https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/139868dccd8b745a6c3c7e50a559871c.pdf b3139b3d2cbdc3c116a9a06560ad6623 PDF Text Text r'\ ~ "I ~ "") MARY EDNA (TRUJILLO) GALLEGOS ~ Mary Edna Gallegos was born in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, February 25, 1912, the oldest child of Tobias Trujillo and Sarah (Moreno) Trujillo. Tobias was a farmer. When he died in 1916, Edna was only 4 years old and hardly remembers her dad. Her mother later married Evaristo Garcia. i i ) J -) "My step~dad," Edna says, "was a very good man. He treated me really well. My younger sisters and one brother are still living. Mary lives in Los Angeles, Dolores in Blanco, Rose in Plymouth, CA, and Ray in Albuquerque." ) ) "I went to school in Lonetree (about 10 miles north of Pagosa Junction on Cat Creek Road). That is dryland country, but in those days we had plenty of rain for hay and for crops. The wild grass was so tall it would brush your feet when you rode a horse. We used to knot necklaces from a particular variety of tough grass there. I wonder if it still grows there. The climate has changed so much." ) About 1922 Edna's family moved to Mancos for 2 years, then came back to Durango. , ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) J ) ) J .J __) J J .J ....J J __J __J "My step-dad worked at the smelter where they processed the ores from Silverton. I enjoyed living in Durango, but it didn't last very long. When my mother died, I went to live with my aunt in Ignacio. I stayed with her two years until I was married at the age of 15. Aurelio Gallegos and I got married in 1927. For 15 years we lived on the farm at Caracas by the San Juan River just below the New Mexico State Line. There was no bridge across the river. We forded it with a wagon to buy supplies at Pagosa Junction. If the river was too high we crossed with pack horses. Sometimes I stayed home for 3 months. Often the river was so high in May, June, and July from the spring melt, that we were isolated. We had a log house on a rise above the river. Aurelio raised alfalfa on the river bottom and grain on a flat place we called the "alcon." Whenever we needed fuel we took our wagon up on Caracas Mesa. We had a permit to haul all the wood we needed for our personal use. In the summer and fall we took our wagon up on the mesa top into the woods and enjoyed the views and the peaceful feeling of the back country. Sometimes we could watch the herds of beautiful wild horses which roamed the canyons and mesas at that time. Before the winter, we always had enough wood to last till the next summer. We grew nearly all of our food. Our irrigation system was from our well, simple but effective. We pulled up buckets of water with a rope and pulley and emptied them into a series of trenches which ran down the rows of the garden. This was a lot easier than hauling buckets around the garden. We roasted our blue corn and had it ground at Allison, enough for us and some to sell. We put away 200 lbs. of white peas and all kinds of chilies and vegetables. We used kerosene lamps and a wood burning cookstove. Our cellar kept our cream and eggs cool in summer and kept our produce from freezing in winter. We never had electricity and never missed it. You'd be surprised how few worries we had. No utility bills to pay. No food bills. We were sure of everything. I was never bored and never lonely. I always liked the quiet places. __J J J J ..) .J "Aurelio and I had four children. Roger now lives in Ogden, Utah, Sarah in Newark, CA, Abe in Farmington, and Lillie in Bayfield. The kids went about 3 miles to school. If we needed to travel any further than the valley, we crossed the river and waited for the train. 57 �lfwe needed to go shopping or go to the doctor, we took the train to Durango. II arrived from Alamosa ~very day at 1:30 p.m. and would get to Durango in about 2 hours. In winter it was sometimes delayed for long periods because of snow on the passes. One way to Durango cost $2.45. "In 1942 we moved to Jack Dickinson's irrigated farm across the river in Colorado, where we stayed 5 years. From 1947-49 we lived in Durango. When Aurelio's mom died in 1949, we moved back to Caracas where we stayed until 1964. Thal year we moved to Ignacio and I've been here ever since." Edna lives in one of the apartments in the Senior Citizen's Complex just north of Ignacio. She visits her children whenever she can and occasionally keeps one of her grandchildren. Edna enjoys her new apartment and the conveniences of life today, but she would trade her electric range for a wood burning cookstove in a minute. Shelby Smith - February, 1978 � 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 Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby 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 Mary Edna (Trujillo) Gallegos Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1978-02 Subject The topic of the resource Gallegos, Mary Edna (Trujillo); Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Mary Edna (Trujillo) Gallegos based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the February, 1978 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. 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 Gallegos, Mary Edna (Trujillo) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 2 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby