22 10 216 https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/1c507177d149ffe9f913e6c6fbd8709d.pdf 3f6d3b1594cd7f1850340688f84440b8 PDF Text Text Ruby Garcia (Southern Ute Elder) My name is Ruby T. Garcia, and I live at 1328 County Road 516, Ignacio, CO 81307. I was born on November 24th, 1918 in Ignacio. That was during the war; First World War. My first school was at Santa Fe. We left on the train and when we got to Santa Fe, they told us to go to our grade room. They asked my sister first what grade she was, and she said she was third grade. Then they asked me, and I told them I was third grade. But, I didn't even know nothing; I didn't even know how to read, I didn't even know how to talk English. And, they sent me back to the kindergarten. But, I finally picked up. That's about it at Santa Fe. I've been to different places. I've been to Towaoc Indian School; I was there from the third and fourth. Then I went to school at Ignacio for fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth. And then, I went to Sherman Institute in Riverside, CA I graduated there. I took up home economics, but like I always tell the people, 'I'm a jack of all trades and a master at none.' I came home; I got a job at the hospital. I was a Nurse's Aide. That was kind of interesting; working with sick people and caring for them. Then I went to different places. I went to Salt Lake City and I sewed a lot. Sewed clothes for the Army. Then I went to Salt Lake. I worked there for a while: making swim suits. Then I decided to go (World War II was going on), to go to California and get me a job. They hired me, they said I had to drive. And, I told them I didn't know how to drive. They said, 'Well, you're froze to it. You're going to learn one way or the other.' So I finally learned how to drive a bus. I drove the Italian prisoners to work, you know, there on the field. But, there were MPs [military policemen] on the bus and I wasn't afraid. I'd hear them talk, and I asked one of the Italians if they knew English. And, they pointed to one and they said, 'Oh, they're telling you bad things.' I told them, 'You tell them I told them to shut up or they're going to get out!' Boy they were quiet. I had to laugh at them. We ate with them at the mess hall. They had their own, you know; the prisoners-of-war. But it was interesting. Afterwards I wasn't afraid of them; I got used to them. And then the war was over. .. I came home. Now I'm here, in one piece. I worked for the Tribe. I worked with them for twelve years; with the welfare. After that I worked for the Peaceful Spirit; that's alcohol. I went to training to be a counselor. I enjoyed it. But, then, I got tired of the whole thing. I said I might as well retire, and I retired. Now I'm home and I'm enjoying it: I go to the casino and have fun, lose or win. Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose, but it's fun. I meet a lot of people, I enjoy it; it's something different than to live alone. Living alone, people say, is aweful. But, I manage. I crochet, I do beadwork, I occupy my time, and when I'm tired of that, I go to the casino and talk and laugh and joke with them people. Lately, I've been in poor health. Other than that, I'm okay. My folks come to see me. That's my great-granddaughters [two ofRuby's great-granddaughters and her great-greatgrandson were present during the interview] and that little one is my great great grandson. And thi.s little one [the father of Ru by' s great great grandson], we' re going to send him to dance at the �powwow [Laughter]. They're going to have a powwow pretty soon. They're having two powwows next month; one for the casino and one for Gerald Hall [?]. [M. Miller: What were your parents' names?] I was born out of wed-lock, let's put it that way. But, I knew who my father was; he came to me. My mother's name was Uterpy [sic?] Taylor. That's why my name was Ruby Taylor, because she wasn't married when she had me. But just the same, life went on. Life has been good, and it's still good providing I get off of this oxygen! And, now, they've got me blowing on that thing [points to a medical device] in my mouth. Pretty soon you'll see me like this [makes a bloated gesture], full of air. My daughter's grandson told me, 'Grandma, your stomach is getting big. Are you going to have a baby?' And I said, 'No, I'm full of air.' [Laughs] And he said, 'How did you get that air inside of you?' And I told him through this [points to the oxygen tube in her nostrils]. You know, they're funny. They say, 'no fools, no fun.' Right? That's about my life. [M. Miller: 'What was your husbands name?'] My husband's name was Joe Weaver; the father ofmy two daughters (Arlene and Lillian). They're both married and look at all that bunch of accumulated kids from me and them two girls [points to a wall full of photographs]. There's five generations on there. Quite a bunch, huh? Look at this white-headed woman [points to herself in a generational picture of her family]. [Laughs] There's five generations there; there's this little one when he was small [her great great-grandson]. Well, it's good to be old and retired: staying home; don't have to worry about getting up or nothing. But I hate to get sick. [M. Miller: 'What do you remember about Sherman Indian School?'] I went to school there, I took up home economics. Learned how to cook; learned how to sew; learned different things (canning, all that stuff). I liked it. I even went back to see the place after I finished. Some of the old employees were still there. But, in those days things were cheap. I tell the people, bread used to be 10 cents a loaf You could buy tennis shoes like that for a $1.98. You don't get them for no $1.98 anymore; they run from 60 on down. And other, regular shoes (you know, I call them 'dancing shoes'), they're high priced, too. I think the cheapest is $20. Food used to be cheap. Gas was $.25 a gallon, and look at it now. It's outrageous. It's gone up, up, up. It was hard for the people. Frank B. (he used to be an Anglo), he used to run a meat shop. He used to donate food for the people to have a Bear Dance and a feast. They'd cook out there. Oh, it was nice, but now it's so different. Everything is so high, and I don't ever remember paying income tax. I don't know when that started, because I never paid income tax. Or, maybe I overlooked it, didn't bother to do income tax. But, now, you have to. �That's about the story of my life. I don't know what else there would be. [M. Miller: 'Did you have brothers and sisters?'] I had brothers and sisters. My sister died, my two brothers died, and there's only one brother left: Sylvian Taylor Valdez and me. There're just two ofus left. But my mother ... she had one brother living, Henry .Taylor, but he passed away about three or four months ago (I don't remember). He died. I lost my mother March the 24th, 1994. It's sad; sadness. Now I'm all alone here. I don't like to interfere with my daughters: living with them (sort oflike 'mooching'). I'd rather live alone and live my own life. Get up when I feel like it; eat when I feel like it; go to bed when I feel like it: nobody to boss me. But, my younger daughter tells me (she sees me at the casino), 'Aren't you ready to go home?' And I told her, 'No, I'm having a good time. You go home.' [Laughs] And I stayed down there. Then I called my brother up: 'Come and get me. Come and take me home,' when it's over. But, the casino never closes. The people are still pulling on them machines. The card table, where I usually play, closes up at four. (But they usually close up at 3 :30 to clean up and count the money.) So, I had my days too; go down there. I have won a big jackpot; $36,000. I won about four jackpots for $2,700 and I won several ones for $1,200. But boy they really soaked me for income tax this past year. I said, 'I ain't got no business winning so much. So I quit. I just play cards where they don't take income tax. [M. Miller: 'Did you dance when you were younger?'] Oh, boy. Believe it! I used to do the twist and everything [laughs]. They had a dance down here and my uncle, the one that died that I was telling you about, came over. They were having a dance dontest, and he came over to me and said, 'Come on. Let's dance, let's show them how it's done.' So we went, and we won. They gave us $20, you know prize? But, now, I can't even dance. My leg is still crippled up. That money cart at the casino hit me right here [points to left leg], and since then I've been sick. My leg swells up and then I have a blood clot on this leg. They doctored me on that; they gave me pills. Look at all these pills that I take ... very sickening [laughs]. I used to like it [the Bear Dance]. I used to do the "Forty-nine," the powwow; I used to do that. But, now, I don't do nothing. I stay home, I watch TV, go to bed, eat, go to the casino, and come home and go to bed, then start all over again. I don't go down there every day. Certain times. They were going to give a car away and they called my name, my ticket. They had a lot of them over there get one. They called my name in there, and I won a free room at the casino and two meals for two. I said, 'For two? Where's my better half?' And them guys stopped and said, 'Me!' And I told them, 'No, I'm not going to take you. Beat it!' [Laughs] I know Spanish, I know Ute, and I know a little bit of Navajo and Paiute; I know Paiute. I understand Italian, because Italian is almost like Spanish. Do you think I had an interesting life? �Yeah, I don't want to win too much money, because they said I make too much money and cut it off There's always a trick. They put up a casino where you make money, and then when you make money they want a cut of30% off Gosh. IfI would have known, I wouldn't have played that much. But, when I paly at the poker, then they give me tickets. They give them to me and I sign my name. They called my name and them people hollered, 'There she is!' [laughs] I had fun. My brother's son won the Jeep; he won it. [M. Miller: 'Did you ever serve on the Tribal Council?'] No. I didn't have time for that. I was too busy helping the poor people. You know, helping them to get pensions. Helping them, you know, what needs to be done. After I got through eith that, I kind of helped the people that drink a lot. I used to drink a lot, too, after the war ... beer. [M. Miller: 'Did you serve on the Committee of Elders?'] Yeah, I was the first Chairman. They gave a party when I retired, and they gave me that blanket. That's a Pendleton blanket; costs lots of money. The Council gave me that, and the one that's on my bed, the Committee of Elders gave me that; another Pendleton blanket. But, I'm satisfied. The Tribe gives the elders $3, 100 every month. That keeps you going. It keeps me going to the casino [laughs]. Look at him [Ruby's great great-grandson], he's still looking at me. He doesn't know me too well. Go to sleep, go to sleep [to her great great-grandson]. I'm glad to know that all my tw.o daughters, my grandchildren and all, have finished school and gone on to college. They have even graduated from college. Interviewed by Michael Miller (VISTA worker) in her home on March 29th, 2004. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael Miller Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-2004 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of twelve biographies written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller of prominent people in the Ignacio community. Based on interviews conducted by Miller between December 9, 2003 and March 15, 2004. Some contain the additional attribution "for the Ignacio Historical Society." Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Miller, Michael G. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ruby Garcia Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2004-03-29 Subject The topic of the resource Garcia, Ruby; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Ruby Garcia written by VISTA worker Michael Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on March 29, 2004. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Extent The size or duration of the resource. 4 pages https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/6513bc73038587c3e5fe20247b50ef34.pdf 4e6de020042a8ba216d9f176353a1b87 PDF Text Text Ida Kent (Southern Ute Tribal Elder) My name is Ida Kent. I was born here in Ignacio off on the reservation. There's a house now sitting on a hill where I was born. I was born at the foot of the fill there. There used to be a big reservoir that people used for their horses. It was a farming area, so that's what they used for their horses. That's where I was born, in a teepee. I was born in 1921; that's what it says on the paper. Graves Kent is my father and Ada [sic?] Rabbit Kent is my mother. She was from Breen, CO; that's where her folks lived. Where my dad's folks were from I do not know, because they moved around and they didn't really have a set place. My mother's parents had a lot of sheep, so Breen, CO was country that they took up and they lived in that area. And, she was born there. Her grandfather was Rabbit. I really don't remember his name, but they called him Mr. Rabbit. Anyway, he lived in Breen, CO; it's right south of Ft. Lewis. My parents were both Southern Ute. My brother is Bonny[?] Kent and my sister is Isabelle Kent. They're both gone, but they've got children. Bonny's children are Phoebe, Richard Kent, and Emmanuel [?] Kent. Those are the three that are here today. Isabelle's children are Charles Kent, Cynthia Kent, and Betsy Kent. The two girls are up in ... they're working in ... I don't remember. Charlie is around, but I don't know where he is. Those are the three of hers. My children are Albert Kent and Ida[?] Ray Kent (that's her name); she lives down in Albuquerque. My son lives here in Ignacio. I didn't get married until about 1963. I went to the public school in Ignacio until I was in the fourth or sixth grade. I liked the girls, which went to the public school, from the Indian school. I'd ask them, 'what do you do at that school?' And they told me what the girls did. I liked what I heard, so I asked ifl could go to the Indian school. I asked them if it was possible for me to go to school with the Indians. They said, 'sure you can go to the Indian school, but it won't be like the public school. There are a lot of things that are different.' I said, 'I just want to go to be like a girl, to sew or to be a homemaker,' and they laughed at me. But, anyway, I went to public school up to third or fourth grade. So, I went to school up there. I know the sewing machine (the electric sewing machine). I know the electric iron. There were a lot of things I learned that were so useful. Washing clothes: I had a couple of tubs of hot water and washed our clothes on the weekend and be ready for school the next week. I enjoyed going to school at the Indian school. I learned to do many things, like the sewing machine. I sewed my own dress that was torn. I forgot to take my finger away from the needle and sewed my finger right here [points and laughs]. But, nobody was there to help me except for a lady who said, 'what are you doing? Sewing your finger through the needle?' I said, 'I was too slow,' and they said, 'yeah, it's too fast for people like you who don't know how to handle themselves.' That's what I did. Things that were electric were kind of hard to use, but I got used to using them. It was all right afterwards; I enjoyed being there. �Page 2 of3 How many years was I there? Well, they took me when I was in the fourth grade. I must have been in there for four years until I changed back to public school. I didn't want to go back, but my dad said I should go back to do more lessons. I was doing sewing anyway; that was to be my life. Going to school. .. I didn't do so good. But, I went back to public school. I think I just ~w&W ~ clt,-'atkt rherr when-I wasLlrr rhe-tlimir gra1ie-fqui:t- scllooT'- -I hat wa'sn" t 'ri:ghr, .Jambrly'dad was so mad at me. He didn't think I should be punished like any other person. He wanted me to, but he didn't. So, I quit and didn't go to school no more. After that I had my little boy: Albert Kent. So, he's about 70 years old, I think. I'm not quite sure; I've forgotten how old he has become. All that time after I quit school I went back to work at the dorm. I worked with the boys and the girls as an attendant. There were a lot of things I learned that were well worth training for. I didn't become anything that was a better life, but it was a good life in a way. The time that I was sick I couldn't go back to work, so I decided I better quit. They let me quit, and that was in 1975. I spoke English all that time, because I was working with those people. The Navajo don't have the same language, so we spoke in English together. So, practically, I just lived the English way. Once I learned it I lived that life. Maybe it's not the best story I should say, but it's the best I have. *** I used to dance. I'm not one to say I'm 'it'; I don't know all about it. But, when there was a dance I'd go dance. When there was a Bear Dance I'd go dance. There was the Round dance, so I Round danced. I would do the Gourd Dance when they would have it at our Ute Fair. They used to come up and do that, so I danced now and then. People are, as you'd say, members. But, I didn't become a member and only the members could dance. *** I know just part of my grandparents. Oh, what was his name ... John Russell; that was my mother's father. He lost his parents, too, when he was a baby. A lot of people were still roaming then. They didn't have a place to stay, but they said this was tribal land. So, he lived around here. When he moved out to Towoac that's where he met my grandma. So, that's where he stayed, and they lived together. How long I do not know. Anyway, he was gone again. I guess at that time people could give it up and they got something else. That's the way he was: he was a roamer. He had other children, too, after that. So, I don't know too much about them. I knew my father's parents. I knew my grandpa. It was my grandma that I knew that became a landowner on this side of Oxford. I knew the area, but I can't think of it right now. Anyway, that area was big enough, so my grandma took up that. She had my dad, my aunt ... Amy, Mary, my dad. I guess my grandpa passed away up in Utah, where he was from. His parents were from Utah. He passed away, so I just know my grandma; her name is Isabelle ... her name was Ruby Stone Kent. She married John Kent; who was my dad's father. He was from Utah. My mother's were from Breen, CO. �Page 3 of3 *** We had horses ... wagons and horses. So, we more or less rode wagons and buggies or horseback. The first time I rode in an automobile was when I was going to the dorm. I don't know if it was a tribal thing that took us to Durango to buy clothes or what. But, four of us girls from the dorm, from Ignacio went to buy some clothes. Instead of a bus, it was a truck that took us to Durango. I kind ofremember a little bit about that. One of the girls was saying, 'When I'm able to go on my own, I'll be buying me an automobile so I can drive.' As we were coming out from Durango the road there wasn't as it is now. Anyway, we were going down the road and got a flat. We had to get off the truck. We used to tease that girl and laugh. She said, laughing, 'When I get a flat I'll be walking home with my bags.' We were laughing about dragging our stuff home, because not more car. Oh, boy. I don't even remember the girl's name we were laughing about. But, it was so funny. *** We learned to make a garden by a group of girls and boys of the same grade. They were saying, 'this is how you do it when you go home and have a home: you make yourselves a garden. These are things to eat ... like potatoes.' There are a lot of things that they taught us that are useful for eating. We also had rabbits and onions. They were good, too. *** You know, I should have given a thought ( maybe a long time ago) as to how I would put my story together. But, I didn't even think about it. I'm at a loss now to tell my story fully and, maybe, differently. That's the best I've done. *** Well, at least they [Ida's grandchildren] will know that there were a lot of things that were different then than it is today. And, it was really hard to have things, because you didn't have money. We had things we could us at that time. At that time we didn't have electricity, but we still traveled on horses. Not much of anything that you would call was precious to us except horses and wagons and a home; that were teepees or tents. (Not many of us had homes except teepees.) But, I guess it was very useful, because I came out of it. [Laughs]. In a way I'm glad I lived then. Now, everything is different and easier than at the time that I was little, or at the time I became knowledgeable of myself Now things are a lot better than what they were a long time ago. It was all learning and hardship and all, but we really learned to live. And, we were always happy to be together with our family. Let's say, I'm very happy to be with my people that are here today. And, that's about it, I guess. Interviewed Michael G. Miller (VISTA worker) on January 23, 2004. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael Miller Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-2004 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of twelve biographies written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller of prominent people in the Ignacio community. Based on interviews conducted by Miller between December 9, 2003 and March 15, 2004. Some contain the additional attribution "for the Ignacio Historical Society." Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Miller, Michael G. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ida Kent Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2004-01-23 Subject The topic of the resource Kent, Ida; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Ida Kent written by VISTA worker Michael Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on January 23, 2004. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Kent, Ida Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/9ceb87890bfca639bf41f7cb21bbc6bd.pdf e4d9929ba37084f4f7d05d4da52d4917 PDF Text Text Adela Quintana (Abridged) I'm Adela Quintana. My maiden name was Mascarenas: Adela Mascarenas. I was born in 1923: August the 261\ 1923. I was born on just over the other side of the ni>ver from Rosa until I was three years old and then we moved to Silverton. My parents: Serestino Mascarenas and [?] Quintana. Three years we stayed in Silverton and then my parents moved back to Rosa and bought a ranch where the Navajo Dam is. We stayed on that ranch until I got married in 1940. All those I spent on my dad's ranch. Back and forth we went to school in Rosa from the ranch. After I got married, I married[?] Quintana, I stayed in Rosa until they built the Navajo Dam. I had all my family in Rosa except one. I have a great big family, a family of 10: five boys and five girls. My husband went into the service when I had my first little baby, Nadi Quintana Silva (she's Silva now). He stayed in the service for about three years. He never did get to know his first daughter until returning from the service. We moved to Ignacio and we stayed in Ignacio from 1960 until now. All my family is scattered all over. I'm happy and blessed with my family and that I don't have any trouble with my family at all. My husband, he was sick all this time after he came from the service. He stayed in hospitals on and on, and on, for years and years. I had to raise my family and find work for myself. All my family finished high school, finished college. I have a girl who's a doctor. All my kids have pretty good jobs. My oldest daughter is working in Washington, D.C. for the government. One of my sons is an architect in Castle Rock [, CO], and one of my sons is the Town Manager here in Ignacio. I have a daughter that is married to a doctor and she lives in Farmington. Another daughter is married to a schoolteacher and she lives in Arizona. My oldest daughter lives in Denver. One son I have in Philadelphia. He was in the service a long time and got out. A daughter works as a secretary over in Bayfield. They all have pretty nice jobs. I moved from my ranch. I had five acres that I bought in 1960. But, I couldn't handle the ranch and the five acres by myself So, I moved to town. I'm living here now. I'm closer to everyone, to stores and to church. I can still do my driving to go to church. My family will check on me once in a while, see ifl need anything. I've been real blessed with my whole family. My father used to work in the gold mines in Silverton. Finally he moved and continued being a rancher. We raised cattle, sheep, pigs, all kinds of animals. The first time l started school was in Rosa. Matter of fact, I started in Allison for one month. I was old already when I started: I was eleven. But, I passed several grades in one year, and my teachers kept giving me classes so that I could catch up. I graduated from the eighth grade when I was 18. I graduated from the eighth grade when I was supposed to be graduating from high school. Then I just started working after I finished the eighth grade. I worked painting houses, cleaning houses, on the ranch in Rosa and Arboles ... around those places. I have three brothers and one sister. �Page 2 of3 I didn't get any compensation from my husband, because he was mentally ill. The first time he came, he burned all of my papers. I had a hard time to get my papers back. I had six of my children before I got any compensation from the government. The four last ones are seven years apart and I started getting compensation. With that I paid for their school (for the four youngest ones). For the other ones, I supported them by working everywhere I could work. No welfare, just working. Restaurants, stores in Arboles and Rosa, painting stores in and out ... real hard jobs that I used to do. When we moved to Ignacio it was a little better, because there was more work and I could make a little more money. Three or four years after we moved here they sent me to Oklahoma so that I could get a degree to teach Head Start. I got my degree and came back, and my oldest kids took care of the youngest ones. I worked for three years at the Head Start. I was the first one to start working at the Head Start ere in Ignacio. After three years I started getting compensation for my last kids. When I got compensation, they said I couldn't work anymore with the Head Start. I worked in the restaurant and for seven years at Peaceful Spirit (I was a cook). But, I did pretty good and I'm very proud of my family. I never did have any problems with my kids ... never, with the law or anything. So, I'm grateful for that. My husband died in 1990. He stayed in the veterans' hospital. I was all by myself .. my kids were all out and working. But, I've always done all of my work, all kinds of work. I wire my house, plumb my house. I did everything and saved a lot of money doing all the work myself Sometimes I have a little trouble with the electricity here. But, I have a son who's a pretty good worker with electricity. (He works for the casino in maintenance.) So, I take advantage of him now that I'm getting older and I can't do it. But, I'm still doing all right. I have 26 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. I see them often. For my [80th] birthday they gave me a big, big surprise, and I wasn't expecting nobody. I thought I was going on vacation somewhere. They turned around and brought me back home. Someone had gotten sick, and when they brought me back, this house was packed. 58 were in this house when I walked in. I'm telling you it was a shake for me! I should have known better what was going to happen: that they were going to surprise me for my birthday. I am 80 years old now. When we were living on the ranch we didn't have church except once a month or once every three months. But, in Rosa we had a celebration on the Thirtieth of August for Santa Rosa. We used to make a big dinner, we had a real nice Mass, we'd walk around the church and carried the saint. At night we had luminarias on the church. We had a rosary the day before Santa Rosa's. It was very neat to do that. We didn't always have the celebration on Santa Rosa's day, because we didn't have a priest. But, we had it whenever a priest came in September of October. For Christmas we used to have our Midnight Mass (not in Rosa but here in Ignacio). We had the Posadas. The Posadas is a group of people and we go door to door and sing songs. Posadas is like when Joseph and Mary went door to door asking for a place for Jesus to be born, then finally he was born in a barn. We used to have a lady who did it [Posada] in Spanish, read it in Spanish. We had Posadas until she couldn't do it anymore. We have San Ignacio Day here in Ignacio with a parade and all. WE used to go around the church walking with the saint, but lately we haven't been doing those things ... short of help, short of people who can do it. There used to be really nice celebrations, really nice dinners. We'd bring bands to play for San Ignacio and �Page 3 of3 dancing in the night. We used to have two days of parades: Saturday and Sunday. But, now we just have one day, because we don't have enough help. We celebrate San Ignacio at the end of July. I do all the laundry for the Church. Sundays we have Mass I go to set up everything for the priest to have Mass. At 9:30 I open the church for the people to go in. The month of December is my month for cleaning the whole church with a group of four ladies. For many, many years I've done these things. I used to do it in Rosa, in Arboles, in Aztec; when we moved there for a little while. My husband got sick over there [in the service]; he lost his mind. He was 100% mentally disabled. He used to go for four months, one month, or nine months in the hospital. I would go and get him, but take him back because he was pretty bad, especially as he got older. He had Alzheimer's really bad. I took him to the hospital, because I thought he was a danger to the family and to myself Finally, at the end I just couldn't handle him. So, I took him to Albuquerque. That's where he died. I knew my grandparents. Pedro Quintana and Juanita Quintana were my mother's parents from Rosa, NM. My grandma had a big family, too. On my father's side were Emanuel Mascarenas and Maria de Jesus Mascarenas. They had a big family, too. They were just across on the other side of the river. The Mascarenas family came form Clayton [, NM], and they bought a ranch right here on the other side of the river. My mother was a Quintana and I married a Quintana. So, I got my mother's name, but they weren't related. I have a lot of cousins. I can't even count them. *** This house belonged to my son-in-law and my oldest daughter, and I don't own nothing. All I have is just my little Social Security. I don't want to own nothing more. I want nothing more; I divided my money to all my kids. Just my car, so I can drive while I am able to. That way, when I die, I won't have nothing. I won't have to worry about this or that, because it's all settled. That's the way I've worked my life. I have a lot of stories, a lot of long stories. But, it's too much. I was a sheepherder ... I was everything. But, long, long stories. *** Interviewed by Michael Miller (VISTA) on January 28th , 2004. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael Miller Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-2004 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of twelve biographies written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller of prominent people in the Ignacio community. Based on interviews conducted by Miller between December 9, 2003 and March 15, 2004. Some contain the additional attribution "for the Ignacio Historical Society." Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Miller, Michael G. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Adela Quintana Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2004-01-28 Subject The topic of the resource Quintana, Adela; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Adela Quintana written by VISTA worker Michael Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on January 28, 2004. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Quintana, Adela Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/e14e14edfb22871f56916380bf8cb06e.pdf 2105be8e535755314dfc28d91ec87934 PDF Text Text Ethel Smith I was born in Collbran, CO, Mesa County, September 1i 11, 1908. I went to a country school, one room school, and then I road three miles horseback to high school. And, I graduated from Collbran Union High School in 1926. [After high school] I started in school in Gunnison, CO, and I went five and half weeks. I road on the train from Grand Junction to Montrose, and then on to Gunnison. I was homesick at the end of one semester, so I went back to Grand Junction, and then on to Collbran in the fall. My parents sold their property and we moved to Missouri. I went to school at Missouri Teachers' College in Springfield, MO. My friend came down from Collbran to MO. In the spring we decided to quit school and go to Marysville to pick strawberries. We found out from the school that they needed teachers. So, we decided to take the teachers' exam. The last exam was on MO history-I looked at her [my friend] and she looked at me, and we got up and walked out. My folks came back to Collbran, after a year in MO. I took the CO state teachers' exam, and taught my first school north ofDebeque, CO. Then, the next year I went to Hayden and taught at a rural school on a cattle ranch. That's where I met my cowboy boyfriend. We were married in 1931. I taught at rural schools, here and there, for the next eight years. Then I taught my last year of school in Uravan. My husband was working in the mines down in Arizona, and our son was 18 months old. So I went down to AZ, and we lived there until 1944. In 1944, we traded our house in AZ for a ranch southeast ofBayfield, CO. My husband was in a later draft [for WWII], but he was "frozen" in the mines. He worked in the copper mines in Jerome, AZ. If you worked in that big copper mine, you were "frozen" [from the draft]. When we moved to CO, then he had to get an agricultural status or he would have been drafted. In the fall [of 1944 ?], somebody had heard that I had taught school. And, so, the school board came up and wanted to know if I wanted to teach at the Pink school, which was about two miles south of our ranch. My son was in the fourth grade [at that time]. I taught there for two years. Stuck in the mud, rode horse back. .. I taught all grades, one through eight. One of my students, who was in the fifth grade, sent me some pictures. I had one picture from when I taught there (from '44-' 45 and '45-' 46). She sent me some pictures, because she went to school there in '41-'42 and '42-'43. Then, I went to Bayfield. There [in Bayfield] I had the seventh grade. Then they unified the districts, and the students started corning in on buses from out towards Pagosa Springs. I had the seventh grade for two years upstairs in the old Bayfield building. When the gym was finished there were two rooms above it. So, I taught over the gym for nine years. You know, the kids never paid any attention to the noise, and I never paid any attention to the noise. There were basketballs-Bang, Bang, music downstairs (under the two rooms), but I don't think anyone ever said anything about the noise. �I did go to Mesa College in Grand Junction one semester, when we came back from MO. So, I had no college credits you might say. College teachers came from University of CO, CO State University, from Western State, from Adams State. There were classes at Fort Lewis [College], and I just started taking classes. So, in 1957 I had a degree: BA degree. They paid $1,000 more in Ignacio, and we were still on the ranch. So, it was about halfway between Ignacio and Bayfield, and I came to Ignacio. And, do you know the story about Benjamin Franklin paying too much for his whistle? Well, I paid too much for my whistle when I came to Ignacio [to teach]. It was the second year that Ignacio schools had been consolidated, and the buses had started to bring the kids in. At the end of the first week I told my husband I wasn't going back. I told the principal that I was not going back. I had one raunchy class: over age Spanish kids. They had been retained in the first grade, they had probably been retained in the third or fourth. At the junior high up here, if you failed two classes, then you were retained in that grade. I had Spanish kids (junior high) sixteen, seventeen, eighteen years old. Five teachers had resigned the year before. So, I told the principal, "I'm not coming back Monday," and he said, "Oh yes you are!" So, I went back on Monday, and a Mr. Ackerd from MO met me at the door. He said, "I'm taking that raunchy class of yours upstairs, and I'm sending you ninth graders that don't know enough to tie their shoes and come to school. You won't have any trouble with them." And, I had a tough principal, I'll tell you, a tough principal. I was in junior high [in Ignacio] until 1961. I saw a bulletin in the teachers' room that said there was an institute over at the University of Nebraska in Guidance and Counseling. I had no idea what it was all about. But, I applied for it, and I had told the superintendent that I had applied for it. And, he said, "Well, go ahead and apply for it, but you won't get it." That [the institute] was for second semester. I applied for it and was accepted. I called him [the superintendent] and told him I was accepted, and he said, "You can't go unless you get somebody to take your place." I was teaching math in seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. Jake Candeleria, who owns Candeleria Heights up here, went to high school with my son. He came up and said that he had just finished college at Adams State, and was wondering where Larry [Ethel's son] was. I told him that he was working over in Mancos, and Jack said that he was desperately in need of a job. He said, "I'm so angry with Mr. Powell (the superintendent). I went down to talk with him, and he said that he didn't have any job for me." I said to Mr. Candeleria, "Well, what's your major?" He said, "Math." So, I let him have my job so that I could go to the institute in Nebraska. That was in '61, and the institute didn't start until February. I was on my way the last day of January, and we didn't get out 'til the last of June. When I came back, Mr. Powell gave me the job to start a guidance program. After Sputnik, these institutes were set up by the government in science and math. After that ran the gamut, they thought that all of these people needed guidance and counseling. So, the government started these guidance and counseling institutes, and �they paid us $7 5 per week. I had no more idea of what I was doing than the man on the moon. But, I started the [guidance] program in elementary clear on through high school. Then I was high school counselor. The most that I did was to find out where money came from for kids to go on to school. And, I worked a lot with minority students. I worked with the Indian students a lot. Mr. Dietz, the superintendent at the time, called me and said that Mr. Scott was going to take the Indian students, he was to be my cocounselor and he would take the Indian kids. Mr. Dietz told me to set up meetings with the students and find out who wants to go to Mr. Scott; who was Navajo married to a Ute. He never got an Indian kid, I got all the Indians and he got all the white kids. I would say to them, "why don't you go to Mr. Scott?" They replied, "we don't want to work with an Indian." I retired in '74. I have belonged for many years to Delta Kappa Gamma, an international teachers' organization. They send out a bulletin, and in one bulletin they advertised for a social studies and English teacher at Navajo Community College. You know, I didn't even know what a resume was. You never heard of the word "resume". So, I sent an application in, but