https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/ecf8d7f5636288f8a6c6cab0f6196a03.pdf cff9bfc4dad5a4a503331e418395da42 PDF Text Text ri ~ 'l 'l 'l "J 'l l 'l ) ') l J -, l } ) ) ) Afterword (about the Author of most of these Stories) I blame my maternal grandparents, Edmon and Delia Throckmorton, for provoking me to write the short biographies in this collection. Ed and Delia were true covered wagon pioneers who homesteaded a farm in SW Oklahoma. When they entered that vast empty land in November of 1893, there were few neighbors and the nearest place to buy anything was the suttler's post 60 miles away at Ft. Reno. I loved to ask questions and listen to them talk about those days. They were the most interesting people I knew. Interviewing the older people in the Pine and Piedra Valleys was, perhaps, my way of bringing back those pleasant visits with my grandparents. I was born in Enid, Oklahoma in 1938. My dad Carl Smith was an expert mechanic and later service manager at the Chevrolet Agency. My mom, Orpha, was a newspaper reporter and later a tissue tech working with the pathologists at our hospital. I acquired a teaching degree at college, but the most fortunate thing that happened there was meeting a beautiful girl named Roberta Davidson, who became my best friend. We were married in 1963 ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ..J ....) ..J ..J _J _J _J _J _J ...) .._) In 1970 we bought several wooded acres with a log home in the Florida Valley near Durango. There we began to reenact in a small way the pioneer life of our grandparents. We built a cellar to store the produce from our garden, learned to harvest honey from our hives, raised pigs and milk goats and kept a colt for the enjoyment of the children. Raising such a large garden required lots of time and help -- so much so that on one bright, warm day our youngest, Brad, announced when he grew up he was going to find a job in the shade. He later did so. Adjacent to our property were several hundred acres of forested 8.L.M. land. This was our playground for hiking, mushroom hunting, flower identifying, berry picking, snow shoeing, cross country skiing, sledding, wildlife watching and Christmas tree cutting. In 1975 our family grew a bit when Roberta and I adopted a beautiful five-year-old girl from the reservation area. Annette's mother was Gladys Reddick who had died in 1974. With her cheerful and sprightly personality she has been one of the lights in our lives . During most of our years in La Plata County I worked for SUCAP, as a program director writing grant applications and doing the start-up and management of a variety of programs. I was there from September of 1973 until May of 1983. In time I became well acquainted with many of the members of the tribe as well as their Hispanic and Anglo neighbors. Our monthly newsletter, The Thoughtful Years, contained announcements of up coming events, news written by Charlotte Jones and Liva Pacheco and short biographical sketches of the Pine River people For twenty years Roberta was a full time stay-at-home mom, expert in all house and garden and culinary and child-rearing skills. About the time our youngest reached the age of 16, both of us decided to begin a second teaching career. For this we chose ..) ...) .._) I..) 183 �to work in Cortez. For the next 18 years Roberta taught French and I taught English once again. Art, our oldest son, received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Texas and currently is a research professor in nano science at Ohio University. Our daughter, Annette, is raising five little ones and is now a nurse specialist assigned to care for the many people of our area who suffer the after effects of working in uranium mines. Our youngest son, Brad (the one who wanted a job in the shade), received his law degree at Yale and currently works at one of the premier law firms in New York City. ) ) ) ) Roberta and I both retired from our teaching careers in 2003. Volunteer work has taken over part of our lives. We soon learned it wants lo take over all of it. So we are occupied with church events, projects for our Cortez Cultural Center, planning tours for an archeological preserve near our home, resuming watercolor painting, playing my violin, trying to stay toned and fit, and going on vacation as often as possible. In November of 2004 I was fortunate to survive a serious complication from a routine surgery. With a new awareness of how fragile life can be, I am very happy lo be here to write this little autobiographical sketch. Reading and editing these stories has once again reminded me how rich and wonderful it was to work in Ignacio. I wish to thank Donna, Manuel, Liva, Sally, Margaret, Claudelle, Phoebe, Hazel, Alice, Carmen, Joyce, Margie, Robert, Freddie, Gisela, Adela, the Arboles Honor Camp boys and many others for supporting everything I tried to do. I was always proud of them for the tender kindness they bestowed on the senior citizens and the disadvantaged people in this community. With warmest regards lo all, Shelby & Roberta Smith 184 1 � 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 Shelby Smith Autobiography Subject The topic of the resource Smith, Shelby; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Autobiography by Shelby Smith included as afterword in his book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley." 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, Shelby 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