was sent to Lake Valley Navajo School, a boarding school, with her three older brothers.

By Dorothy Nobis

56

Sailing away

When Keith Cochrane became San Juan College’s director of instrumental music 21 years ago, he began hanging on his office walls one poster for every concert he directed.

By Margaret Cheasebro SUMMER 2014 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 9

Things are looking up for cats and dogs For Stacie Voss, it’s always been all about the animals Story by Vicky Ramakka | Photos by Whitney Howle “I’ve never been one to take a job just to have a job. I want to make a difference in whatever I choose to do,” says Stacie Voss, director of the Farmington Regional Animal Shelter. This attitude is what brought Voss here six months ago. “Farmington wasn’t where they wanted to be with animal welfare. It would be a challenge.

It spoke to me. It was something I really wanted to take on.”

Voss will measure success with this challenge by inching the Farmington Regional Animal Shelter’s live release rate higher and higher. She intends that the majority of animals that come into the animal shelter are adopted, returned to owners or transferred to locations in surrounding states where there’s a waiting list of people wanting to adopt. Voss believes a 70 percent to

75 percent live release is achievable.

To achieve this will require the community coming together to improve animal welfare, Voss believes. “That’s already evident with the new animal shelter,” she emphasizes. “I want to give credit to the community where credit is due.

Community members determined a new shelter was needed and they came together, advocated for it, and raised money to make it happen. I wouldn’t have come here if it wasn’t for all the good work they have done.”

Symbol of progress The new animal shelter symbolizes Farmington’s transition from an animal control approach to what Voss calls an animal services focus. She wants the public to see the shelter as the go-to

place to find a new pet or for help with animal related problems.

Located off Browning Parkway, the new shelter offers many amenities, including plenty of parking. Visitors entering the shelter step into a bright, modern lobby where uniformed staff greets them. Volunteers can take dogs for a walk along the San Juan River. A get-acquainted room allows people a chance to interact with an animal to decide if it’s a good fit to become their family companion.

With up-to-date equipment, and almost double the number of cages, Voss can put her approach into practice. “It’s all about the animals.

If it’s a healthy, adoptable animal, I want to give it as much time as it needs to get adopted. We don’t want to put a time limit on it.”

SUMMER 2014 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 11

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But don’t put Voss into a warm and fuzzy character category. She’s an experienced administrator. “First thing is getting policies and procedures down in writing, so people know what to expect and know what the rules are,” she says with no hesitation. Also, since several staff members are new, it’s essential to train them on safety and standards of animal care. Voss states, “I’m really big on making sure staff knows my expectations.”

She’s quick to add, “Our management team has some great chemistry and we’re really on the same page.”

Managing staff, budgets and bureaucracy wasn’t how Voss had planned her career. With more of a focus on the outdoors, she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from Iowa State University in animal ecology, specializing in wildlife, then a Master of Science degree in ecology and evolution from Northern Illinois University. While working on a wildlife job in Nebraska, Voss visited an animal shelter and noticed a sign saying they need volunteers on Sunday mornings. She signed up.

“I just loved it,” she said enthusiastically, “so I looked for an animal sheltering job, and ended up at the Humane Society of Nebraska. I did anything and everything there.” This foundation led to Voss advancing to become Director of Veterinary Services in charge of intake, the medical department and animal care.

The Nebraska Humane Society serves the city of Omaha and takes in approximately 25,000 animals a year, most being dogs and cats, but wildlife and other critters as well. One memorable situation involved an alligator. The owner raised it in his basement and as it got bigger and bigger, he realized maintaining it might get him in trouble and contacted animal control. A bit flummoxed by the prospect of taking in a 5-foot alligator, Voss arranged for speedy delivery to a sanctuary that specialized in such unusual animals.

Voss believes the Nebraska Humane Society is a great example of what a shelter can be, and how it can make a difference to the community and be a catalyst for addressing animal welfare problems. She relates that it is, “a good example of best practices and how an organization can work with the public and do good things.”

What Can Be “This gave me a good vision of what Farmington can achieve eventually, as far as live release rate, how you can help animals, how you can help people,” she says. Voss believes there must be a partnership of the community and the shelter working together. According to Voss, “being up front and honest, saying what you can do and can’t do,” is one aspect of building community confidence. She goes on to say that, “an animal shelter is a reflection of its community. If the community cares, the shelter will care, and you’ll eventually get to a good place.”

Voss falls back on her training to characterize shelter management. “Ecology,” she says, “is understanding how one thing affects another, and population management. My population happens to be contained in one animal shelter.”

She hopes to implement the Asilomar Accord system which promotes standardized statistical reporting for animal shelters (asilonaraccords.org).

This method places incoming animals in four categories:

“An animal shelter is a reflection of its community. If the community cares, the shelter will care, and you’ll eventually get to a good place.”

— Stacie Voss

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Healthy – animal is immediately adoptable, with no health or behavioral problems 2.

Treatable and rehabitable – the animal may have a temporary condition that can be addressed with care and medical attention, then be placed for adoption 3.

Treatable and manageable – animal has a condition, such as allergies, that requires attention for the rest of its life, but can make a good pet for a caring owner 4.

Unhealthy and untreatable – animal has severe behavioral or medical problems that pose a health or safety risk to the public.

Voss sees this system as a way to assist staff with decision-making and a way to have statistics to guide where to put resources.

This process will take time. As a mid-westerner, Voss is still getting her feet on the ground.

She admits, “I’m still not a true New Mexican. I’m not used to the red chili, green chile thing.” But she is delighted to be in Farmington. “People have been so nice, so welcoming. They make a person feel like they are part of the community.”

14 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2014

On days off, Voss enjoys spending time with her three dogs and exploring history and culture of the Four Corners area. She especially likes hiking along the San Juan River below Navajo Lake.

Ups and Downs Voss recognizes the area’s biggest problem with animal welfare is indiscriminate breeding.

“We have animals surrendered at the shelter just because they came into heat or the female keeps having puppies. There’s a very easy, simple solution to that. Get your animal spayed. It’s better for the animal and you can keep the animal.

Every week, we get animals surrendered because there came into heat. And that’s a silly reason to give up an animal.”

She wants people to understand that not getting pets spayed or neutered has a broad impact.

“It’s not just your dog having pups, it’s puppies coming into the shelter, or having more puppies.

It’s a domino effect – people don’t see the whole picture. An overabundance of cats and dogs impacts everyone, and having low cost

spay/neuter services is one way to address the problem.”

It’s especially discouraging for staff to be faced with an animal that hasn’t been taken care of to the point where it cannot be helped.

“We’re doing so much good, and we’re helping a lot of animals, but when we see an animal that – if it had just been brought in two weeks earlier – we could have helped, now there’s nothing we can do for it. It hurts your heart,” Voss says, with emotion in her voice.

So what does she do to handle such situations? “I’ll go off for some stress relief and I’m a venter. If I can vent, I’ll be OK after that.”

She quickly rallies, though, and says there always more good than the bad. “Our adopters, donors, and supporters – there’re many people doing the right thing. It’s just the one bad egg that doesn’t do the right thing – seems like it can stink up the whole place!”

Adoptions are increasing at the shelter. With a full-time veterinarian on staff and better facilities, people seeking a new pet can come to the

shelter and find a companion that is ready for adoption, already neutered and up-to-date on vaccinations.

“It’s making a commitment to an animal,” Voss states emphatically. “If I see a cat that’s friendly or a dog that’s wagging its tail and gets along with other dogs, let’s make a commitment to that animal.

Let’s get it adopted or transferred or whatever needs to happen.”

The new animal shelter expresses the good part of the community’s humane spirit. Former mayor and state representative, Tom Taylor, and his artist spouse, Bev Taylor, designed and carved the wallsize donor recognition panel. T. Greg Merrion sponsored the spacious meeting room where community groups are welcome to meet and school classes can gather for a tour of the shelter. Soon to be installed is an outdoor sculpture donated by Drake family members in memory of Jimmy Drake.

Volunteers have their own office space, made possible by M.J. Gallahan, a physician assistant and avid animal lover. A donation box, cleverly designed as a giant dog bone, is the contribution of Jody and Bob Carman.

Well before groundbreaking for the shelter, hundreds of people, schoolchildren, organizations and businesses donated and held fundraisers to contribute anywhere from small coins to significant contributions. They each have a stake in its success.

Community members continue the commitment to animal welfare. It’s become fashionable to adopt a pet from a shelter. Reinventing their original mission to raise money to help in construction of the shelter, the Regional Animal Shelter Foundation continues to help fund supplies and programs for the shelter. Dozens of volunteers walk dogs and drive transport vans. Things are looking up for dogs and cats, and the people who care about them.

SUMMER 2014 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 15

Community minded

network

Leadership San Juan has been growing leaders for 25 years Story by Dorothy Nobis | Photo by Tony Bennett More than 25 years ago, Dr. James Henderson, then-president of San Juan College, decided he wanted to grow something. But it wasn’t tomatoes or green beans or roses or tulips Henderson wanted to grow. It was leaders.

“I realized that we needed a number of leaders to help with programs around the county,” Henderson explained. As was – and still is – typical of Henderson, he began researching leadership programs around the country. “I looked at a lot of different programs, but it was leadership programs in Albuquerque and La Plata (County, Colorado) that appealed to me,” he said.

Henderson then looked at his own leadership team at San Juan College and invited Marj Black and Nancy Shepherd to work with him to establish a program that would help people interested in leadership roles, the opportunity to learn more about the challenges and opportunities facing their community, and ways to make the community better.

In 1989, the National Association of Community Leadership was contacted and a presentation on Leadership Albuquerque was 16 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2014

presented to a steering committee. The first class of Leadership San Juan began in September 1989 and graduated in May of 1990. Since that time, more than 600 local people have participated in and graduated from the program.

La Plata County in Colorado had already started a leadership program. “We met with representatives of Leadership La Plata,” Nancy Shepherd said. “They said it took them eight years to get their program going. It took us one.”

Black and Shepherd hit the ground running, preparing for that first class. “Nancy and I put the curriculum and speakers together and put together that first class,” Marj Black said.

“Over the years, we’ve added class projects, servant leadership and some outside activities.”

Connie Dinning was a member of that first class, the Class of 1989-1990.

“To say it was fun, informative and lovely would be a huge understatement,” Dinning said. “I had been somewhat involved in the community – enough to be selected for the first class. While I thought I was fairly active, LSJ was a great wake-up call. It helped raise my

awareness about so many issues in our community. It also connected me with several lifelong friends and it even opened up a couple of job opportunities.”

Each year, the new class enjoys a retreat.

“It’s a big part of the program,” Black said.

“The class gets to know each other and learn about their personalities. There is an overview of San Juan County and a leadership presentation and bonding takes place.”

“A lot of the members of each class are very nervous about the retreat,” Shepherd said, “but people come away from it with a really great feeling.”

Dinning fondly remembers her retreat.

