¡Colores!; 1106; Albuquerque's People of the Heart (Parts 1, 2, and 3)

You You major funding for this

program provided by the Urban Enhancement Trust Fund of the City of Albuquerque Additional funding provided by Presbyterian Health Care Services dedicated to improving the health of Albuquerque and New Mexico I think everything you do says something and what you do every day and how you live it you are speaking to people and I try my best to make these loving words Celebrating community with Albuquerque's people of the heart next People make a community through devotion and

selfless giving there are those who in both large and small ways have nurtured Albuquerque They heighten our understanding of humanity, champion action in the face of adversity and stand oftentimes as singular courageous leaders in their service to others Through their extraordinary and enduring spirit these people have defined Albuquerque They symbolize the many citizens who believe in this city and have worked hard to make it a better place to live I love Albuquerque the diversity of people is what I really enjoy I learned to see a heart and a soul in everybody I see I think that getting to know people you know getting to know people you can love them you know you can care about them Sister Blendina Segale epitomized

giving a visionary with no money or regard for her own well -being and a dangerous environment Sister Blendina was a woman of firsts one of her early efforts was to give Albuquerque a much needed gift education If you stepped off the train in the late 1800s you would find Albuquerque was truly a part of the wild west busy with farmers and horses sliding around on muddy streets Most people lived in Thiccadobe houses with small lead glass windows If you believe Dime novelist wild characters like El Fagobaca and Billy the Kid were everywhere The reality was that there were no schools and disease was rampant Still Sister Blendina saw the potential of this raw town and set herself on an unnearing course of making a difference in the lives of the people who lived here First she took on the extraordinary job of overseeing construction on the convent which would serve as Albuquerque's first formal school The original structure was a two -story

building that repeatedly fell down Apparently no one in the city had ever built a two -story building before Sister Blendina came from Cincinnati so she knew it could be built So paying no mind to her stature, gender or safety She made a treacherous journey to Santa Fe and convinced a reluctant Italian stone cutter to come to Albuquerque and reinforce the building As soon as the roof was on, Sister Blendina had the rooms bursting with students She taught them grammar, arithmetic, art, languages and music her specialty Relentless and was so much to do, Sister Blendina next oversaw the construction of a new school in Newtown The sprouting railroad community The old convent would now serve as a wayfarer's house for the sick and needy But that was not enough, the sick needed real care She joined forces with a Jewish doctor and a self -professed atheist to advocate for the indigent sick and the destitute of all faiths She helped open doors for the needy when others

expressly refused With the help of the Jesuit fathers, Sister Blendina secured a parcel of land to be used as the city's first hospital By 1901, construction began on St. Joseph Sanatorium, today St. Joseph's medical facilities and community And her love and devotion to people, I think, was one of the tremendous forces behind her She had great tenacity but with that a great compassion for people It was as if she had a conversation with God about coming here and applying what she could with her own strengths And it's left a mark on Albuquerque Through sheer willpower, Sister Blendina gave this frontier town a solid foundation of education and health care She would move away but in only 12 years, this tiny nun, with a giant spirit, made a real difference in the lives around

her There are those who give compassionately and quietly And there are those who give with a contankerous nature in the spirit of doing right Such was the case with Jesus Romero, Newtown was sprouting up and around the railroad, leaving old towns struggling for business and in danger of withering in the name of progress Jesus Romero wrote up his sleeves, dug his heels in old town soil and took care of his people, especially those in need What were the main staples of the Hispanic people in New Mexico, Flower, Lard, Bacon Powder, the staples of the Envergolus And though Jesus Romero quietly, with his nephews, would distribute some food to some of these people, he'd advertise it, very few people knew it He patrolled his streets as sheriff,

he created businesses as a developer, he was a politician, a leader, he was a founding member of the New Mexico Society for mutual protection, a fraternity of men who took care of the people in old town There was a certain lady here in old town that had six children and her husband was very, very sick The mother took in Washington support, the Jesus Romero came across with $550 of his own money to help the widow for funeral expenses Although a controversial figure in his day, there is no arguing a devotion that Jesus Romero showed for the people of old town He was the father of old town, period Like thousands of Eastern refugees, the Reverend Hugh Albert Cooper came to Albert Grigid to chase the cure for tuberculosis, he was lucky His recovery was relatively