they hired a teacher from Canada who had had ESL [English as a Second Language training]. In two years, shwe decided to go back to Canada, anfd the chairperson at the college asked me to come for an interview. I was substituting at the high school [at the time], so I didn't go [for the interview] until spring vacation. I was hired, and was there for 20 years. Well, I'm 95 now and I stayed there 'til I was 88, I'll let you do your math. I came home every two weeks for 20 years. And, you know, I never thought anything about the roads, I never had a flat tire-I couldn't have changed it ifI did. I had my first one up here about two months ago. I have the one son, and he left school when he was a junior and went into the Navy. His ship helped to evacuate the French when they were leaving Indochina. There was a French soldier who had been there for seven years, hadn't been home for seven years, and he traded Larry a gun for a can of beans. He said they were starving. And then, he helped evacuate the Chinese-Cheng Kaichek, you know? He has a lot of pictures. He has a picture of a little girl, who had died, and they dressed her, put her in a chute, and buried her in the ocean. He has pictures where the ship was just crammed with Chinese. He went in when he was 17 and got out three years later. After he got out he went into an agricultural program. He had a friend, who had a shoe shop, and he persuaded Larry to learn to do shoe repair. So, Larry went to Denver (he was married then), to the Emily Griffith Opportunity School, which is a famous school. He went there almost a year, and came back and had his shoe shop. Then he wanted to learn how to make cowboy boots, so he sent to Oklahoma to a junior college. He was there almost a year, then came back. We had the shop over here where the Peddler's is located. My parents farmed, dad was a good farmer. My dad came from the Indian Territory in 1898. He sold his farm, and his older sister, his older brother, and his older sister's daughter and her baby came to Glenwood Springs (on up from Grand Junction). �In the middle of the winter they came to Glenwood Springs, and the climate is about like Durango. I don't know how they got to Collbran, but he played the violin or he played the fiddle, and that's where he met my mother. My mother was born in Boulder. She was 34 when I was born. She was 28 when they were married and my dad was 37. We can't find anything out about my dad's ancestors, because we didn't listen. I didn't listen to my dad. And, I didn't know until long after he was gone, but he grew up with blacks and Indians. I didn't know that after the Civil War, the blacks were encouraged to settle in Oklahoma, to homestead in OK. But, what I remember was they would swim in the creeks, and there was a small pox epidemic. They would line up along the banks and keep the Indians and the blacks from going in the water. Because, you know, then they wouldn't break out, and a lot of them died. There was an old, old Indian who lived up from where my dad lived, and it wasn't derogatory then to say "nigger". My dad always called him "Nigger John", and never thought anything about it. But, the reason my dad came to CO, he had an older brother who came to the San Luis Valley (over by Alamosa). I don't know why [the brother] came to Alamosa. There he met a Mormon woman, got married, had 12 children over the years, and moved to Collbran. I don't know why he came to CO [the older brother?]. But, people did move about. I have a book on both sides of my mother's family. All I know is that she was Pennsylvania Dutch, but German from way back. My grandmother's grandmother, I think it was, her husband was killed by the nobility in Germany. She escaped, she had an older child who had come to America, but she escaped into France and Switzerland. A single woman couldn't come on the ship to America, so she married a Hessian soldier. But, she couldn't pay the passage for her youngest child, so he was bound out to somebody for the passage. My mother's maiden name was Strock, my maiden name is Barker. I joined the D.A.R. [Daughters of the American Revolution] about 35 years ago. I can go back on either side of my mom's family: her father was a Tylson, and her mother's side, which was Strock. But, Strock had been three different spellings: Strauck, Strack, and Strock. So, it was easier to go back on her mother's side, on the Strock side. My grandfather was English. I go back to the Mayflower on the English side. My genealogy goes back to when they first came to America, and that was the first generation. I'm about the eleventh generation, I think. There is a Tylson reunion in NY every year. They have Larry's name and my sister's four children's names. I had one ancestor who fought at Valley Forge, it could have been a Tylson or a Strock. My dad was born in Coles [?] County, Illinois. His dad was a horse trader, so they moved from one place to another. I can remember that my dad had a brother named Red, because my dad said that he was the only redheaded one in the family. He also had a brother who settled in MO. There was a big family in the Barkers. My son looks like a Barker in the face: they have thin noses and faces. There are no fat ones in that family. My grandson, Kenny, has red hair, and will be 24 on the 31 st of January [2004]. He was born on my way to Nebraska. �I know that this house was hauled up here in 1948 [the house was ordered from a Montgomery Ward catalog]. Thank God that the woodwork has never been painted-this is the original woodwork. There are doors in this house you can't believe. I think there are about 11 doors in here. Interviewed by Michael Miller, Americorps*VISTA for the Ignacio Historical Society, December 9th, 2003. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael Miller Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-2004 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of twelve biographies written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller of prominent people in the Ignacio community. Based on interviews conducted by Miller between December 9, 2003 and March 15, 2004. Some contain the additional attribution "for the Ignacio Historical Society." Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Miller, Michael G. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ethel Smith Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-12-09 Subject The topic of the resource Smith, Ethel; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Ethel Smith written by VISTA worker Michael Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on December 9, 2003. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Smith, Ethel Extent The size or duration of the resource. 5 pages https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/bbc6cc8155e464c5f9dcc8e68b1791b1.pdf 43de4c87ca2cdf6c90d7bdd8ecc4ad9b PDF Text Text Tom Wiseman (Abridged) My full name is William Thomas Wiseman. I was born in Durango at Mercy Hospital in November 1930. My mother was Margaret Summers Wiseman; her maiden name was Bowman. Her father, Thomas E. Bowman, came over Stony Pass into Silverton in 1874. He was a young Civil War veteran, and a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin in metallurgy. He had acquired a job as a teacher at Colorado College, but coming west he had become interested in the gold fever. He became associated with the people named Greene, who brought the first smelter into Silverton, CO. He was later on the Town Board in Silverton, and later on after many years moved to Durango when the Silverton smelter became less efficient. He married my grandmother, Etta Louisa Bowman, in 1881 I believe it was. He was 20 years older than she. They later had a son named William Bowman and a daughter named Lena Bowman in 1891 and 1894. And then my mother, a late life child, came along surprisingly in 1905. So, that accounts for me, at my tender age of 73, having a grandfather who was in the Civil War and not a greatgrandfather. He passed away about seven years before I was born, so I never got to know him although I know a lot about him. My father was born in Pagosa Junction, CO; where his father in 1904 was working for the railroad. Apparently the family was living there while he worked construction, and previously my grandfather had homesteaded far southeast of Bayfield on what is now called New Creek. Later, after my dad's parents divorced, he, his brother Barney and my grandmother Lula moved to Durango; where my dad went to work at the age of 14. After her finishing the eighth grade in Bayfield schools, my mom and he met in Durango and married in 1927. Having worked in several different areas in Durango, he was at this time working at a firm called the Durango Hardware Company; which was located on the 900 block of Main in Durango. He became acquainted with a wholesale hardware salesman, who told him about an opportunity to manage a store in Ignacio. The store being named HC. Biggs and Company; which was a hardware, lumber, farm implement and feed dealer at the time. Dad must have been only 25 or something at the time, so he came out here, stayed at the local commercial hotel, and worked for Mr. Biggs for some time. A few months later, he moved his family to Ignacio. The Biggs family moved to Grand Junction at this time. So, I was two years old when we moved to Ignacio. I virtually grew up in the hardware store. Much of my time off was spent there- it seemed to be a fun place to be. Later on, went to school here in Ignacio through the ninth grade. At this time and in previous years, kids from Ignacio went to Durango to finish high school. And, at this time, in the late 40s, had lost its accreditation: due to the war the enrollment at the school was very, very low. I graduated from Durango High School in 1948, entered the University of Denver that Fall, and graduated from there in 1952. When I first went to Denver, to school, I felt that I really wanted to get into the big time, was not much interested in coming back to this part of the country. At that time, most kids my age kind of wanted to leave the area for bigger opportunities. But, most of my acquaintances at �Page 2 of6 Denver University were older than I. They were mostly World War II veterans. They seemed to be delighted in the mountains, the scenery. Most of them were from back East and the Midwest. After a year or two I started looking around and thinking more carefully that I had mountains out my front door window everyday. I slowly realized that this was my home and would be so. In 1954, while working with my father (by all this time through school and after school), I met and married a girl from Bayfield named Beverly Moberly. We had three children: Gretchen, born in 1956; Loretta, born in 1957; and Larry, born in 1959. Throughout all of these years I was active in all conceivable local service organizations: Kiwanis Clubs, Lions Clubs, various committees with the Southern Ute Tribe, I was involved on the Town Board through several contentious years as a board member and mayor pro tern. I was involved in things like trying to save the old Ignacio Chieftain newspaper. I have always been hopeful that somehow a museum could be built in this area to commemorate the unusual history of this young, strangely versatile town. In 1976 my father died, in 1979 my mother died. In the meantime, in 1968, I had purchased the entirety of the hardware store from my dad, and he retired happily after that. But, he did work some in the hardware store at his and my convenience and desire-we were always good friends, the best. In 1981-82, I divorced my wife. She moved to Durango, the kids by this time were all over the age of 21 and were scattered throughout the country. Six years later, I went to a high school class reunion, where I re-met my old girl that I had dated in high school named Paula. We married in 1988. She is practically a Durango native, at least she's a Colorado native (having been born in Durango). I don't consider myself to be such an unusual character, but boy have I met a lot of them. The pioneers of this town are underreported I believe. For example, Hans Aspas; who as an infant (aged one and a half years), was carried by his mother over Stony Pass into Silverton at about the same time that my grandfather arrived there. His father had been an officer in the Norwegian army. Harold Payne and many of the old, old timers that I didn't know, but who were terrific strong, solid people. Joe Velasquez, many, many Southern Utes- Julius Cloud, Julian Baker- we're all acquaintances. Did business with them, was friends with them. To many it would have been an uneventful life; to me it's very colorful. My children love this area. They have mixed emotions about their childhood, but as they grow and mature I think they realize their acquaintance the Southern Ute tribal members, the Navajo tribal members whom they went to school with when the schools were integrated (the public schools and the Indian school). They're Spanish-American friends have given them a broad diversity, an understanding and comfort with, I believe, other races and people of other beliefs and values. *** I've essentially lived on this street all my life. When we first moved to Ignacio, the Biggs house; which is on the 500 block of Browning Ave. (where Jesse Hott now lives), was our house until 1935 when my father bought the little house across the street here [455 Browning Ave.]; which at one time was 470 Browning Ave. Then, after I married, I bought the house two doors north on that side of the street [east side]; which at that time was 440 Browning Ave. �Page 3 of6 In 1977 or '78, the house where I live now, presently, (455 Browning Ave.) came up for sale and I bought it, having always enjoyed and liked the house. We spent a great deal of money overhauling, remodeling, and adding rooms upstairs to the house. This house was built by the person who owned the local lumberyard; which was at that time known as Ignacio Lumber Co. Circa 1916 or '17, it was sold to the Biggs family, who were part ofa big lumber operation out of Chama, and also with family connections in Grand Junction. The store was owned and operated by Homer Biggs- Homer C. Biggs (the 'C.' stands for Copeland, I believe). They had three children, one of whom was named Homer Biggs, Jr. They went to school here. The Historical Society now has pictures, early class pictures, including 'Joe' Biggs- his nickname was 'Joe' to his family. He later, during the early part of World War II, left Colorado College and became an Army Air Force cadet. He learned to fly in Phoenix, at Luke Field I believe it was. Went into B-17 training. In May of 1943, his bomber was shot down over France and he did not survive. Among other tons of pictures that I have, I have a picture of that flight crew. I'm deeply interested in the success of the Historical Society. And, I hope that somehow, someday a facility can be acquired, or participated in, where so many pictures and records of archives can be safely preserved for the future. This community has always been a rather cosmopolitan community, because of the original Bureau of Indian Affairs/Dept. of the Interior school system here mainly for Navajo kids. The school existed from what must have been the 1920s to about 1970. The many oil and gas interests that have had staff located here, the wide diversity of teaching talent, there's been quite a variety from all over the country. My own background, for example: My grandfather (my mother's father) came from Wisconsin-born there a year and half after his mother migrated from England to Wisconsin. Her mother [Tom's mother's mother], Edna Louis Bowman, was born in Ohio, and came out here to stay with an elder sister; who was married to a Methodist minister in Durango, in the 1880' s. My father's father came out here from North Carolina, from the mountains of NC to homestead. And his wife, my grandmother, also came from the mountains of North Carolina. So, we have our own eastern 'roots'. I was an only child. There were two other attempts: one before me and one after me, both were unsuccessful. My mother was born on December 1905 at home in Durango at 760 3rd Avenue. The house is still there. It's for sale. You could snab it up for about $450,000, I think, right now. My grandfather Bowman owned quite a bit of property in Durango at one time. The Silver Panic of 1892-93 apparently put him on his 'uppers' for several years, but he did open a bookshop and a stationary store circa 760 Main Ave. (in the same building that is the Seasons Restaurant today). I have pictures of it, and it still has the same ceiling I think. He ran that store until he died in 1923. He died during his lunch hour at home. I've learned more about my grandfather, T.E. Bowman, from books written by Allen Nossaman; who wrote an incredible history of Silverton, CO. Allen has come to this house. I've furnished him with pictures of my granddad. His three volumes that he's published so far on Silverton are extremely detailed. Much is derived from newspapers and courthouse records, land records and family photographs. And, I think I know more about my grandfather's history than my mother did through the efforts of Allen Nossaman. My grandfather, he was in the Civil War. He was very young, of course: he was born in 1846 and the war started in '61. He enlisted in 1864, in the spring, with a volunteer Wisconsin �Page 4 of6 infantry battalion. He was underage. He allegedly lied about his age and said he was over 16. He eased his conscience by writing on a piece of paper that he was 16 putting it in his shoe, and swearing that he was 16. I have pictures of him in his uniform, which was way too large. But, he served as a drummer boy. At the end of his enlistment he reenlisted in an artillery outfit in late '64. He served primarily around Washington, D.C. I don't think he was in any major battles. But he was a member of the Durango chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic-the G.A.R. I think he was one of the founding officers of it. When he died, my grandmother applied for and received a Civil War pension. It wasn't very much, maybe $12 a month or something like that. After getting out of the Army he literally had to be adopted by an uncle named 'Bowman'. My grandfather's birth name was Thomas Merritt Dibley. Now, 'Dibley' somehow disappeared from the picture, and left my granddad's mother's side. In his early life he married a girl named Josephine Standish in Wisconsin; who is purported to be a relative of Miles Standish. They moved to Silverton. She taught school there. They spent some winters in Denver, some time in Denver. This was after the train was completed, and in those days it was not hard to get to Denver: grab the train in Silverton to Durango, through Ignacio, Pagosa, Chama, Alamosa, and onto the main standard gauge up to Denver. So, people got around a lot more quickly than people realize. She caught Scarlet Fever in Denver, and died I believe on Christmas Day circa 1889. He buried her in the Riverside Cemetery in Denver; which at that time was quite a nice cemetery at that time. She's buried about 30 ft. from Augusta Taber (who was the first wife ofH.A.W. Taber-one of the silver kings of CO). Strangely when she died, my grandfather bought four cemetery plots. I have the deed for them today, and I'm guessing that they're still valid. In case anyone needs cemetery plots in Riverside Cemetery, I can furnish three more. After moving to Durango, he was in the First Baptist Church he and my grandmother, I think, met at some choir function around 1890. Her name was Etta Louisa Summers. He was the master of the local Masonic Lodge #46; he was about the eighth master of that lodge. My grandfather Wiseman, on the other hand, moved to Denver after his divorce. Built a house there and worked for the railroad as a master carpenter. He worked in D. & R. G. [Denver and Rio Grande] shops for the rest of his life. He died in 1945. I went deer hunting with him once. Two or three months before he died he was down here visiting us. We have since visited some of our 'roots' in North Carolina. My father worked for H.C. Biggs and Company here in Ignacio. Later, in 1940, he bought out a fourth of it, and in 1950 bought the rest of it. He changed the name to 'Wiseman Hardware and Lumber Co.', and that's what it remained until I sold it to Glenn Walker in 1992. Walker subsequently changed it to 'Walker's True Value', and moved down south of town and built a new hardware store. *** The reason my grandmother [Etta Louisa] came to CO was that her older sister (Kate Summers) was living in Durango. Her husband was a Methodist minister. My grandmother had �Page 5 of6 become enchanted with a musician in Shelby, Ohio. Her father [Daniel B. Summers] wanted to get her out of that influence, and so decided to send her to CO. *** I studied Business Administration at the University of Denver. BS/BA I think is what my degree said: Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. We sold everything except groceries: tractors, mowing machines, washing machines, various name brands, sold all. *** My oldest daughter is married to David Germer, whom she met at school in Denver. They were married in 1976. He was a graduate of Colorado School of Mines. He had come :from Pennsylvania to go to school at Mines, took a look at the mountains and never looked back. His career took them to Alaska, where they've lived for about 15 years. My other daughter (my middle child, my youngest daughter), Loretta, married a fellow from Florence, CO whom she met at school in Canyon City. He graduated from UNC (University of Northern Colorado at Fort Collins) as a mechanical engineer, and now works at power plant operations in Wyoming. Neither grandchild grew up here [in Ignacio], and none of the four [grandchildren] has spent much time here. *** Lots and lots of stories, good heavens. The people I have known here, in Ignacio, are some of the most colorful. Some of the stories ... For example, the young lady in the late 30s who was a teacher here, and who married a young man a southern town in CO. He went off to war, she moved to California during the early part of the war with their child. She met a fellow named Gimbal, and the rest is history. She sent off a 'Dear John' letter to her husband, and said Mr. Gimbal is the light of my life. (Of course, his $60 million bank account helped.) Little stories like that. Stories of making the movie Around the World in 80 Days [in Ignacio] ... fascinating. Some of the Historical Society's photos now show some of that filming done. Paul Harvey doing his great radio show from here-a lot of people don't even know that ever happened. That in itself could fill at least four chapters in a local history book. *** M.M.: "What are your views on the current [presidential] administration, and our actions in Iraq?" T.W.: "I think that we're doing exactly the right thing. Those who don't remember World War II, and I wasn't in it (I was too young, I was 11 when Pearl Harbor happened), forget a fellow named Neville Chamberlain who was trying to make peace with Hitler. He said, after meeting with Hitler and before Hitler invaded Poland, 'Peace in our time, to Hitler marches all.' They forget what was not done to stop the Nazis, during WW II, from slaughtering for their [the Jews'] teeth, for their fillings in their teeth. We forget that we were the ones who said, 'Damn the torpedoes!' a couple hundred years ago. Or, the �Page 6 of6 people who said, during WW II, 'Praise the Lord, and pass the ammunition!' We're the ones who sent 20 year olds over to England to fly bombers in WW II, and now most 20 year olds couldn't find the bathroom if you didn't hold their hand to it, in my personal estimation. Am I bitter? Yeah. Angry? Yeah." M.M.: "What are you bitter about?" T.W.: "I'm bitter about these people that don't realize how many of their parents and grandparents, previous generations, who fought and died and killed so that they could spend the last 20-30 years lofting along having no problems at all, except to complain about the price of cigarettes. *** Calvin Coolidge, who was president in the late 20s, said, 'the business of America is business.' Doesn't that sound terrible [sarcastically]? That which makes profits and things like that? You know, 'profits' is not a four-letter word, surprisingly. But, look at what has happened in China. 20 years ago, in the streets of China, all you would have seen were padded olive drab uniforms walking around with glassy eyes. Now, after the cold-hearted glance of capitalism started to show, and the individual is able now to see that he came make himself and his family more comfortable, healthier, is happy. It's even happening in Vietnam. Business: the horrible word [said sarcastically]. Interviewed by Michael G. Miller, VISTA volunteer, for the Ignacio Historical Society. December 18, 2003 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael Miller Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-2004 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of twelve biographies written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller of prominent people in the Ignacio community. Based on interviews conducted by Miller between December 9, 2003 and March 15, 2004. Some contain the additional attribution "for the Ignacio Historical Society." Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Miller, Michael G. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tom Wiseman Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-12-18 Subject The topic of the resource Wiseman, Tom; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Tom Wiseman written by VISTA worker Michael Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on December 18, 2003. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Wiseman, Tom Extent The size or duration of the resource. 6 pages https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/17b9951c6baea3ec76b0d39f5df501c7.pdf 6566efc2482fbcb0af3ca79806db3541 PDF Text Text ------ - - - - - - Norman C. Wright (Abridged) I was born in Red Wing, CO, probably southwest of Pueblo 35 miles. I was born there and stayed there until 1937; I was born in 1915. I grew up right around Rye, CO and Rattlesnake Buttes (that's well-named, because there were a lot of rattlesnakes there). My dad homesteaded. He must have homesteaded about 1910. At that time he was a forest ranger. I started school in Rattlesnake Buttes. We left Rattlesnake Buttes and went to Avondale, CO when I was a seventh grader, and we stayed there for five years. Then we went back to Rye, CO. We left Rye in the fall of 1937. My cousin and I came across here on horseback; we drove a bunch of horses. We were raising draft horses, at that time, and were selling teams of horses. My cousin Ralph Brier and I, we were over that pass ... what's the name of that pass? Anyway, the first day we got into the horse trade and traded until we were broke. We stopped and slept in a haystack that night, in Gardner, CO. The next day we went over Musket Pass. We probably had 40 head of horses: colts, mares, and broken horses, saddle horses We came over right above the sand dunes in the San Luis Valley. We stayed there the third night at a ranch, came on through to Alamosa, and stayed the fourth night in Alamosa. Then, one day, my dad started and brought seven milk cows alone to drive with the horses. I just blew my stack Well, the cows went dry on the way over here. We were going to this place over here on the Florida River; it was called the CJ Bar Ranch at that time. We stayed there, let's see, about five years. Then we went back to Pagosa, and I stayed there 18 years. I came down here 46 years ago this fall [2004]. That's all my time. I was all breaking horses, and I never had a tractor until I was 25 years old. They never had any. Tractors didn't come out until after World War II. I bought two little tractors; I thought I would get two. And, I thought it would take them what a horse could do, but they did what four horses could do. So it will be 46 years since I came here this November and I've been here ever since. I bought this place here in 1960 (I had leased it). I have this territory: about 800 acres ... lots of walking, lots of irrigating. I had registered cattle here, registered Herefords. I stayed in that and I had some good bulls, but then the exotic bulls started coming in, the foreign bulls, and we couldn't compete against them. Now we cross breed them [Herefords] with black cattle, and that's a disgrace to me but you have to do it. That's what the people, as well as what the feedlots want. My father was John Washington Wright, and he was born and raised in Wentmore, CO. My mother's maiden name was Ethel Lois Churchill. (My middle name is Churchill, and I am a fourth cousin of Winston Churchill.) She was raised in Wisconsin. She came to Colorado and got her degree to teach at the teachers' school in Wentmore; where she and my dad met. My father was a forest ranger, then he homesteaded a place southeast of Walsenburg out in the dry land around Rattlesnake Buttes. It seemed like I was there forever. But, it was well named: lots of rattlesnakes. We lost three wean-er colts (suckling colts). They are quite inquisitive and they see something. An old horse knows the buzzing of that tail, the rattling, like a person and it will just scare you to death. But the colts, they don't know yet, they're real inquisitive and they'll go sniffing around. Killed three of them. �Page 2 of 4 I have been in the cattle business all my life. I tried shearing sheep here on this place once, but coyotes ... coyotes and dogs. So, one year I got rid of them [the sheep] and got my cattle back. We had a permit, east of Bayfield, for about 1,200 acres. We had 226 head of horse, and I sold that ranch. I sold it because I was hard up: couldn't make ends meet. It wasn't much. You couldn't raise a calf for what you'd get out of it. So, I stayed here and had a chance to sell that place up there for a crazy number: a million and a half [dollars]. That seems crazy, don't it? That was in ... right recently ... about 1998, something like that. I was able to