“Melissa (Lane) and I grabbed on to each other at the first dinner,” she recalled. “As fate would have it, we were seated at a table with T. Greg Merrion and Steve Dunn. It was a fascinating and fun evening. We did skits and team building exercises and generally had a blast the entire weekend.”

And there was an added benefit of that dinner and that retreat for Dinning. “That dinner at the retreat turned out to be a huge event in my life, even though I had no idea at the

time,” she said. “For about the last 20 years, I’ve been working for that hilarious guy (T. Greg Merrion) I met at the dinner table.”

Leadership classes include health and human services, education, business, multi-cultures, criminal justice, media and government. For Randy Large, it was the criminal justice day that he remembers most.

“A New Mexico Supreme Court Justice spoke,” Large said, “and one of the things he said was that most of the people in prison don’t belong there. The following speaker was the warden of the Arizona State prison. He said, ‘I don’t know who you have in your prisons, but trust me, the people in my prison belong there.’”

“Hearing two absolutely different perspectives from two very intelligent leaders was an amazing experience,” Large added. “I took a bit from both of them and was grateful for the opportunity to hear their views.”

Diane Benally was a member of the LSJ Class of 1999 and is a past president of the Leadership San Juan Board of Directors.

“The biggest gain I received from my year in Leadership San Juan is the network of which I’m now a part,” Benally said.

“As outgoing a person as I am, I don’t think I would have gained as many close contacts and friends in such a short period of time.”

The networking doesn’t end when the class is over, Benally added. “While many of them

(classmates) have moved away, I retain several of them and have gained so many more from the larger network of Leadership San Juan Alumni. The socials and annual meetings allow me to meet so many more interesting and important people,” she said. “I truly feel comfortable accessing this network at any given time by outreach/introduction as an LSJ Alumni. Any one of them is willing to help or offer their expertise if asked.”

Yanabah Bluehouse is a graduate of the LSJ Class of 2013 and agreed with Benally about the benefit of making new friends through the program. “What I cherish most about Leadership San Juan is the friendships that were created personally and professionally with my fellow classmates, board members and alumni,” Bluehouse said. “I would tell prospective students that it’s OK to feel a bit anxious and nervous at the beginning. Embrace being outside of your comfort zone and you will learn more.”

“I am a better person because of what I learned throughout the class and I’m grateful

18 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2014

Leadership San Juan Class of 1990

for the pleasure to experience Leadership San Juan,” she added.

Nate Duckett was looking for an opportunity to expand his knowledge and understanding of what makes San Juan County “tick.”

“Leadership San Juan provided that and so

much more,” Duckett said. “The curriculum is eye opening and challenging and forced me to rethink many of my previous beliefs about our community. Having accessibility to the decision makers that shape the quality of life in San Juan County was motivating, and opened up so

Leadership San Juan Class of 2014

many opportunities for me to get involved.”

“The single most important thing I took away is the friendships and the network of community oriented people that I now have access to,” Duckett said. “Life is all about relationships and sharing experiences that make memories. Leadership San Juan does that, and I think anyone who wants to get involved locally or wants to be part of a group that is dedicated to making a positive difference for our community, needs to consider this program. It’s worth the price of admission and is an experience that you will never forget.”

The cost to participate in Leadership San Juan is $750. Many businesses, recognizing the value of the program, help with the cost, and limited scholarships are also available.

A celebration of Leadership San Juan’s 25 years of service will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at Lions Wilderness Park and Amphitheatre. Ben Lyons is the chairman for the celebration committee and said the goal of the celebration committee is to make the event fun, lively and rewarding.

“The committee decided that at the heart of Leadership San Juan is a vibrant group of individuals where enthusiasm, energy, and the spirit to make this community better, thrives,” Lyons said. To bring this fantastic group of leaders together, with 25 years of elite graduates, is no short order. We want to go back to the roots and the foundation of why Leadership San Juan was founded, and remind ourselves what the true essence of servant leadership is, was, and will continue to be. San Juan County is our home and we need to celebrate the wonderful aspects of our area.”

“One huge aspect of Leadership San Juan is to really delve into the challenges we face, as

well as embrace the incredible opportunities this area has to offer,” Lyons, a graduate of the LSJ Class of 2002, said. “To bring leaders from all different walks of life together in one common thread – ‘to make this community better using the tools we have’ – has been richly rewarding for me.”

Natalie Spruell is a member of the current Leadership San Juan Class and said the experience has been “priceless.”

“Not only do you get to meet amazing leaders in the community, you learn a lot about yourself – and the energy you get to go out and make a difference is the best,” Spruell said.

“You gain self-awareness and the simple knowledge of just how easy it is to get involved in our wonderful community. You have the opportunity to observe public meetings and really get an understanding of things you may never have taken the time to experience. There are a lot of wonderful leaders in San Juan County who truly do care about the future of the Four Corners.”

If Leadership San Juan has been successful for 25 years, Marj Black and Nancy Shepherd continue their commitment to make the program better. And if those who participate in LSJ do benefit, Black and Shepherd believe they are the true benefactors.

“We’ve benefitted as much as anybody,” Black said. “We get to meet everyone in every class and work with them for nine months.”

“Leadership San Juan is like our baby,” Shepherd added. “We are servant leaders and this is an example of servant leadership for us. It’s a great feeling to see people graduate, and we learn something from them every year.”

For more information about Leadership San Juan, contact Nancy Shepherd at 505.566.3264.

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SUMMER 2014 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 19

Visit the 1700s at El Rancho de Las Golondrinas near Santa Fe Story and photos by Debra Mayeux Time travel is entirely possible in Northern New Mexico. There are various spots that allow the imaginative individual to travel through history and experience life as it once was. El Rancho de Las Golondrinas is one of these places.

The Ranch of the Swallows dates back to the early 1700s, when it was a stopping place along the Camino Real, the Royal Road from Mexico City to Santa Fe. The Ranch, now a living history museum, gives visitors a taste of Spanish colonial life in the early days of New Mexico.

Located on 200 acres in a rural valley just south of Santa Fe, the museum and cultural center opened in 1972. A dirtcovered walking trail leads visitors past several sites significant to Hispanic culture, including a blacksmith shop, a school house, a fully operational flour mill run by water from the tiny river flowing through the property, as well as homesteads and Catholic Church and cemetary high atop a hill overlooking the property.

Along the way, there are weaving,

leathermaking, candlemaking, clothes washing, bread baking and fiber dyeing stations run by volunteers, who are required to dress the part and provide historical descriptions of their costumes and activities.

Dr. David Geary is a volunteer historian and member of the ranch’s board of directors. “Volunteers design and pay for their own costumes,” he said. “I have eight outfits that date back to the times of the Spanish.”

On any given day, Geary can be found at the ranch wearing one of his costumes – complete with historic weaponry. “I have to be able to explain each of my outfits,” he said.

Geary is just one of many volunteers who add to the historical feel of the ranch, which is hidden along a narrow roadway far from Highway 550 and the noise of the city. Driving to the ranch along a winding road, the rural landscape is emphasized, as homes are built on large parcels of land.

Upon entering the ranch, cars are parked in a large dirt field, and visitors

are led to a welcome center. Here there is a museum store with running water and plumbing, but this is the only modern convenience found throughout the property. A map guides visitors down a dusty trailhead across a bridge and into the lush valley, where the 21st Century is lost, and colonial New Mexico takes over.

A woman in a full, flowered skirt stands with a bar of soap, an old basin tub and a washboard. She is scrubbing linens and old fashioned long underwear.

“Would you like to try washing my clothes,” she asks fourth-grade students from Farmington’s Ladera Elementary School as they walk past.

A group of girls giggle at the prospect of using a bar of soap and tub to clean the clothes. They stop and give it a try.

The boys have something else on their minds. They are in seach of a blacksmith shop, where fire and tools shape metal into silverwear, knifes and horseshoes.

The blaze is stoked by a wooden lever that fans the flames, heating the metal to 1,800 degrees. Only then can the metal be shaped into the spoon, the blacksmith

is making. The craft of blacksmithing came to New Mexico in the early 1500s and continues to be used in the state to this day.

The walk continues to an open field, where Theresa Falzone can be found in full Spanish dress sitting atop her Lippizaner Stallion, Zeema. The horse stands as still as a statue as children rush up to pet his snow white fur, that gave him his name. “’Zeema’ means snow in Russian,” Falzone said, adding she regularly visits the ranch with Zeema to show off the main form of tranportation used by the Spaniards in the colonial times.

Across the bridge from Zeema, there are burros and a sheriff keeping the children and visitors in line. Jerry Langston is a tour guide and docent at Rancho de Las Golondrinas, and he is quick to pull out old-fashioned handcuffs, fashioned by the town’s blacksmith and ready to be worn by unwitting guests posing for a photo with The Law. Langston tells of how it would take years for travelers along the Camino Real to reach their destination without the use of motorcoaches

22 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2014

or trains, relying only on wagons and horses.

He recommends a visit to the schoolhouse and the dyeing station, where Spanish Market fiber artist Annette Guitierrez-Turk explains the various ways to dye wool naturally, including the use of onions, roots and flowers.

“They would have taken white wool and dyed it. Sometimes we use flowers, flowers with stems and roots,” Guitierrez-Turk said. “I weave the fabric, spin the yarn, dye the yarn and put motifs on them.”

Behind the schoolhouse are the rickety woodlined steps leading up the hillside to the tiny adobe church. Inside, visitors may sit on tiny wooden benches and take in the Spanish santos adorning the white-washed walls. Outside and behind a wooden fence is the old cemetary filled with wooden crosses marking the graves of the families that once lives at the Ranch of the Swallows. Those families include the Vega y Coca, Sandovals and Bacas, many of whose descendants still live in the valley of La Cienega.

The ranch has been mentioned in diaries and reports of yesteryear, according to the Website, golondrinas.org. “It became the last encampment before reaching Santa Fe, the end of the long journey on horseback or by carretas from far away Mexico City,” the site stated.

Even New Mexico Governor Juan Bautista de Anza spent the night at the ranch in 1778, while searching for a direct route to Arizpe, Sonora, Mexico, with 150 men on a military expedition.

The ranch was purchased in the early 1930s by the Curtin-Paloheimo family, which had the vision to restore the buildings and move other authentic historic structures from across New Mexico to the site.

“Now, an 18th century placita house complete with defensive tower, a 19th century home and all of its outbuildings, a molasses mill, a threshing ground, several primitive water mills, a blacksmith shop, a wheelwright shop, a winery and vineyard depict many of the essential elements of early New Mexico. The Sierra Village portrays life as it was lived in the mountainous regions of New Mexico. A morada, or Penitente meeting house, descansos, a Campo Santo and an Oratorio testify to the deep religious faith that sustained the early settlers,” the website stated.