quick, but for thousands of other TB patients their fate was uncertain Some patients had money to provide for their recovery, many did not The Reverend Cooper recognized a need for a health care community to care for the growing number of TB patients in Albert Grigid The Reverend Cooper was humble and humorous, dedicated and unselfish It was his philosophy that every patient in need, particularly those who could not afford it, would be treated He felt it was the moral responsibility of their Presbyterians to care for those less fortunate Reverend Cooper used his pen, his pulpit and his heart to raise funds for a building Of course he was the kind of person that worked 20 hours a day, all of his life he would have never retired no matter how long he lived By 1913 the Reverend Cooper had worked continuously for 15 years, slowly building a sanatorium out of a five -room home At first overflow patients were treated in tent cottages, but when Reverend Cooper was finished the san, as it was called, had

two wings, an operating room and space for patients suffering from other ailments as well Presbyterian hospital was born Reverend Cooper was assisted beyond measure by another dedicated servant Later referred to as the grand dom of the healing community, Marion Kellogg van de van der Or as she was known in later years, Mrs. Van, secretary, fundraiser, cheerleader, friend, Mrs. Van created a patient library and encouraged the gardener to plant year -round So those flowers could always be placed in patients rooms, the depression was a difficult time for the san with a huge influx of patients and not much money The hospital was so broke they couldn't even meet their payroll Mrs. Van went and bought a bunch of penny postcards, took their mailing list of people that donated money to the hospital and asked each one of them to send a dollar to keep the hospital open Mrs. Van served six decades as a devoted

employee and volunteer for Presbyterian hospital, far outliving Reverend Cooper but always keeping his spirit alive In a time when people barely knew what health insurance was, she created a health plan to help those in need It was called hospital services corporation today known as Blue Cross Throughout her life, she treated everyone as her best friend The one thing I always remember about Mrs. Van, she kept a date book and I think everybody she knew she knew their birth date or she had it written down And I have a suspicion she probably sent out six or eight birth date cards every single day of the year This place will hold the love that light reflects the holy love of Jesus, the son of man And future generations all will know that God is here and so is Mrs. Van In 1911, the Reverend Cooper presided over the wedding of two of Albuquerque's newest

citizens, Clyde Tingley and Carrie Wooster Tuberculosis had played a part as well for Carrie had TB and while on her way to Phoenix, her condition worsened She stopped in Albuquerque literally to save her life If the legend of King Arthur unfolded as the 20th century began, surely Clyde and Carrie Tingley would be the beloved royalty of Albuquerque's Camelot Clyde with his can -do working man's attitude and Carrie with her love of Albuquerque's children and the less fortunate were utterly devoted to each other And bound to a spirit of humanitarianism that remains unparalleled today The 1920s and 30s would mark great changes in Albuquerque, the way it looked, the way it worked as a city and the way it felt as a home Clyde Tingley would serve as the central figure of those changes with a long list of civic accomplishments Crafting a citywide park system, recreating the zoo and the very popular

Tingley Beach once a bathing beach for all of Albuquerque's citizens He served 12 years as mayor, 8 years as governor During his tenure, he facilitated the new airport, Curtlyn Air Force Base, secured funds for the state fairgrounds and worked on building Albuquerque's public school system To shepherd such dynamic change so quickly, just what kind of man was Clyde Tingley? He was brash, uneducated, charismatic, demanding, earnery, extracted exactly what he wanted from every person he knew and inexplicably possessed himself at the head of FDR's new deal table What sets him apart is his genuine, unquenchable love for Albuquerque He knew what was right and he did everything in his power to create a city out of dust Clyde Tingley kept a shovel in the back of his car to personally fill potholes he found in Albuquerque streets During his tenure as governor, more schools were built in New Mexico than all previous administrations put together As mayor,

he would personally escort party students to class He cleaned the sores with his own hands and created thousands of much -needed jobs for the citizens of Albuquerque when the depression hit He once said, if you think there is something wrong with your city, hope to correct it but don't forget what a really fine place it already is If you can't see such things in your own city, just recollect it isn't the city, it's you Carried Tingley was a force in her own right with her purple hats and down to earth attitude She served on several commissions herself including the all -woman committee which acquired resources to renovate and properly furnish Brother Matthias' good shepherd refuge She saw the great need for a children's health care With Clyde's help, they worked relentlessly calling in favors, wrangling deals and eventually they did something quite remarkable in the history of this state To create a hospital solely to care for children Carried Tingley hospital For years at Christmas time, Clyde and Carried Tingley visited the hospital to