pay back some old debts, but I still wanted to raise cattle. I gave half of the ranch to my youngest son, and this half I've kept after and I will give over to my two grandsons (they're both grown men, now). I also have a great-grandson. Four generations on this ranch, the Wright Ranch. It's still known as the Spanish Forks Ranch, because that's what it was when I bought it. The name came from a man that lived in Spanish Forks, Utah. He loaned money on this place some way or another and foreclosed on it. So, he called it the Spanish Forks Ranch and that was in the 1920s. I have two sons. I had a daughter, but she passed away. My oldest son lives in New Mexico, just on the other side of the line. And, Wayne, my other son, lives here. My oldest son has been more into construction. He's living down here, and he had a heart attack about four years ago. He's getting old too, you know. I'll be 89 this fall, and I feel like a kid. I can't walk; I get to where my legs give out. You've got to have a good spirit. It's kept me going from the times when I thought I was going to lose everything. I believe in the Lord, and I trust in the Lord to see me out just as he saw me in. My mother was a Baptist. My father was a Presbyterian. So, I'm a Baptist now, and there're a lot of differences among Baptists. In 1939, I married and went on my own. But, in 1942 I lost her (she passed away), so I went back home in Pagosa for two or three years. Then, I married a girl and we lived together until she passed away. Then, I met this gal and we've lived together for the past ten years, almost eleven. She's my third wife. Third time's a charm. But, I had to get married both times ... I sold mostly wean-er stock. I sold the weaning calves off of the cows, generally. Somebody else put them in a feedlot. My cattle always did good in the feedlot. I went for the stretch-ier type of beef, rougher type cattle. My dad was more of a smooth, pretty yellow [cattle] feller. But, I thought a Hereford was supposed to be good and wide, so I bred them to be good and wide. Some of the Herefords went to a pretty yellow-red, and they went smaller and smaller. A 1,200-pound bull would be a mature bull. I have cows that are 1,200 pounds. The bulls I used as sires I bought out of Canada, and those are big type cattle, good-doing cattle. They could stand bad weather and everything. So, I had a man in Washington who I bought the bulls through. The Anxiety Fourth was a bull, purebred breeder out in Hereford. But, they went for the short-type. The first Anxiety Fourth were good cattle, but the breeders kept getting them pretty and yellow, and fat and easy. But we don't want fat ... we want muscle. That's how I built cattle: with muscle gain and not fat gain. You don't want fat, because you throw it away. That's what the cattle are today. The Limousine and Charle are both French cattle, and that's what they went for. The Americans learned from those breeders in foreign countries that you've got to raise �Page 3 of 4 muscle instead of fat. The muscle is what you eat and what's good for you. The fat you supposed to throw away. The feedlots are mostly in eastern Colorado, and down through the Arkansas Valley there are lots of feedlots. But my cattle, well it depended on who bought them. A man in Pagosa bought mine and would sell them to the feedlot. They gained 3 1/10 pounds per day on grass all summer long. So, he bought my steers, but he wanted to get them smaller. He put less into them, but we still raised good cattle. We've had to sell off our cattle: two years ago there was not feed in this country, and you couldn't afford to ship it in; it made it too high. The government finally brought it to Alamosa, but that cost us $25 a ton to get it here besides what it already cost. So, that didn't go over very big. Now, the cattle are going out more and they're going to the feedlots. There are not many fed around here: the winters are too bad for them. Down towards Farmington, there's a feedlot or two. Some of them learned that one of the real secrets of raising tender meat is to butcher cattle when ... If they're in a storm, they're going to be tough. That meat is going to be a little tougher than if the weather is good. *** I can remember when I was first going to school. .. the first day of school with my sister. We rode horses there; you didn't dare walk on account of the prairie wolves. The prairie wolf is a smaller wolf than the timber wolf, but they're just as vicious. I remember when I hadn't even gone to school yet, my uncle had trapped one and it broke away from the trap. He and my dad tracked it and I got to go along with them on a horse beside them. I could just barely hold on to the horse. They finally come to it and shot him, and I went over and picked up his tail. It went, "Grrrruff." They said I went and jumped up on my horse. It scared me half to death, and I was about 6 years old (first grader). But, we tracked him. I was on a horse myself; he had a small horse. I learned to ride when I was about five years old ... five or six years old. I learned to ride a horse when I went to school (I started when I was five years old, six that October). It was a one-room schoolhouse. It's still there. My wife and I drove over there, I was writing the story of my life, and I wanted to show her some of those places. That schoolhouse is still standing. That was about three or four years ago. It is in Rattlesnake Buttes. There's a South Rattlesnake Butte and North Rattlesnake Butte. This is North Rattlesnake Butte, near where the post office was. But at the other one, there were rattlesnakes ... they were everywhere. Kids learned to stay out of the brush or anything. My dad homesteaded two canyons close in, but it was right next to the prairie. We had two horses when we came here; we left in the fall of '37. My cousin and I rode; we came over the top of Musket Pass. We couldn't go over Wolf Creek, because Wolf Creek was closed then (they were building a new road). So, we had to go over to Cumbres Pass; which is over here down in New Mexico. We got as far as Ananeda and we heard of a bad storm on the Pass, so my dad put me, the horses and the seven old milk cows on the train. I came over the rest of the way through Lumberton, NM back up right over by the river here, the Pine River (there were some �Page 4 of 4 loading pens there). They got there at 1:00 in the morning, and all day that day and through the next night (it was two days travel by train from way down in New Mexico) I unloaded them here. I got them off the train and got them in a pasture from a farmer/rancher where I stayed one night. The next day I drove them across the Florida River going to the top (as if you were going to Durango). At that time it was all sagebrush; there weren't no farmers and ranchers across there. I drove them hungry cows and horses from early in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon, and I had just one sandwich to eat that morning. I was hungry when I got there, so there were real nice people, who we were going to lease the place from, and I overate ... I got sick. I puked all over the place. I was so embarrassed. They didn't milk the cows the next night, but they were dry ... the cows went dry. I had tried to talk to my dad that they would all go dry, and they were dry. They just couldn't stand that rough abuse. Ranch cows could have, but milk cows can't stand that abuse. So, I had seven milk cows and about 35 or 40 head of horses, and they wouldn't drive together. I didn't have a dog; I had two horses. I left one horse where I could get a hold of him, and I wore two horses riding them, getting them things to not go anywhere else. They would scatter our, and I couldn't keep them together. I was by myself then; my cousin went back with my dad to get stuff and bring it on over here. That was in the fall of 1937: I would have been 22 that fall. I was 22 when I got there, and I felt as though I was 122. We had that place, I think it was, for five years. Then it sold, Land Management sold it and we could not raise the money. We had so much to do on that place. We were intending to buy it, but a rich guy down in Texas wanted to put his money somewhere, so he blew us out. Dad went back to Pagosa, and I went one year above Durango. I went back to Pagosa, but I couldn't find a place to lease, and I had a few stock and I had to find a place. So, I went there and stayed there, then I came down here. It's been 46 years I've been right here this fall. Well, I bought this place in 1960 and that place up there in '66. There's four generations on it [Spanish Forks Ranch] right now and they ought to last a while. Nathan, my oldest grandson is living up there [northern part of ranch], and he has my great-grandson, who's a little over a year old now. He's the cutest little thing I ever saw. He's got grandpa wrapped around his finger. The two grandsons are going to help Wayne, and they're all going to run it together. Interviewed by Michael G. Miller (VISTA worker) on March 5, 2004 at Spanish Forks Ranch, County Road 322. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Michael Miller Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-2004 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of twelve biographies written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller of prominent people in the Ignacio community. Based on interviews conducted by Miller between December 9, 2003 and March 15, 2004. Some contain the additional attribution "for the Ignacio Historical Society." Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Miller, Michael G. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Norman Wright Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2004-03-05 Subject The topic of the resource Wright, Norman; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Norman Wright written by VISTA worker Michael Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on March 5, 2004. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Wright, Norman Extent The size or duration of the resource. 4 pages