The ranch is now owned by a non-profit organization, El Rancho de las Golondrinas, which opened it to visitors in 1972 to create a place that not only shares the rich history of New Mexico, but also fosters a pride for the language, culture and arts of Spanish Colonial, Mexican and Territorial New Mexico. El Rancho de las Golondrinas, a member of the Association for Living Historical Farms and Agricultural Museums, welcomes school groups to visit the site and also provides workshops and seminars throughout the year to enrich the visitor’s experience.

The museum is open for self-guided tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday during the summer months of June through September. The cost is $6 for adults and $4 for senior citizens and teenagers from 13 to 18. Children 12 and under are admitted free.

Docent guided tours are available by reservation during the months of April, May and October.

For more information call, 505.473.4169.

24 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2014

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San Juan College student Zach Vann graduated with an Associate of Applied Science degree, which he earned through an online partnership program with SJC and Texas A&M University-Commerce. Pictured right to left: Dean Patscheck, Associate Professor, SJC School of Energy; Randy Pacheco, SJC School of Energy Dean; Zach Vann; and Georgia Cortez, Assistant Professor, School of Energy.

SAN JUAN COLLEGE sanjuancollege.edu 505-326-3311 O

county’s

first woman barber

Stella Castro marks 50 years of barbering Story by Bill Papich | Photos by Josh Bishop

S

tella Castro easily recalls when she became a licensed barber in New Mexico. It was just before President Kennedy was shot on Nov. 22, 1963.

“I was at McLellans Five-and-Dime in Farmington when they announced it over the radio,” said Castro, who received her first New Mexico barber license in September 1963.

Castro owns Castro’s Barber Shop in Flora Vista.

In New Mexico, a barber license must be renewed each year.

Her license in 1963 was one of the first in

New Mexico issued to a woman.

Castro was told by the issuing office in Santa Fe that she was the first woman in San Juan County to receive a barber license.

A barber license is not the same license as the cosmetologist license, received by beauticians.

Barbers are trained and licensed to cut hair, beards and mustaches, and to shave faces.

“I was trained on men’s hair,” Castro said.

Women are too fussy. I like my men much more.

We get along really good.”

A phone call to the State Barbers and

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Cosmetologists Board, Regulation and Licensing Department, could not confirm who the first woman was to receive a New Mexico barber license. Castro may have been the first, but an official at the Regulation and Licensing Department said there are no barber licensing records that date back to 1963.

Barbering runs in Castro’s family. Her father Ricardo Ochoa was a barber. Her husband Manuel Castro was a barber. Misty, one of her three daughters, became a barber.

Castro met her husband, now deceased, in Lubbock, Texas, soon after receiving her New Mexico barber license and beginning work as a barber in Farmington, then moving to Lubbock to train and qualify for a Texas barber license. She applied for a barber training job at a barber shop in Lubbock.

Manuel was the owner. He hired her so she could accumulate training hours to qualify for a Texas license. They married soon after and lived in Lubbock for 18 years, then moved to Farmington to be barbers.

Castro’s family origins are in Chihuahua, Mexico, where her father was a barber before immigrating to the United States. She has a photo of him cutting a man’s hair in a barber shop in Chihuahua, in 1917. He later became a barber in Santa Fe, then moved to Farmington in 1955, when the oil and natural gas drilling boom in San Juan County was going full blast.

“He made more money in Farmington in one day than he did in Santa Fe in one week,” Castro said.

After her husband’s death in 1998, she and her daughter worked together as barbers in Farmington, including 13 years together at their own barber shop, Castro’s Barber Shop in Flora Vista.

Castro said she has been giving haircuts to three of her customers for 30 years.

“In my prime, I could do maybe 40 haircuts a day. Now, 20 is plenty. It can be a couple of minutes for a buzz and maybe an hour for the longest.”

Asked when she plans to retire, Castro said she will wait until the time is right. “I’m going to keep cutting as long as people get in my chair.”

Photo by Josh Bishop

from chef

to agricultural agent

Bonnie Hopkins knows how to grow it and cook it too Story by Bill Papich As the new Cooperative Extension Service agent for San Juan County, Bonnie Hopkins can recommend how best to grow your food, based on the latest agricultural scientific research and technology.

She worked as a professional chef for 10 years, so she can also give you advice on eating with the season and growing food for flavor.

“I have the experience of being on both sides,” Hopkins said.

“When you are cooking, you are manipulating ingredients. I felt myself drawn from the cooking to the food producers.”

Hopkins is a Kirtland High School graduate and the first woman to become the agriculture agent for the

San Juan County Cooperative Extension Service. She received her undergraduate degree in sustainable agriculture from Fort Lewis College and her master’s degree in agricultural integrated resource management from Colorado State University at Fort Collins, Colo.

This was after her 10-year culinary career.

Hopkins is a New England Culinary Institute graduate. Her intern-

ship was at the Farallon Restaurant in San Francisco and she was the executive sous chef at Strings Restaurant in Denver. She cooked for award-winning chef Daniel Bouland at the Bouland Brasserie restaurant in Las Vegas and she was executive sous chef at the Palace Restaurant in Durango during the three years she attended Fort Lewis College.

One of her goals as Extension Service agent is to connect local restaurants and

school kitchens with local growers. Not only are fresh, locally grown vegetables and fruit better tasting, they also contain more nutrients than commercial grade produce that may have been harvested quite some time before being purchased. Hopkins said she wants to help local growers “overcome the barriers of market entry” for supplying locally grown produce to local restaurants and schools.

“The first thing you have to do is find people (local growers) who are willing to do it. At the Palace Restaurant we would go through hundreds of pounds of local products because the community supported the local producers, the local market. I believe it is important to connect nutrition with local agriculture.”

Hopkins said public schools in Durango serve at least one locally grown product on every school lunch plate, so Durango could serve as a model for San Juan County to follow. “I think we have the potential to do it here,” she said.

The Cooperative Extension Service was established by an act of Congress on May 8, 1914, so Hopkins arrives at her Aztec office as the agency prepares to celebrate its 100-year anniversary.

Her first day of work was Oct. 22. The Cooperative Extension Service was established so that agricultural scientific research and new knowledge of agricultural practices developed at universities could be shared with the public and not locked up in university vaults.

In addition to her work with agricultural science and research specialists at New Mexico State University, Hopkins collaborates with the Cooperative Extension Service at Colorado State University and Arizona State University, which includes the Navajo tribal Extension Service.

“It is about education of the consumer,” Hopkins said. “I have a direct line to the specialists.

If I don’t have the answer to your question I will find the specialist who does.”

Hopkins conducts agricultural training and field demonstrations for the public and she offers instruction on agricultural marketing, health and business studies. She teaches a master gardener’s class and schedules gardening workshops and seminars. Weed control is a big issue in San Juan County and Hopkins can provide the most recent information available on chemical and biological weed control. Up-to-date information 32 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2014

on cattle production trends, pasture management and cattle marketing is provided through her office.

She also works with children. In April, as part of her Master Seed Program, Hopkins will be going into fourth-grade classrooms to teach students how to plant a seed.

She has experience teaching in public schools.

Her job before becoming the agriculture agent for the Cooperative Extension Service was teaching family and consumer science at Kirtland Middle School and agricultural science at Kirtland High School.

“I grew up in Kirtland with 4-H and FFA (Future Farmers of America), so agriculture was always a part of my life,” Hopkins said. “In my family we grew our own food.”

Hopkins said good communication between the Cooperative Extension Service and the public is a priority. She has an advisory committee made up of agricultural producers, consumers, university specialists, a BLM rangeland management specialist and the laboratory manager for Navajo Agricultural Products Industry.

“They help me identify the needs of San Juan County and I base my work around those needs,” Hopkins said. “My job has to be what the community wants.”

Perhaps one the most important needs of gardeners and farmers are assurances they are planting their crops in soil with enough nutrients for a bountiful harvest. The Cooperative Extension Service office in Aztec will provide a container to fill with soil that can be mailed to Colorado State University for laboratory analysis.

The laboratory will mail back a list of nutrients in the soil. Hopkins said she will assist gardeners and farmers in interpreting the information and she can provide advice on how to improve their soil. The cost for the soil testing is $30.

Hopkins cited the example of a gardener she assisted who had been putting the same amount of fertilizer in his soil for 30 years. She said the man reported his garden was not as productive as it used to be, but he had never tested his soil.

“The most important thing you can do for your garden is improve your soil,” Hopkins said.

“You have to feed your soil essential nutrients.

You can’t just keep taking from your garden and not giving back.”

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s e t no Story by Margaret Cheasebro

Music brought Joe and Cathy Pope together, and it continues to play an important part in their lives. Joe is a family practitioner who founded Piñon Family Practice, and Cathy gives private violin lessons. Both are actively involved in community service.

“Music is my first love,” said Joe. “Well, Cathy is my first love, but a lot of what Cathy and I love is music. Music has been a huge bond in our lives.”

They’re amateur musicians who love to play chamber music.

Cathy is the first violinist and Joe plays viola in the Tres Rios String Quartet. Sharon Brink, second violinist, and Hans Freuden, cellist, round out the group, which has been together nearly 13 years.

They perform at weddings, funerals, receptions and for church events.

“The quartet is our most important and endearing ensemble,” Joe said. “Whether we play for concerts or not doesn’t seem to matter. We love our rehearsals on Sundays, and every Sunday when it’s done, we go, ‘Wow! That’s great.’”

Diverse musical involvement They’ve spent many seasons playing in the San Juan Symphony and for San Juan College Symphony concerts.

Music fi l the lives ls of Joe and Cat hy Pope Photos by Tony Bennett Cathy sings in the Caliente Community Chorus and participates in the Bach Festival in Durango almost every March.

They both played in Showcase Concerts, a series of small group performances directed by local musician Mick Hesse. They also performed often with the Dead Composers Society Concert Series.

“Joe Pope is the reason that the San Juan College orchestra program exists,” said Dr. Keith Cochrane, SJC’s director of instrumental music. “Fifteen years ago he suggested that we start a community orchestra that serves the needs of both students and community. With his support, we were able to do that. We’ve subsequently performed over forty concerts. He has lent his full support to the work of the orchestra, serving many concerts as viola section leader.”

Keith praised Cathy’s teaching skills. “When the college has an especially talented violin student, it’s Cathy Pope we turn to.”

Attend music camps Once or twice a year Joe and Cathy attend music camps in Colorado and Texas.

“Our friends at music camp are mostly amateur musicians like us who love to play chamber music,” Cathy said. “You go for four or five days and play

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chamber music,” Cathy said. “You go for four or five days and play chamber music 14 hours a day. It’s fun.”

Mick Hesse has worked with Joe and Cathy for almost 20 years. “Much of our relationship has been built and based on music, beginning with Showcase Concerts,” he said. “When I discovered that they played violin and viola, I was thrilled to think we could collaborate with a dream project of mine, a classical chamber orchestra. Since that time we have performed together many times. Their genuine love of music makes them the most enjoyable musical couple one could ask for. Their enthusiasm and complete dedication to fine chamber music makes them the ‘go to’ duo in town.”