personally distribute gifts to each child Clyde's impending death did not stop this tradition Carried still found time to give the children their gifts Clyde and Carried Tingley gave Albuquerque more than their time They gave imagination and direction to a city just finding itself With their guidance, this quirky little western town grew up into a modern city And what's more, they set a wildfire of enthusiasm for Albuquerque's potential That reminds us even today that even the smallest gesture can make a world of difference I don't know how to describe it Urna Ferguson was a rabble rouser. She was a Debbie Tompt She was a sharp -witted conversationalist, a personable host and a hell of a driver Urna and Ethel Hickey, a friend and schoolteacher, became dude -rankers who guided tourists through the state with outings and historical lectures One time some Native

American children challenged Urna to a foot race And after she won, they named her beautiful Swift Fox Urna made her most significant contribution as a writer She was the first to acknowledge that the history and promise of Albuquerque lay in the mosaic of its people For some individuals in her day might wish to wipe away the diversity of cultures they found here Urna celebrated each culture, tried to interweave them like threads and a blanket Urna Ferguson's constant plea was that Anglos seek to understand other cultures and work for the preservation of the best in each Urna published book after book about Native Americans She was not perfect, she certainly was ethnocentric But in light of her time, her work had enormous consequence Pueblo's tribes and entire cultural traditions were threatened as the West lay open to Anglo -developers and conversely Native Americans were struggling to find their place within the larger United

States Urna Ferguson encouraged us to keep an open mind and an open heart and to appreciate the gifts that we all bring to this unique place we call home Ruth Hannah McCormick Sam's wanted everyone to keep busy She herself had been a congresswoman, had married Albert Sam's on the Congressional floor and even ran Dewey's presidential election campaign She certainly had money, but it was what she did with her power and influence that created unique opportunities for the people of Albuquerque She and Albert heavily invested in the existing Albuquerque Academy and watched it grow Ruth Hannah herself created the San Dia School for Girls buying the 126 acres of land and buildings out of her own pocket She invested nearly $30 ,000 a year in

the new school More importantly, she gave her time She brought in the best teachers to compete with East Coast schools She demanded extra curricular activities At San Dia, she redefined what it meant to be a modern woman She saw it to her that her girls ate well, exercised regularly and excelled academically She demanded that each student become a fully active citizen and taught them how to search for meaning within their lives and always act with purpose and their community Because of the depression, theater in Albuquerque was suffering When Will Keller offered the land to build a new theater Ruth Hannah used her Washington contacts to secure WPA money to build it and personally raised a substantial part of the money to complete it Ruth Hannah wanted the artist to bring people together and she even designed her own home to entertain all of Albuquerque She wanted to have a place where people from the community could come She just wanted to get people together, talk about

ideas, what was going on in this country She wanted to be able to set up 200 chairs and have a concert, have a stage She also wanted to have a readings by and brought Thornton Wilder here I think she really wanted everybody to have a better life and it wasn't just in terms of where they lived or what they ate but she really felt it was important to have art and music and I think these are things that weren't that important at the time in Albuquerque People were just scrambling to get by but they didn't realize that some of these things change your life and make a difference Ruth Hannah was not a theorist or armchair philosopher She was a strong -willed actualist Her only advice still rings true today for a heaven's sake Do something A man who devoted his life to the people of Albuquerque in New Mexico was

Senator Dennis Chavez, a champion of the poor and an early crusader for civil rights He grew up in Bareilles, a scrappy young man who spent his days working to support his family and his nights at the public library He learned both English and Spanish so well that a traveling senator asked him to serve as an interpreter in Washington While Chavez was there, he enrolled in law school and passed the bar exam without ever receiving a formal high school education When Chavez came back to Albuquerque to practice law, he was also elected to serve in the state legislature One of his first actions was to author a bill to provide free textbooks to public school children which gave poor children an equal chance at an education Governor Clyde Tingley appointed Chavez to Congress Throughout his long political career spanning nearly 30 years Senator Dennis Chavez always listened to his constituents always striving to make Albuquerque a better place for even the poorest citizen And Daddy

would love to walk up and down central, central at that point was a Franciscan on one end and the Alvarado on the end And I remember distinctly one day walking and it was a cold morning and there was little guy selling newspapers and he was shipping, he was cold And Daddy went in, he went in and bought him a jacket or a sweater And the face, I remember the smile on that child's face In 1945 after his own democratic party largely ignored his plea for support Senator Chavez co -authored a bill that would end employment discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color or national origin The entire southern contingency rallied to defeat the bill Ten years before the civil rights movement gained momentum Senator Chavez was there fighting for what was right Locally with Clyde Tingley, Senator Chavez brought Curtlyn Air Force Base and send

DN national labs to the city and help secure money for schools You have to fight You cannot take, sometimes take no for an answer And if you think something's right, you go ahead and pursue your dream And a fighter, he was a fighter He was a champion of the poor, he was everyone's champion really Senator Chavez was the first native born Hispanic to make it in Washington His kindness was the hallmark of his long tenure But his true gift is showing that anyone with a dream can succeed He inspired us all to not accept limitations, to be proud of our heritage And to work hard for what is right Stay tuned for more of Albuquerque's People of the Heart Please take the time to call the numbers at the bottom of the screen and make your pledge John Milny was a teacher He also coached basketball

and in 1907 his grade school team beat the high school team When Milny began teaching high school a few years later His high school basketball squad beat the university team Despite the odds, Milny could always find a way to win When Milny became superintendent of schools over his 45 -year career He helped expand the city school system from Amiga 5 schools to 64 John Milny's philosophy was to keep each school a part of the surrounding community Milny sponsored community events which brought people together When you find the talents main banker taking tickets for Halloween Carnival Then you realize what effect that has on the teachers and the kids Because they feel like they're part of the whole, not just individuals John Milny knew that funds for a growing school system could only come As New Mexico moved from a territory to statehood

He really had a vision for where the city was going He purchased land well before anybody thought that the city was going to be close to needing a school in that area So that the schools really were quite well off He was a hands -on superintendent who helped new teachers become better acquainted with the community By driving them around personally He visited classrooms and knew the names of his teachers and students He was a visionary who saw bilingualism as an asset to be valued and nurtured During his tenure he faced great social challenges like segregation which he adamantly opposed I think that his greatest contribution as an individual was really a sense of fair play He wouldn't hire two people in the same family during the depression He felt that it was unfair to give one family two jobs when he could actually share

it with two families Milny served the Albuquerque school system for 45 years, a tenure of national record John Milny held himself personally responsible for the education of generations of Albuquerque's future citizens Jerry and one and two keys That's it for Thanksgiving card One day in 1936 John Milny found himself discussing the need for a playground with two very persuasive women The idea seemed impossible considering the depression But when the meeting was done Milny had committed 12 acres of APS land on Buena Vista for the project And Carrie Blair had begun a career in community enhancement With a PTA raising funds and the National Youth Administration's labor Carrie set about getting materials by driving around the city and salvaging what she could A year later there were tennis courts and basketball

courts, a baseball field, a wooden grandstand, and the children's play area All under Carrie's supervision The NYA then took on another task building a community center And they wanted Carrie to help They went door to door asking for contributions They held pancake suppers, benefit dances, rummage sales They contacted every politician and civic group But the money they collected wasn't nearly enough for the building So the crew produced a lot of the materials themselves They cut ponderosa pines from the Sandias for Vegas They hauled a flagstone down for the floors They even made a Dobie bricks right on the site Carrie Blair got permission for them to go into an old 1880s grade school that was being torn down And they salvaged windows from that that went into the center I had a lumber that was used for scaffolding and formwork for pouring the concrete I had ultimately formed the subfloor of the dance floor here Carrie Blair got

people dancing She got them talking and communicating on a regular basis She bought neighbors together in the spirit of community To socialize and to envision future needs to be met She said a president as other community center began to take shape around the city 30 years later, Carrie was still going strong Helping to create a strong neighborhood association in the university area She went door to door, asking for signatures to support the addition of street lights Parking permits and pedestrian walkways She epitomized being a good neighbor So rather than saying what should people do for me She was very good in terms of saying what's good for other people We had a neighborhood award for many years It was called the Rose Award for people who

had nice yards or gardens or did things to beautify the neighborhood And one of the things that Mrs. Blair just did on her own is when people got a Rose Award She would literally take a rose out of her garden and give it to them So it wasn't just a on paper rose, people actually got a rose from it The Rose Award for the Rose Award for the Rose Award for the Rose Award Palpacruci is a beautiful city nestled between a rugged mountain range and a scenic river valley The treasures for the eye and heart are many And through the efforts of a few individuals who possessed the ability to foresee the future Our beautiful vistas will never change Peldolia Poles spent a scant few years as a city employee He perpetually encouraged Arlead to preserve the natural wonder of the bosque for the enjoyment of everyone Today

the Rio Grande Nature Center bears a reminder of the spirit behind such ideals Peldolia Poles had a precedent for future generations by urging us to value our surroundings and fight for them to remain pristine Encourage by a class in urban studies Ruth Eisenberg looked out her window one day and wondered who owned the volcanoes And what the future plans were for the western horizon She soon found out that the city had no plans to acquire the volcanoes because the land was privately held She was astonished that the city would ignore such a beautiful natural heritage Immediately she sprung into action If she had a weapon of choice, it was the telephone She somehow had managed to compile the home telephone numbers of all public officials And what she was

attempting to do was simply raise consciousness about the West Mesa In addition to the telephone, Ruth's other favorite weapon were some to die for brownies that she made from scratch Ruth called a Mayor Roscan or Lisa Dio, the director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department She invited them to lunch There is, in fact, we all know one tree in volcano parks So they parked under that tree, spread their blanket and Ruth opened her picnic hamper And proceeded to tell both Lisa Dio and Mayor Roscan the history of the area And again, why it was so important that the volcanoes be preserved Ruth was very effective In the 1970s there was an mayor in Albuquerque that didn't know Ruth by name and by voice City money began trickling in City funds had to be matched

with private funds and slowly but surely The land was purchased and the volcano was preserved The genius of Ruth Eisenberg and other preservation leaders like Mary Olden Herall and Gene House was that they cooperated instead of competed for city funds They banded together and formed the open space task force which would concentrate on one area of the city each year for purchase From the sandiers to the river, the task force fought hard to preserve open space I've always said her legacy is the western horizon But I think she also gave those of us who worked with her A really strong sense of find the positive and fly with that Do not be critical, don't be negative But find what there is to love about something and then spread that joy If every there was a professional volunteer would be Charlie Morrissey

Her activities looked like the resume of an angel American Red Cross, Special Olympics, Women in Community Service, NAACP, Job Corps, Rural Housing, Inc. and Sunday School teacher Charlie was compassionate, reliable, dependable, and generous Perhaps she was best known for lifting spirits all over town And she had some hats and buttons that she wore all the time with all of the different organizations, you know, enumerated on that hat And she was just a dynamo Just a dynamo I remember she's my Sunday School teacher And Sunday School starts at 9 .30 in the morning We're supposed to end in time to start services at 11 And so sometimes the Bible class is over about 15 minutes to 11 Instead of her waiting until 11 o 'clock for her to start services Charlie will walk out getting to a car

She has flyers of other activities happening in the community And will drive around to probably all the churches, black churches in the city And make their rounds and then come back Just in time for the major part of the services to start, you know, that's Charlie It's just really difficult to explain her in order to the amount of energy Because that's what it took And never seemingly to tire I'm sure she did, but it was just work, work, work Really, the work belongs to you And you make the work the way you want it to be, you might not succeed But that's what you do You work at it And if you are concerned with justice, it doesn't make sense for you to sit in the library It's concerned with justice You go to the court and see those people who are supposed to be in charge of Medying out justice

is doing it correctly If you are concerned about education, you go to school board meetings Or raise funds for books for the schools And so Charlie, when you say education doesn't mean the concept It means the process and product and equipment and things So if you are for education, then you must make sure that those things are in place That's Charlie And for the public school system, Tom Popejoy did for the University of New Mexico Popejoy II was a sports hero But it was his gutsy academic career that proclaimed Popejoy a true visionary Unlike most of his contemporaries, Popejoy did not have an Ivy League background He ended even during his PhD when he was appointed president of UNM He began by building the university from the ground up He personally oversaw the completion of some 80 buildings, libraries, classrooms, the student union building, Athletic facilities and dormitories