Their love of music developed early. Joe and Cathy both spent a few years in Texas schools, where they benefited from the Music in the Schools program. It provided free instruments and lessons for kids.

Cathy chose violin early Cathy spent her elementary school years in Fort Worth, Texas, where her father retired as an airplane mechanic in the Air Force at Carswell Air Base. One day the music teacher came to her class and played a violin to recruit students for the school’s orchestra.

“I’d never been exposed to classical music, but I told my parents I wanted to play the violin,” Cathy said. “It was free. My parents didn’t have the money to do it. They said okay, so I started.”

Her parents eventually settled in New Mexico, and Cathy played violin through high school and college. The summer of 1976 between her junior and senior years at Albuquerque’s Cibola High School, she was accepted as a member of America’s Youth in Concert, a national high school orchestra made up every summer of students from across the country. She practiced with the group in New Jersey, then toured with them for 30 days, playing concerts in Carnegie Hall and across Europe.

Joe moved often Joe’s father worked for Western Electric Company as a supervisor who built microwave

towers. When he finished building, equipping and getting one running, he turned it over to the phone company and moved on to the next town. Joe doesn’t remember many of those towns, though one was Farmington. He does remember living in El Paso until he was in the middle of sixth grade when the family moved to Roswell, N.M. “The availability of Music in the Schools from grade four in El Paso was a huge boost,” he said. Another plus was living in a neighborhood with musicians. The principal second violinist in the El Paso Symphony lived on his street, and down the road lived the concert master.

“The second violin principal took me to concerts even when I was only nine or so,” he recalled. “She would put me in the balcony and take me home after the concert. It was a thrill for me to hear symphonic music.”

He played violin through high school, eventually switched to viola, and spent part of the summer of 1975 touring Europe with America’s Youth in Concert.

Joined the Navy After he graduated from Goddard High School in Roswell, he joined the Navy. He served most of his time at Memphis Naval Hospital in Tennessee.

“My first job out of corps school was to be corpsman on the medical intensive care unit,” he said. “I was 18 years old and pretty freaked out at first.”

It intensified his interest in medicine, which had begun in high school.

“It didn’t seem realistic for me to think about medical school at the time because my family didn’t have money for college, and I didn’t perform fantastically in high school,” he said. “It wasn’t until later in my Navy years I decided that I had what it took or the determination to go to school and become a doctor.”

His last job in the Navy was in Memphis Naval Hospital’s dispensary, where, under the supervision of physicians and physician’s assistants, he saw patients, diagnosed and treated them, wrote prescriptions, and did minor surgery and emergency procedures.

Both attended UNM When he left the Navy in 1979, he began his freshman year at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Cathy was a junior there, working on a bachelor’s degree in history.

She’d started majoring in music until she discovered she didn’t have what it took to be a professional musician.

“Now I just play for love,” she said with a smile.

While in Albuquerque, she played with the UNM Orchestra, the Albuquerque Philharmonia and the Albuquerque Civic Light Opera.

The day they met Joe vividly remembers the day he met Cathy.

“It was in January 1980,” he said. “I was the new kid. I had just joined the orchestra. On my first day in the orchestra, I was wandering around during a break. I saw a violin case that had stickers on it from Rome, Florence, Venice, Pisa, London, Paris. I thought, ‘I went on a trip like that. I wonder who that is?’ I asked around. An orchestra member introduced me

SUMMER 2014| MAJESTIC LIVING | 37

to Cathy Scheck. I asked her, ‘Did you go on this trip called America’s Youth in Concert?

She said, ‘Yeah.’“ They began dating and married in August 1981.

As a freshman, Joe worked full time as a UNM Hospital emergency room technician while taking a full class load. “I almost flunked out my first year,” he said.

He took a year off from school. When he married Cathy, he cut back on his work hours because she had a job that let him return to school, where he did well. Those good grades kept him eligible for the GI bill.

Attends medical school He graduated from UNM in 1987 with a major in biology, focusing on vertebrate zoology, and a minor in chemistry. He hoped to attend the UNM School of Medicine.

“After not doing well the first year of college, that seemed less realistic than ever,” he said. “I had some explaining to do when I went to the medical school interview. I was able to

call on my 12 years of clinical experience and say, ‘I think I know what I want. I think I’ll be good for the school and for the profession.’“ By then Cathy was attending law school at UNM. She graduated in 1988 with an eye on practicing natural resources law.

“I wanted to do water law, environmental law,” she said, “but because of our place in life at that point it never worked out.” She practiced law six years in Santa Fe and in Grand Junction, Colorado, mostly in the insurance defense field.

Move to Grand Junction When Joe graduated from medical school in 1991, the couple moved to Grand Junction, where he did his internship and family practice residency at St. Mary’s Hospital.

He chose family practice in part because he loved all aspects of the medical field but didn’t want to specialize in any of them.

“With family practice you get to do a little bit of each,” he said. “But I think the bigger thing was after all those years in the ER and moonlight-

ing in ICUs and seeing all that carnage and all those unnecessary illnesses and deaths, I concluded that the better use of my life would be to help keep people out of the ER. I wanted to do a lot of preventive medicine.”

Settle in Farmington Once he finished his residency, the couple moved to Farmington because they liked the community and the music opportunities. By then, Cathy was pregnant with their son, Stephen, who was born in late 1994.

Joe began his medical practice at Farmington Family Practice. In 1998 he founded Piñon Family Practice, which has grown from one doctor and a few staff members to 45 employees, including five doctors and five mid-level staff – physician’s assistants and nurse practitioners.

Cathy began playing violin with the San Juan Symphony in the spring of 1995 and played with them for 17 seasons. Joe played viola with them for 12 seasons, and the couple gradually increased their involvement in the music community.

Cathy joins Caliente Stephen took piano lessons for eight years, then switched to voice when he was in the Piedra Vista High School Chorus. He also sang with the Caliente Community Chorus.

“When Stephen was a senior, I thought I would really love to sing with him in the same chorus,” Cathy said. “I hadn’t because Caliente and the San Juan Symphony rehearsals were both on Tuesday nights. I finally decided if you want to sing with your child, this is your last chance. So I took a leave from the symphony, joined Caliente in the fall of 2011 and had a blast. I enjoy exploring a new musical avenue, and I’m taking voice lessons. I miss the symphony, but I absolutely love singing.”

Stephen is now a sophomore at UNM, majoring in geology.

Though music is important to the Popes, they have other interests as well. They like to bird watch and have seen nearly 400 species across America, including more than 50 species

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OHCAAT gives homeless kittens a better chance to survive Story by Margaret Cheasebro | Photos by Tony Bennett Peepers has wobbly cat syndrome. Rescued in 2005 when his eyes were just opening, the kitten survived, but some connections in his brain never developed, leading to poor muscle control.

Amy Harden began fostering feral cats because of Peepers. The work has become her passion, filling much of the time that remains after her fulltime job in the biology lab at San Juan College. She is one of several volunteers who foster cats in the OHCAAT (One Homeless Cat at a Time) program.

Amy met Peepers through a woman who lived in a neighborhood where someone was feeding feral cats, leading to the creation of a cat colony. The woman brought Peepers to Amy, who was fostering kittens long before OHCAAT formed.

We’ve got a barn “She didn’t know how to deal with it,” Amy said. “I had just moved out of town. I said, ‘We’ve got a barn. I can have one more cat.’” Peepers since has grown into an adorable wobbly adult cat.

The woman soon brought Amy another 40 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2014

kitten from the same colony. Amy fostered it too. Today, between her barn and her house, she fosters more than 20 cats and kittens.

Cat colonies Cat colonies almost always start because someone sees a homeless cat, wants to help, and starts to feed it.

“If you feed one female cat, within a year you can have 16 or 20 kittens,” Amy said. “I’ve gotten in on the early stages of a colony. The people say, ‘I just fed that one female.’ She had a litter. Then her litter had a litter, those kittens had litters, and she was having a litter every time her kittens had litters.”

If people want to feed feral cats but can’t afford to have them fixed, she recommends they call the San Juan Animal League at 505.325.3366 for assistance.

The league hosts a Dogsters Spay and Neuter program in which a mobile unit from Durango holds three-day clinics twice a month. On one day they spay and neuter owned cats, on another day owned dogs, and on the third day feral cats.

Trap, Neuter, Return A few years after Amy started fostering cats on her own, she became involved with a group called Trap, Neuter, Return. Begun in 2008 under the umbrella of the Humane Society of the Four Corners, its purpose is to trap wild adult cats and their kittens, vaccinate and neuter them, and return them to the place where they were trapped.

TNR members recognized that many kittens they returned might not survive. They would have a better chance if someone fostered them and tried to find homes for them.

“It’s a hard life for kitties out there,” Amy said. “They’ll die, or they’ll grow up and breed or get sick. In these colonies, they all come to the same bowl, and they keep spreading their germs. So mama’s sick, and she’s carrying kittens, and they’re born sick.”

OHCAAT begins in 2011 To give feral kittens a better survival chance, OHCAAT was born in 2011. It’s made up of some of the same people in the TNR group. For awhile OHCAAT

members did their best on their own to take in homeless kittens, tame them and try to find homes for them. But fostering kittens isn’t cheap. In addition to buying food and litter, there are vet bills when kittens get sick.

OHCAAT volunteers knew more people would see the kittens if they could bring them to Petco, a pet supply store at 3530 E. Main St., but to meet Petco requirements, they needed a 501(c)(3) designation. So they became affiliated with the San Juan Animal League. The 501(c)(3) affiliation also lets OHCAAT pursue grants that Petco and other organizations offer.

“What they do is so important. OHCAAT is the only 501(c)(3) affiliated foster cat program in the country. That’s huge.”

— Kristin Langenfeld San Juan Animal League

More cats, more vet bills The affiliation with San Juan Animal League brought OHCAAT more attention. As a result, their fostered kitten population increased by at least one third. That meant more food, litter and veterinary expenses. Recognizing the challenge, the league began providing them with financial help in 2012.

Even so, as of January, OHCAAT’s veterinary bills had reached $3,600. They have yard sales and accept donations to help pay those bills. They often spend their own money on food and litter.

“They’re so boots on the ground,” said Kristin Langenfeld, who coordinates the San Juan Animal League’s Spay-Neuter Program. “What they do is so important. OHCAAT is the only 501(c)(3), affiliated foster cat program in the county. That’s huge.”

Petco likes OHCAAT In 2013, Petco General Manager Lisa Stiffler agreed to let OHCAAT volunteers bring the cats to Petco every Saturday.

Volunteers made an impression on Lisa. “They and the adoption events became so popular, and I noticed how well each cat was taken care of,” she said.

So Lisa and the volunteers mutually agreed that OHCAAT should be the official adoption group for the Farmington Petco store.