He had huge hands, and he used to tell me that at commencement, when of course he had to stand up on the stage And shake hands with each graduate The men from the engineering department would try to put the iron grip on him Only it was they who had the iron grip put on them Nobody could master those hands Popejoy built a 2000 seat concert hall Created the much heralded anthropology department and the medical school Popejoy was a master in the art of persuasion Using his talents frequently in the state legislature to secure funding for the university He didn't want any big high rise buildings He said, our students are going to be kids who come in from clonch and high loansome Ratan and Clovis and country people And he said, we want to feel at home here Like put them in place where they can see the sky When

followers of Senator McCarthy ordered the libraries clear of all communist materials It was Popejoy who told them, no! If you want to come back communism, you have to be able to study it first, he said No matter how much hot water his actions got him into, Popejoy never backed down With full support from the faculty, Popejoy hired Chester Travelstad We had been fired by the University of South Carolina for speaking out against segregation Popejoy took risks He helped build a university but then allowed it to grow He knew that stagnation was academic death So he fostered continual rebirth Popejoy reminded us all that education is a process, a journey to be valued As a political reporter you tend to get kind of cynical And I had gotten that way And you see a lot of good reason for it And Popejoy gave me more evidence, there's lots of

around here There's a lot of just good people in the world who are working their butts off Just because they believe something is right And he was a good man In 1961, Albuquerque, like many cities around the country Still faced major hurdles in the quest for racial equality When Curtis Salisbury came here from Washington D .C. to join her husband Oliver Not one real estate agent would show them a house Housing discrimination was legal and encouraged People were saying, oh we haven't come to that We don't think our neighbors would like our selling our home to you I saw this house in the paper that was owned by a professor at the university And I thought you know this ought to be a good starting place He had to take us both out to dinner and talk to us and be sure

that we were decent characters That he could feel alright selling his house to us When the Salisbury's moved into their new home The neighborhood called a meeting to explore their legal options to oust the Salisbury's The neighbors closest to them put up newspapers and the windows facing the Salisbury's home Well you know this kind of thing either destroys you or gives you strength And I needed strength and I had it Oliver and Curtis began to fight discrimination They were instrumental in creating a coalition that helped minorities find homes and they fought city hall They introduced one of the country's first fair housing ordinances which was strongly opposed Tensions ran high at the city commissioners meeting in 1963 They had all sorts of groups there

People who were far this and people who were against it And they listened and tried to hear everybody that was standing room only But after they had listened for so long they said well looks like we can't really make any decisions here now But right at the close of that meeting when they said we will table it My husband who doesn't talk very much stood up and said I have got to be heard And he said gentlemen you all know me pointing to the realtors and the home builders and all He said I want one of you to tell this group that you were willing to show me a home in Albuquerque He said you know me very well because I've been to you and not a single one of you was willing to even

show me a place So he said don't tell me that isn't a problem because as a very serious problem I have all the credentials except skin color That's the only credential that I didn't have and not one of you would show me a house And the commissioners stood up there and said we don't need to hear anything else We are passing the fair housing ordinance tonight The neighbors who want to shine the South's berries are now friends And Albuquerque has changed for the better with the passage of one of the first fair housing acts in the nation Sometimes you simply reach out and you say whatever it takes I'm going to make it in this neighborhood And you don't realize that as you do that you're saying something to people

I think everything you do says something And what you do every day and how you live it you are speaking to people And I try my best to make these loving words Stay tuned for more of Albuquerque's people of the heart Please take the time to call the numbers at the bottom of the screen and make your pledge Mike Allerid always did his homework He saw things and understood problems with a keen intelligence

and rise sense of humor People who were often overlooked and opportunities otherwise missed were Mike Allerid's specialty As a grocery store owner in Barrelas Allerid always made sure his community got butter, eggs and the essentials Even when he had a wheel and deal during the depression As a community leader Alerid saw that the less fortunate needed guidance in order to succeed And that's why he co -founded the Young Spanish American League which taught young poor Hispanic men how to function in society Poor people are missing so many experiences in life including courtship, including how to dress, how to eat Before long Mike Allerid was elected as a state legislator And again it was his tenacity to understand the details which propelled him to a leadership role as Senator Pro Tem