Cats at Petco daily Foster families bring their cats to Petco every morning where customers can see them. If they like one, they can ask Petco staff members for an adoption application. It costs $60 to adopt a cat, and each animal is already spayed or neutered and

42 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2014

vaccinated. The adoption fee helps to cover those costs.

Every Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. OHCAAT volunteers bring in all the cats that are up for adoption, and they stay to talk with people about each animal.

Having the cats at Petco has increased the adoption rate. In 2013, OHCAAT took in 119 foster cats and found adoptive homes for 75 of them.

“We keep fostering and showing the cats until they’re adopted,” said Kathy Vickers, an OHCAAT volunteer who works closely with Amy. Extra care It takes awhile before some cats are ready to come to the store. First, they have to be tamed, spayed or neutered and vaccinated, and some cats need extra care.

“OHCAAT offers services that aren’t available anywhere else,” Kristen Langenfeld said. “When they have the room, they take orphan litters, individual kittens, and special needs cats that require more time. They work with the animal shelter and the veterinary community. Everybody knows they’re out there and can call them when they have those kinds of needs.”

Kathy fosters more than a dozen kittens. “We’re passionate about this,” she said.

Adoption enriches lives One of many people who benefit from OHCAAT is Mark Gadway of Cedar Hill. He adopted a twoyear-old female named Patches. He’d had two sister cats for five years. When one disappeared last May, the remaining cat seemed lonesome. Mark saw Patches at Petco.

“I pulled her out of the cage and played with her a little,” he said. “I filled out the adoption paperwork and got her in November.”

He followed Amy’s instructions for introducing the cats to each other. Now they get along well.

Secret weapon for taming cats Taming kittens can be tricky. Amy gets help from her husband, Scott Harden, a tree trimmer, who owns Riverside Arborist.

“He’s my secret weapon when I tame cats,” she said. “I foster them in a room where he sometimes sits. They can sneak up on him and get used to SUMMER 2014 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 43

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people without the person staring and saying, ‘Are you okay, are you sick, do you need medicine?’ as I, the primary caregiver, often do because so many initially have something we need to treat.”

The fostered kittens live indoors, so they don’t have street smarts and wouldn’t survive long outside.

People who adopt them must agree to keep them indoors.

If people are not OHCAAT members but foster cats on their own, OHCAAT will help find homes for those kittens if their guidelines are followed. Those rules require that kittens must be healthy, spayed or neutered, and vaccinated.

Cat colony develops fast Ester Nañez of Farmington is one of those nonmembers. While she was out of town, someone dumped two female cats by the river near her property. A friend was feeding a cat, and the homeless females found their way to the cat dish. They soon had litters of kittens, and their kittens began having litters.

“Forty cats later, I had a cat colony,” Ester said.

Working together, TNR and the San Juan Animal League neutered 34 cats in that colony with two more cats to go. Because Esther followed OHCAAT guidelines, OHCAAT let her show the kittens at Petco. So far, five of them have found homes.

Amy and Kathy Amy and Kathy form the core of the OHCAAT group. They met in 2003 after Kathy began working as a veterinary clinic secretary. Kathy and her husband, Bill, are animal lovers. * OHCAAT 54

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Clear Vision Abiegail Yazzie’s path takes her back to the beginning Story by Dorothy Nobis | Photo by Tony Bennett It wasn’t an easy childhood for Abiegail Yazzie.

Raised in a hogan with a traditional Navajo upbringing, Yazzie was the fourth of nine children and the oldest girl. When she was 5 years old, Yazzie was sent to Lake Valley Navajo School, a boarding school, with her three older brothers.

It wasn’t until she was in the second grade, however, that a teacher discovered Yazzie needed glasses. Those glasses opened up a whole new world for the little girl.

“I didn’t realize there were leaves on trees or that people had eyes,” Yazzie said with a shake of her head.

Her clearer vision not only helped with her school work and her appreciation of the world around her, it helped her with her assigned duties at the boarding school. Each student at the school had responsibilities and Yazzie’s was cleaning – a job that would ultimately help her in a career.

Structured life It was a structured lifestyle at the boarding school, Yazzie said. “We’d get up and go to our boxes, which were all in a row and had numbers on them, no names. We were known by a number and my number was four. We’d shower, get dressed, brush our teeth, braid our hair and make our bed. Then we’d line up according to our size and we’d march – right foot first, just like the military – to breakfast.”

It was very structured for a 5-year-old, Yazzie said, but a structure she continues to use.

The joys of learning and the structured life were good for the

young Yazzie, but the death of her oldest brother was difficult for her to accept. “I grieved for him,” she said. “For months, I waited for him at the road every day, because I knew he would come to me.”

Her brother never came and, to this day, Yazzie questions the cause of his death. “They said it was an accident,” she said, “but I never believed it.”

Degree in social work Yazzie graduated from high school and attended San Juan College, Fort Lewis College and New Mexico Highlands University, and got her bachelor’s degree. She received her master’s degree from Smith College in North Hampton, Mass. Her degrees were in social work – something her father said she was destined for.

“My father was a journeyman carpenter, which is how I picked up math, which is one of my strengths. And my dad always said I had a spiritual gift for helping people and I had to use it.”

“My dad said because I cared for my six younger siblings, I knew how to nurture and how to comfort people,” she added.

Yazzie went to work for Indian Health Services, where she worked mostly with children who had been abused or neglected, children who were in foster homes and children with disabilities.

“Because of the death of my brother, I knew how to work with children who were grieving,” she said. “I enjoyed working with the children and I was able to communicate with them, especially the kids with special needs. I got to their level, and SUMMER 2014 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 47

that’s what my dad saw in me and the gifts he said I had.�

For 29 years, Yazzie nurtured, counseled and worked with those children until, finally, the emotional strain of the job became too much, and because of what she saw as an insensitivity of the culture of the Navajo people. “My plan was to retire in February of 2015,�

Yazzie said with a laugh. “I wanted to have a business before I retired.�

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New business venture Yazzie and her husband, Ray, started Ray, the Welder, LLC, in 1999. The business was successful but, in 2008, the economy took a downturn that affected the business. Yazzie started looking for another business to put her time and energy into.

In April 2010, Yazzie was invited to the Arizona Public Service Navajo Business Day workshop and she thought about an industrial cleaning business. “I worked with the Small Business Development Center and they helped me with a business plan, marketing and finances. I joined the c200 Emerging Leaders Program and the NxLevel Entrepreneurs Series. I learned leadership skills, QuickBooks, taxes – everything I needed to know.�

But it’s not just about cleaning the floors and offices where she specializes, Yazzie added. “I’m very proactive regarding safety. We wear hard hats, steel toed shoes, ear plugs, long sleeves and safety glasses,� and she added that safety on sites is a priority for her and her employees.

Yazzie and Hodi’shooh Specialty Cleaning Services was honored as the Small Business of the Year by the Small Business Development Center and was recognized on the floor of the New Mexico Senate in February. That recognition, Yazzie hopes, will add to her goal of broadening her client base. “I’m looking for million dollar contracts,� she said with confidence. “With the help I received at the Small Business Development Center, I’m going to try to get work with the Department of Defense.�

Carmen Martinez, director of the Farmington Small Business Development Center, said she enjoyed working with Yazzie. “Abiegail is a pleasure to work with,� Martinez said. “She first reached out to the SBDC in 2001.

Since then, she has taken full advantage of our services. She took the 12-week NxLevel course to develop her business and she took the Emerging Leaders class to work on her growth plan.�

“She has worked with our Procurement and Technical Assistance Program office to help with government contracting,” Martinez added. “Abiegail’s commitment to her business and her customers are what has made her so successful.”

Yazzie wanted a name for her business that was unique and defined what she does. “Hodi’shooh means the spirit of cleaning,” Yazzie said of the business’s name. “And I’m enthusiastic about cleaning and we have the spirit of cleaning.”

Oddly, her new business venture has taken her back to where she started. “I have a $1.4 million contract with the power plant and a school. I’m back at the school I went to, but now I clean and get paid for it.”

“And now I go in the back door instead of the front door,” she added with a laugh.

17 and growing Yazzie employs 17 people, most of whom are Navajo and who have been with her since the beginning. “One of my employees is a woman who was in the National Guard but who couldn’t find a job. I hired her and she’s a full time employee and still does her National Guard training.”

“The greatest satisfaction I have is giving back to unfortunate Navajos who didn’t complete high school or go to college,” Yazzie said. “I give them a good salary and I tell them ‘Enjoy what you’re doing. Be proud.’”

Hodi’shooh isn’t just Yazzie’s business, however, she’s quick to explain. “It’s my baby. I like the ownership. I can make it as beautiful and productive and successful as I want it. And I want it to be a multimillion dollar business.”

While she enjoys her work, Yazzie spends what little spare time she has getting back in touch with her soul. “I go back to my sheep, my goats, my cattle and my horses,” she said. “We have a ranch with spring water and it’s so beautiful and quiet out there.”

In spite of how far she’s come since she was the little girl who needed glasses and cleaned her school, Yazzie admits there’s one thing about her life that hasn’t changed.

As busy as she is with a life that is full and good, Yazzie admits that she’s still the little sister who waits at the road for her big brother to come home. “I still grieve for him,” she said. “He was my big brother.”

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SUMMER 2014 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 49

Family and Community Artifacts gives art and artists a home downtown Story by Debra Mayeux | Photos by Josh Bishop Farmington has long been touted as New Mexico’s best kept art secret. As home to several world-class artists, the city has a history of celebrating art and culture among the locals. While it has yet to be on the map as an art destination for tourists who visit the state, the Taylor family has helped to develop and change the attitude of promoting art in the city proper with Artifacts Gallery.

Tom Taylor’s family has always been civic minded. The Taylors served as elected officials and helped the local economy through businesses such as the old Farmington Lumber in historic Downtown Farmington. The lumber business was a staple for decades, and when it closed, Tom’s wife, Bev, had a new idea for economic 50 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2014

development in Farmington. She asked Tom for the chance to turn the lumberyard into an artists’ community in the heart of downtown.

The Taylors had visited the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Va. Originally a torpedo factory, it was converted into the largest collection of artists’ studios in the country. Bev had a vision of a lumberyard that could be converted into studio space on a much smaller scale, and she asked Tom to allow her the opportunity should Farmington Lumber ever close.

Bev’s time came in November 1995, when she had the opportunity to convert the lumberyard into studio space for 10 artists. It took her two weeks to fill the studios with working artists, and Bev was giving them more than a place to work.

She was validating them.

This UNM graduate with a degree in art history was making art in her basement, when her children lived at home. “I was ecstatic when I got a studio,” she said, while stroking Patches, the studio cat that lives at Artifacts.

Bev recalled having someone ask her if her art got better when she moved her work into a studio, but she said her mind got better. “Having a studio validates me as an artist. It’s the dividing line between ‘I paint a little’ to ‘I am an artist and I have a studio,’” she said. “By having a studio, you give value to what you do. I was validating 10 artists by giving them a studio.”

In the beginning, there were only artists’ studios. The artists rented the space and could

come and go as they pleased. “People would look in the window and try to figure out what we were doing,” Bev said.

Four years later, she decided to make the secret public. She opened Artifacts Gallery with her daughter Tara Churchill as her business partner.

“I wanted Tara to develop a skill, and I wanted to revitalize downtown,” Bev said. Artifacts did both.

Tara began keeping the books for both the gallery space and the studios.

She also honed her photography and artistic skills, while having the opportunity to raise her three young boys in a gallery setting with her mother at her side. Bev was able to focus on art and on teaching.

“Pretty much in every aspect of the business we are true 50 percent partners. It takes both of us to keep us at the top of our game,” Bev said. “We also have developed a great camaraderie – almost a family – with these artists.”

There are 14 artists renting studio space at Artifacts today, and the gallery represents 40 artists from throughout the Four Corners region. There also is a Chile Store, which helps tie in the Southwest flavor of the region to the gallery. The true focus, however, remains a way to promote art and artists in Farmington.

Dwight Lawing’s art career has blossomed through his networking at Artifacts. Lawing rented studio space at the gallery 13 years ago. His wife Anna wanted him and his art supplies out of the bedroom, where she quilts, so she went in and secured him the space.

“It was great. I could come down here anytime,” Lawing said. “I am so grateful to Tom and Bev for giving us this opportunity.”

Lawing was an artist in California, but when he moved to Farmington he had to build up his reputation. “I was learning SUMMER 2014 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 51

and practicing. I started out experimenting – getting into a couple of shows,” he said, adding that he recently took first place in the Gateway to Imagination national juried art show at the Farmington Museum.

Lawing’s time spent at Artifacts helped him achieve that goal. “An artist works in a studio all by himself and struggles and works to get better all of the time,” he said. “When I work on a

Bulloch began renting space at Artifacts nine years ago. “It seems just like yesterday,” he said.

In that time, Bulloch has received accolades at several art shows throughout the community, and his work has become highly collectable. He also began publishing the Handmade Artist’s Guide, an annual publication that lists studios, galleries and artists in the Four Corners region. His primary job, however, is painting at Artifacts, where people can wander in and find artists at work nearly any time of day.

“This environment gives people an understanding of the art world. For non-artists, they can come in and see actual artists working – the actual process of creation from beginning to end, when the piece goes on the wall for sale,” Bulloch said.

Opening up the art world to outsiders was one of Bev’s purposes in opening Artifacts. She wanted to give the public an opportunity to see real artists at work and develop an understanding of the process. She also wanted to give artists an opportunity to hone their skills, while getting recognized as artists in the community.

painting, I think I get it done, and I take it to Bev or Robin (Compton) or Michael (Bulloch) – to have that other artist’s opinion is priceless.”

Michael Bulloch’s studio is beside Lawing’s and they often share ideas and critique one anothers’ works. “I like the sense of communing with other artists. You can bounce ideas off of each other and get peer critiques,” Bulloch said. “It helps you grow as an artist and I like that.”

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Sandy Nelson and Marilyn Taylor are two artists who benefitted from this. They have shared a studio space for 4 1/2 years. Marilyn decided to rent the space after she and Nelson began taking art classes from Rod Hubble at San Juan College.

“I came in and looked around. I didn’t think I belonged in a studio,” Marilyn said. She saw Bev working on a large piece and felt compelled to ask whether a space was available. “It was divine intervention – the right time and place.”

Marilyn asked Nelson to share the space and the deal was sealed. “We’ve learned a lot from each other and from those around us,” Nelson said.

Marilyn has enjoyed building relationships and feeling the stress roll away, when she picks up her paintbrush.

Nelson added that the studio being open to the public has been positive. “I think it is a really good thing. It demystifies the process,” she said. “There are conversation starters all over the place.”

Bev had helped the process along by having quarterly shows at the gallery. “That was how the art walks in downtown started,” she said.

“We kept plugging away and then the city stepped in and started putting art in other businesses downtown. It has become a staple activity and we are so thankful to the people who come downtown to support the art walks.

The shows sponsored by Artifacts are open to the studio artists as well as any other artist in the Four Corners region. The shows are open and any artist can enter two pieces of work, as long as they follow the theme. The June-July show will be Tools of the Trade. The August show’s theme is Play.

Bev said she has enjoyed the shows, because they bring people into the studios and galley.

“I wanted people to come in and feel totally comfortable watching art being done,” she said.

And Bev constantly creates. She has done civic art projects, along with Tom, including the giant wall sculpture that recognizes those who contributed to the Farmington Regional Animal Shelter. She painted murals on the walls of the

Ladera Elementary School Library, and she is a San Juan Mentor, teaching art skills to a youth in need.

Bev has long enjoyed teaching art and focuses on what her students enjoy by teaching at the gallery. “I really like the one-on-one teaching,” she said.

The entire endeavor of opening the studios and the gallery has been about family and community for the Taylors. “It’s worked well for almost 20 years, which is hard for me to believe,” Bev said. It’s worked because the community supports Artifacts, and the Taylors support the community.

SUMMER 2014 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 53

OHCAAT continued from

44

After Amy began volunteering with TNR, Kathy offered to foster some kittens from a colony.

Kathy enjoyed it so much that she continued fostering.

One feral kitten stands out in Kathy’s memory. Stewie came to her in 2013 after people called for assistance when a cat was killed on a road in Wild Horse Valley, leaving three kittens.

“He was three weeks old when I got him on Sept. 15,” Kathy recalled. “He was orange, and his ears stuck straight out. His eyes were huge, and he had this teeny tiny nose and mouth. He looked like an alien.”

In spite of upper respiratory and eye infection problems, he flourished.

“He’s still got a little face, but his ears went up, and he’s grown into his face,” Kathy said.

“He is so adorable. I hope he’ll get adopted.”

Kittens vulnerable He’s well past the age when kittens sometimes die. That often happens at about eight weeks when they reach weaning age. The immunity they got from their mother is wearing off, and their own is just starting to develop.

“That’s the reason for the series of vaccinations for kittens,” Amy said. “Their immunity doesn’t kick in when mom’s immunity stops. It’s a gradual process.”

That’s why OHCAAT often takes mother cats in with the kittens. Once kittens are weaned and taught good social behavior by their moms, the mothers are fixed, vaccinated and returned to where they were trapped.

Sick cats get vet care When kittens do get sick, they get all the veterinary care they need if they have a treatable condition. Only seldom when the vet says the outcome is poor does OHCAAT opt for euthanasia. Some kittens die no matter how hard volunteers try to save them.

“We had a horrible year in 2013,” Amy said, her brow wrinkling in pain. “We lost 11 kittens.”

Amy uses a computer program to keep track of all the cats, when they enter the foster system, 54 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2014

Honeybear finds a home When OHCAAT (One Homeless Cat at a Time) volunteer Amy Harden got a call about a kitten in need, she had to say no. There was no room in foster care.

The caller wouldn’t give up. “This little cat family showed up, and I don’t think they’re outside cats. It’s October, and it’s cold.”

“But we have no room in foster care,” Amy repeated.

“We can’t keep them,” the caller insisted.

We’ve got so many.” She paused. “I think one of them is blind.”

Amy relented. “I’ll be there after work.”

When she picked up the kitten, who came to be known as Honeybear, the cat’s eyes were badly infected. Amy took her to the vet, who referred her to a specialist in Albuquerque.

“We found that she had three or four different birth defects, including one where she had no eyelids,” Amy explained. “She had fur rubbing on her eyeballs constantly, so there was chronic ulceration of the eye itself. That was why her eyes were infected all the time.”

The specialist held little hope that Honeybear would ever see but counseled waiting for two months just in case. By then, it was obvious Honeybear had no vision, so the specialist removed her eyes.

“They were these tiny deformed eyeballs that looked like raisins,” Amy said. “She probably their medical and vaccination information and when they are adopted.

“She is really organized,” Kathy said. “She remembers all their names.”

Good adoptive homes Because OHCAAT volunteers put so much time, expense, and love into the cats they foster, they want them to have good adoptive homes.

People who want to adopt one must fill out an application. Volunteers review each application, meet the applicants and talk with them.

never did see. But that cat is incredible. She can catch gnats.”

Looking back, Amy believes circumstances prepared her for Honeybear.

“There’s a book called Homer’s Odyssey about a blind cat and a woman right around the time of 9-11,” she said. “Somebody gave me that book a month-and-a-half before I took Honeybear, and I read it. These cats that have never seen are just incredible.”

Honeybear found an adoptive home, though it took a long time for the couple to decide to adopt her.

“They visited her every week at Petco for almost a year before they finally took her home,” Amy said.

Honeybear, who will be 2 years old this summer, is flourishing with her new family.

“They usually tell you pretty quick what kind of pet owners they will be,” Amy said, but even after they talk with applicants, they must trust their gut instincts.

Last Christmas Eve, a family who lived on the reservation visited the cat cages at PETCO. “That one looks like Hank,” one of them said.

Amy’s ears perked up. She’d fostered Hank and felt good about the family who adopted him, but questions lingered in her mind. “They lived out in the middle of nowhere,” she said.

“They told me their last cat had been killed by

Pope

continued from 38

at their Farmington home. Joe grows vegetables in his garden and in a backyard green house.

They love to travel and are avid UNM basketball fans.

Community involvement Joe is in his second six-year term on the San Juan College Board and is currently chairman.

He was involved with Leadership San Juan, teaching people to network and learn more about leadership. He served as chief of staff at San Juan Regional Medical Center in 1998 and was on the board of Childhaven from 19982012. He serves on the Farmington Convention and Visitors’ Bureau Board.

Cathy became involved with Farmington Clean and Beautiful, the local affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, in 1996. She has served for over 10 years on the board of San Juan College’s Fine Arts Committee, whose biggest project is running the annual Young Artists’ Recital. She is a co-executor of the estate of Connie Gotsch, which, through the Connie Gotsch Arts Foundation, provides grants and scholarships for the arts and artists in San Juan County.

She helped raise money to create the Pure Bliss Cancer Library for cancer patients and their families. She also was a founder of the Piedra Vista High School Academic Booster Club that supports students in the top 25 per-

OHCAAT continued from

cent of their class.

Music is their first love But of all of their activities, music remains

their favorite.

“We have a passion for the arts,” said Cathy.

“We want to keep the arts going for another generation.”

44

something. They were a nice quiet family. The little girl that picked him out went past a cage full of adorable kittens and picked this big old beefy tomcat.”

The family pulled out pictures of Hank sprawled on his back, asleep on their couch.

“He’s doing fine,” Amy said, her eyes sparkling. “You can’t believe the feeling. That just tickled me.”

“You’re doing a good thing” People often tell OHCAAT volunteers, “You are doing such a good thing.”

That’s nice to hear. It offsets the people who ask if OHCAAT can take their 3-year-old cat because they have to move and can’t take it

with them.

Amy bristled. “That’s your family,” she said. “They’re yours forever.”

It’s not easy to foster kittens, grow to love them, then give them up for adoption.

“There are days it’s extremely overwhelming, and you start to wonder if you’re making a difference,” Amy said. “Then families who took the kittens come back with pictures of their pets. They love their new family members, and it makes all the effort worthwhile.”

To learn about kittens available for adoption, visit the cat cages at Petco, email Amy at ohcaat@yahoo.com, or go to www.petfinder.com/shelters/NM123.html or www.facebook/com/ohcaat.

SUMMER 2014 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 55

sailing away Keith Cochrane has inspired many students to live a life filled with music Story by Margaret Cheasebro

When Keith Cochrane became San Juan College’s director of instrumental music 21 years ago, he began hanging on his office walls one poster for every concert he directed.

“I’ve always said that when my posters cover every square inch available, I need to quit,” he said.

Only one tiny patch behind his door doesn’t hold a poster, so it’s a fitting time for Keith to move into other musical arenas. Before he steps down this summer, he will complete his work as music director for Sandstone Productions, his third year in that position.

He also will direct summer band and orchestra performances.

Marvelously talented “Keith is marvelously talented,” said Linda Edwards, associate

professor of music at San Juan College. “I have seen his expertise salt and peppered in many situations and many events at the college all the way from his early years assisting me with Masterworks to playing in the orchestra. His creativity with his classes has helped develop the music department.”

In addition to a host of musical endeavors, once Keith moves on he will do more sailing. As a member of the San Juan Sailing Club, he has taken several musicians out on his boat at Navajo Lake.

“Sailing really connects with musicians because it’s a visceral experience,” he said. “With music, our whole body is affected. As a conductor, I find it’s a lot like dancing. The visceral experience of sailing and the wind picking you up and moving you down the lake or ocean is very much the same. I’ve never had a musician out on the boat who didn’t connect with the experience.”

“Whether they go on to become professional musicians, teachers, performers, composers or recording studio engineers is not important.

It is important to give them the ability to become life-long musicians.� — Keith Cochrane

Photo by Tony Bennett

Sails many parts of world He has sailed with friends and family in several parts of the world. An invitation to race on a two-man crew for the National Championships of the Royal Victorian Yacht Club took him to the Solent Sea off the Isle of Wight. He has sailed around the Midriff Islands and the Sea of Cortez, the Stockholm Archipelago in Sweden, and in the Baltic, among other places.

After he leaves the college, Keith will sail into performing with professional musicians and arranging music for some of them. Among those musicians are Dan Lambert, Eve Fleishman, Hoyle Osborne and Jane Voss, with all of whom he has performed in SJC concerts.

Plans move to Albuquerque He and his wife, Kristen, a case manager for Presbyterian HMO, plan to move to Albuquerque and buy a house there. Their daughter, Brooklyn, a pre-med student at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, will attend the University of New Mexico Medical School in Albuquerque. She is also a singer,

58 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2014

actor and dancer.

Their son, Bryce, who grew up playing music, lives in Kearney, Neb. He is the father of Kadyn, 10, who plays violin and fiddle, much to Grandpa Keith’s delight.

When the Cochranes move to Albuquerque, Keith will have several musical opportunities.

He has received an open invitation to play with the Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra. He’s also been asked by a former student to form a community band there. He’s thinking about becoming recertified in elementary music so he can teach in the Albuquerque Public Schools.

Elementary music vital “Elementary level teaching is the most important thing a music teacher can do, because that’s where the basic skills of music are assimilated,” he said. “If kids don’t get it by the time they leave elementary school, it’s much harder to learn it as an adult.”

Recalling why he chose music as a career, Keith said, “I was not a stellar student, but I played in the high school band and orchestra

and jazz band and sang in the church choir. It was the only thing I was good at, so I decided that is what I would do.”

Some students with whom he interacts feel that way about music too. He talks with many of them when he hosts festivals and has clinics for high school bands, jazz bands and orchestras at San Juan College.

Music is life-long “Whether they go on to become professional musicians, teachers, performers, composers or recording studio engineers is not important,” he said. “It is important to give them the ability to become life-long musicians.

In sports, by the time you’re 30 or 40 you can’t continue that career, but music is different. I have many friends who are in their 70s and still playing with our bands and orchestras.

They’ve made music a life-long avocation.”

In 1999, at the suggestion of medical doctor and musician Joe Pope, the college’s orchestral program expanded to include a community orchestra.

“I really didn’t think we had enough musicians in the community, but I was soon proved wrong,” Keith said. “At our next orchestra concert we will do Antonin Dvorzak’s New World Symphony, Franz Liszt’s Die Tote Nachtigall tone poem with guest pianist Victor Neidzwieki and a world premiere by an Arizona composer David Sprinkle of a piece called Particles. The community orchestra has continued to enlarge and mature, and it bites off some really difficult repertoire and makes it sound really well.”

Brought music back to us Chris Moon, who plays clarinet, French horn, and trumpet in both the SJC band and the orchestra, is grateful that community musicians can participate.

“I’m 63, and I had not played in an orchestra for 30 years,” he said. “To be able to play again was awesome. Like so many of us, Dr. Cochrane brought music back into our lives.”

Aztec Public Schools Food Services Director Bob Schryver plays tuba at SJC. “I’ve played in park and community college bands all over the country,” he said. “Dr. Cochrane is without a doubt the best conductor I’ve ever played under.

He has top notch musicality and is also an educator. He conducts to educate you.”

Mom supported his music Keith didn’t come from a musical family, but his mother played the piano and supported his musical efforts in high school.

“She paid for lessons, but she required that I practice half an hour a day on any instrument that I was taking lessons on,” Keith recalled. “I concentrated on piano and trumpet. I couldn’t do anything until I’d done that practicing. I couldn’t go to Boy Scouts, church choir, baseball practice, or play with my friends. Try as I might to weasel out of it, she always made me practice.

My mom gave me the tools to do what I do now.”

New York native Born in New York City on Oct. 27, 1957, he moved with his family to nearby Valley Stream, N.Y., and graduated from high school there. He

A summer filled with music Before Dr. Keith Cochrane leaves this summer as San Juan College’s director of instrumental music, he has several musical events ahead of him.

For the third year in a row, he will be Sandstone Productions’ music director. This year, Sandstone will produce the play , with 21 shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings from June 19 through Aug. 2 at the Anasazi Amphitheater in Lions Wilderness Park.

Keith’s daughter, Brooklyn, will be in the cast.

He will direct summer band performances at Brookside Park Amphitheater at 7 p.m. the Sundays of June 29 and Aug. 3.

When the summer orchestra performs at SJC’s Little Theatre at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 29, he will be the conductor. Guest artist Eve Fleishman will sing music composed by her and arranged by Keith for the San Juan Orchestra.

The performance will include a rhythm section and performances by the rock combo.

The rock combo also will get a workout during the summer music festival on Saturday, June 12, in the SJC graduation plaza behind quit playing instruments soon after high school and managed the American Handicraft Store in Boston, Mass. Missing music, he discovered nearby Boston Community College and took a jazz class there. That’s where he learned about the Berklee School of Music in Boston.

He saved up his money, attended Berklee for three years and two summers, and graduated in 1982 at age 22 with a bachelor’s degree in music education. He supported himself by driving a taxi, waiting tables at a kosher vegetarian restaurant, doing jingles for the radio on trumpet in a recording studio, and playing with a salsa band.

First job in elementary music He got his first job teaching elementary music and junior high choir in Cedaredge, Colo., from 1982-1985.

He stepped into the high school arena when he worked as Grand Junction High School’s choir

the library.

He invites musicians to call him at 505.330.5174 if they would like to play in the summer band, which rehearses every Wednesday night, or in the summer orchestra, which rehearses every Tuesday night. director in Grand Junction, Colo., from 19851988. From there, he became assistant band director at Mesa State College.

Along the way, he earned his master’s degree in performance on trumpet from Western State College in Gunnison, Colo., and he directed the Valley Symphony Orchestra, which drew musicians from Delta, Montrose, and Grand Junction, Colo. That’s how he met Kristen.

Needed oboe player “We were doing Messiah one Christmas, and we didn’t have an oboe player,” he said. “So I called my friend, Greg Carly in Grand Junction, who conducts the Centennial Band. He said, ‘Why don’t you try my girl friend?’ So I did. To hold on to a good oboe player, evidently you have to marry her. She’s been playing in the San Juan College orchestra and our band since I got here, and has been a wonderful asset.

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understands what you’re doing. To have a supportive wife has been a blessing.”

To increase his knowledge of orchestral conducting, he earned a doctorate of arts from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, graduating in 1993. That degree opened the doors for him at SJC, where he became director of instrumental music in August 1993.

Philmont Scout Ranch Moving to New Mexico was an easy choice. He fell in love with the state as a teenager when he attended the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron.

“I thought I had died and gone to heaven,” he said. “Fresh air, 13,000-foot mountains, backpacking for 11 days, ponderosa pines, riding horses.”

In spite of the state’s beauty, he had second thoughts about the SJC job after he and Kris attended the first night of band rehearsal.

“I think there were 11 people in the band,” he said. “I drove home, knowing that I had gotten into the wrong thing. But we managed to build up the band.”

Today, it has more than 50 members.

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College supports music “San Juan College is wonderful in how they support community organizations like band, the jazz band and the orchestra,” he said. “You don’t find that at many community colleges. Music departments are typically housed in ancient World War II left-over hangars or Quonset huts, They don’t have a beautiful facility like this.”

San Juan College President Dr. Toni Hopper Pendergrass called Keith “a remarkable influence on so many of our students and on the community. He has been instrumental in organizing more than 200 concerts and numerous outreach clinics in area schools. Along with being an extremely talented musician, he has inspired students to expand their love of music and the arts. We will all miss Keith’s passion for music, his dedication to students, and his unfailing support of San Juan College and the community.”

Many musical groups In addition to the community orchestra, the band and the jazz band, Keith said, “Each year we’ve also had a couple of jazz combos, rock

combos, and a youth orchestra called Sinfonietta.

Usually we do one musical every other year. I’ve conducted all of them. The last two were Sweeney Todd and Urine Town. We also did Little Shop of Horrors and Sound of Music.”

The college also hosts a number of music festivals, including the regional large group festival, the all-state youth choirs, the elementary and middle school choir competitions, and ensemble contests.

“We just completed our 15th annual jazz fest, with guest artist trumpeter Gavin Bond from Portland, Ore.,” Keith added.

The jazz festival has been a major recruiter for the college.

Still excited about his work Even though his college tenure is coming to an end, Keith remains excited about his work.

“I continue to put all of the effort into this program that I did on the first day I walked in,” he said. “I still look forward to my job. Every morning when I wake up I can’t wait to get to work and see our wonderful talented students make progress in music.”

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around

town

Chelsea Nicole Tillman, daughter of Mike and Nancy Tillman of Farmington, was crowned Miss Las Cruces recently.

She will be competing for the Miss New Mexico Crown in Ruidoso on June 28.

She is a junior at New Mexico State University and is a 2011 graduate of Piedra Vista High School.

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Koogler Middle School students listen as owner and president of Merrion Oil and Gas, T. Greg Merrion shares information about the development of oil and gas in the basin and importance of fossil fuels in energy creation during Energy Week in April. Nearly 1,500 middle school students from Shiprock to Dulce learned about energy in the San Juan Basin during the annual Energy Week presentations at the Farmington Museum.

Tri-City Mayors, from left Tommy Roberts, Sally Burbridge and Scott Eckstein, speak to the crowd at the third annual Mayor’s Ball at the Farmington Civic Center in March. The ball is a fundraiser for nonprofits in the county. Proceeds from the fundraiser will support Big Brothers and Big Sisters of San Juan County. At the event Roberts announced that Sexual Assault Services of Northwest New Mexico has been chosen as the recipient for the 2015 and 2016 fundraiser.

Fresh off a silver medal win in Sochi, Russia, Paralympian and Farmington native Alana Nichols came home in April for and visit a and to support Madison Seeiner at a fundraisers for Peach’s Neet Feet. Nichols, 31, lives in Wheat Ridge, Colo., and is a dual sport athlete for Team U.S.A. in the Paralympics. She competes in both wheelchair basketball and alpine skiing.

She competed in the Sochi Winter Games and brought home a silver medal in downhill skiing.

Debby Titus, Farmington candidate for Mrs. New Mexico 2014, joined with hosts Jimmy Bond, Debbie Jenson and Jeff and Maureen Roth to raise money for the Women Veterans of New Mexico in May. At the fundraiser, they filled a trailer full of food and clothing and raised $1,200 for the organization. The WVNM is a voice for women who have served and those currently serving in the United States Armed Forces. The group is an advocate for Women Veteran’s rights, issues, and benefits. Debby will represent Farmington when she competes in the 38th Annual Mrs. New Mexico Pageant on June 28 in Albuquerque.

Pictured above at the fundraiser are from left Debby Titus, Anita Rowe and Beverly Charley.

Margaret Cheasebro earns 5 first place awards from NMPWA Aztec freelance writer Margaret Cheasebro earned five first place awards in the New Mexico Press Women’s state communications contest for articles that appeared in Majestic Living Magazine and Four Corners Sports in 2013. The awards were presented during the NMPW’s state convention in Las Cruces on Saturday, April 26.

Cheasebro won in these categories: news story for an article about Farmington Postmaster Steve Begay; arts and entertainment specialty articles for stories on the bluegrass band Chokecherry Jam and

the artist group Loose Ladies; education specialty articles for pieces on Red Mesa, Arizona, High School teacher Kathi Stanford being named Navajo Nation Teacher of the Year and on The First Tee, a national organization that teaches golf and life skills; environmental specialty articles for pieces about Heather Eberhard and the national award she won for recycling when she was a fifth grader and about Dr. Bob Lehmer and his efforts to make river environments enjoyable recreational areas; sports specialty articles for stories about Tom Wishon of Durango, an internationally known golf club head designer, and about Jeff Rogers, who lost his right arm in a roadside

bomb blast in Iraq but learned to play golf left handed and to find success in his personal and business life.

She also earned third place for a personality profile about chiropractor Dr. Doug Pendergrass.

Entries are judged by out-of-state journalists, and each winning entry receives a point value based on its first, second or third place status. Using that point system, Cheasebro earned the second place general excellence award, which included a $75 check.

First place awards are automatically entered into the National Federation of Press Women Communications Contest.

SUMMER 2014 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 63

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If you’re anything like the gang here at Majestic, each summer you promise yourself “I will not waste one single moment of it this year.”

And, as always, things get in the way! But, we all still manage to eke out some perfect nights and relaxing weekends, and some extra down time with friends and family.

We’ve strung together some items that will make those times a little more fun and a lot easier.

Coolest Things It’s Summertime

1 2

3

4 1

WHY? BECAUSE ICE MELTS!

Whiskey Rocks www.geekalerts.com Whiskey stones are freezable naturally mined soapstones that will keep your drink cold but won’t water it down. The whiskey stones will keep your drink cold up to an hour, allowing you to savor the delicious whiskey or other liquor of your choice.

Each set comes with a cushy muslin drawstring pouch and nine (9) of these Whiskey stones. $19.99

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2

PLUG IN AND TUNE OUT

USB Wall plug www.homedepot.com Look around you. Chances are pretty good there are at least half a dozen things within arm’s reach of you that are plugged into a power outlet. Your laptop, your tablet computer, your phone – even that awesome pair of wireless headphones needs to be charged.

Charge all your portable devices directly from the wall without using up your available outlets – no adapter required.

5-star energy efficient design auto senses the correct wattage and only outputs full power if needed. $27.95

3

HAVE FUN STORMING THE CASTLE

Excalibur Motorized Bumper Boat w/Cannon www.overstock.com King Arthur would have loved having this in his arsenal. The Excalibur Bumper Boat comes complete with jumbo-sized squirt gun.

The quiet, single motor with one-button accelerator makes it easy.

This bumper boat gives you steering wheel control.

Also includes a squirt gun right on the steering wheel that lets you soak anyone in your way. $84.99

4

TACO TRANSPORTATION

Taco Truck Taco Holder www.amazon.com If you’re in the mood to make a homemade Mexican meal, then the Taco Truck Taco Holder will provide a playful way to keep your scrumptious tacos from toppling over and making a mess. It comes with two trucks in each package· Colors include salsa red and guacamole green. $15

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5 7 8

5

YARD OF THE LIVING DEAD

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HOOK, LINE AND WIENER

Zombie Gnombie www.designtuscano.com

The Campfire Roasting Rod www.hammacher.com

Watch out! The Zombies have now invaded the realm of the gnomes! This macabre gnome has only survived the zombie invasion by joining the Living Dead. Sculpted in gruesome zombie detail and cast in quality designer resin exclusively for Design Toscano, our postapocalyptic Zombie Gnombie is handpainted to create a full vision from bloody beard to graveyard hues. Don’t miss this unique garden collectible!

11½”Wx8”Dx10½”H. 3 lbs. $49.99

This is the patented counterbalanced campfire set that enables campers to roast hot dogs and toast marshmallows from a safe distance as if fishing. With heat-resistant wooden handles, each of the four 36”-long steel poles have a 21”long stainless steel “line” that terminates in a pair of roasting spits. Gently jigging the pole upwards—just like setting the hook while fishing—flips the roasting spits over for even cooking. Set of four.

Storage bag included. $119.95

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WARM DAYS, COOL DIP

Prodyne ICED Dip-on-Ice Stainless-Steel Serving Bowl Walmart.com; bedbathandbeyond.com and amazon.com

8

PITCH BLACK

BBQ Grill Light and Fan www.sharperimage.com

Cook perfectly grilled steaks, ribs and burgers – even at night – with this BBQ Grill Light and Fan. There’s never been a The Prodyne Dip-on-Ice Serving Bowl is great way to view your grill surface after an efficient tool for hosts and hostesses the sun goes down, until now. With this who like to entertain. This stainless steel serving bowl can be used for almost any- clamp-on light and fan system, four ultrathing, and it keeps foods chilled over a bed bright LED lights illuminate your grill surface, while dual fans pull smoke up and of ice without leaving the food wateredaway. Lights rotate up to 300 degrees for down or diluted. The serving bowl is also top rack dishwasher safe. The bowl has a the perfect outdoor task lighting while you baste, flip and grill to perfection. durable stainless steel and acrylic conUniversal clamp attaches to virtually any struction that will make sure that this will hood (except Kettle style hoods). be around for many parties to come. $89 $19.99

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Cascade Bottled Water & Coffee Service ..................................48 & 53 214 S. Fairview Farmington, N.M. 505-325-1859

Le Petit Salon...............................................49 406 Broadway 5150 College Blvd.

Farmington, N.M. 505-325-1214

Cellular One..................................................33 1-800-730-2350 www.cellularoneonline.com

Natalie’s for Her, Him, Home ........................67 4301 Largo, Suite H Farmington, N.M. www.nataliesonline.com

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Nature’s Oasis..............................................23 300 S. Camino del Rio Durango, CO 970-247-1988 www.NaturesOasisMarket.com Next Level Home Audio & Video ...................29 1510 E. 20th St., Suite A Farmington, N.M. 505-327-NEXT www.327NEXT.com Parker’s Inc. Office Products ........................42 714-C W. Main St. Farmington, N.M. 505-325-8852 www.parkersinc.com Partners Assisted Living...............................13 313 N. Locke Ave. Farmington, N.M. 505-325-9600 www.partnerassistedliving.com Quality Appliance .........................................36 522 E. Broadway Farmington, N.M. 505-327-6271 R.A. Biel Plumbing & Heating .......................52 Farmington, N.M. 505-327-7755 www.rabielplumbing.com Reliance Medical Group ................................60 3451 N. Butler Avenue Farmington, N.M. 505-566-1915 1409 West Aztec Blvd.

Aztec, N.M. 505-334-1772 www.reliancemedicalgroup.com ReMax of Farmington.....................................3 108 N. Orchard Farmington, N.M. 505-327-4777 www.remax.com

San Juan College .........................................25 505-326-3311 www.sanjuancollege.edu San Juan Nurseries.......................................58 800 E. 20th St. Farmington, N.M. 505-326-0358 www.sanjuannurseries.com Sanchez and Sanchez Real Estate ..................4 4301 Largo St. Suite F Farmington, NM 87402 505-327-9039 Sleep-N-Aire ................................................14 3650 Iles Avenue Farmington, N.M. 505-327-2811 www.sleepnairemattress.com Southwest Concrete Supply ..........................49 2420 E. Main Farmington, N.M. 505-325-2333 www.swconcretesupply.com Southwest Obstetrics and Gynecology..........22 622 W. Maple St., Suite 1 Farmington, N.M. 505-325-4898 Strater Hotel ................................................23 970-375-7160 www.durangomelodrama.com www.strater.com Sunray Gaming.............................................24 On Hwy 64.

Farmington, N.M. 505-566-1200 Treadworks ..................................................37 4227 E. Main St. Farmington, NM 505-327-0286 4215 Hwy. 64 Kirtland, NM 505-598-1055 www.treadworks.com Webb Toyota ................................................68 3911 E. Main Farmington, N.M. 505-325-1911 Ziems Ford...................................................28 5700 E. Main Farmington, N.M. 505-325-8826

Majestic Living Magazine is online!

Log on to www.majesticlivingusa.com and click on the issue to access an online digital version of our magazine!

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