In his long career he worked hardest for education, assuring opportunities for the less fortunate in public schools and beyond TVI is a strong school now but was threatened with severe funding cutbacks Mike Allerid fought hardest to keep TVI strong but he believes that education is the foundation to a strong identity and a strong community Learn to read, read, read, learn to write, write, write What happens when you do that? When you accomplish that then you're able to understand When you're able to understand then you're able to reason and reason is the crux of it all Mike Allerid is a man who sees the big picture in the smallest details Throughout his life he's encouraged everyone he meets to look around, see and understand the community in which they live And take care of the people who struggle to take care of themselves

Some people inspire us with their generosity, some with leadership, still others with devotion to the smallest sector of our community And then there are those so daring they forge new territory then beckon us to follow Like Bob Nardhouse, a lawyer by profession, Nardhouse loved to ski and as his gift to Albuquerque spent a lifetime Taming the mountains so that everyone could taste adventure He started La Madira ski area, later known as Sandia Peak and it was his idea to bring all of Albuquerque up the mountain with a European invention, a tramway Of course there were two other men involved in that enterprise, a young Jerry Martin and Bennett Bruso Skying was how they all met but they shared a bond like no other Nardhouse was the dreamer, Martin the builder and Ben was the doer Albuquerque was what they all believed in And

what was so good about Ben and Bob is they believed in me You see I was when we started this I was just 33 years old and so you say how are you going to let a 33 year old kid build a longest tramway in the world And anyway they believed in me and I believed in them Project Tram took two years to build From Martin it was the greatest thing he had done so far in his life For Nardhouse it was a dream realized For Albuquerque it was just the beginning A Bruso became a certified hunter balloonist and was a constant force at Albuquerque's annual balloon fiesta In 1978 a Bruso along with co -pilot Maxi Anderson and Larry Newman successfully man the first transit landing balloon flight A Bruso crossed the Pacific three years later with co -pilot's newman Ron Clark and Rocky Ayogi When my father started doing the balloon flights he always put New Mexico first and foremost I can't recall a flight where they

didn't carry along chili restress The state flag and anything else that would identify their world -renowned balloon flights with New Mexico To Europe, Japan, wherever they went they promoted New Mexico just out of a love for this state It's our obligation when we have the resources to do it to do our share of bettering the community in any way we can John Baker was a long distance runner in the 1960s lacking great style or blinding speed He won by sheer determination to conquer the pain and cross the finish line John was always humble he was always considered the underdog and he was just a

heart runner He didn't have a huge amount of natural talent he just had focus and he was very determined Baker ran it months on a high then at UNM he always focused on the runner just ahead of him And when he came across the finish line being focused as he was he spotted somebody running ahead of him And he was so determined that he had to beat everybody that he just took off after this other runner Not realizing that that was the runner that he had actually laughed Baker graduated took a job teaching at Aspen Elementary and trained for the Olympics He also got involved with a new track club bent on involving the city's youth He was a member of a team a very dedicated young male athletes that decided to coach a group of girl track runners There were no girls running in track in organized track and girls got slided John Baker taught his students his secret weapon in fighting the

pain of running his monster face He made ribbons for all the kids they all had competition he gave trior trophies and he gave champion trophies And everybody was awarded but they had to earn it he taught them to be competitive Not so much against each other but to be competitive against themselves He always taught their kids to find something that they did well it didn't always have to be sports But it had to be something that they could do well and then do their very very best And even if they thought they were doing their very best to try a little bit harder and to never ever ever quit While out on a training run one day John Baker collapsed He was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer John Baker began the most important race of his life He had a wonderful photo album that he kept with all of his students and his athletes pictures in and whenever he would get depressed

or get frightened or have pain He could somehow focus on those kids and determine that he wasn't going to let the pain take his life over that he had a mission He had things he needed to accomplish he was able to focus on something else and it was always his kids John Baker never quit teaching he never quit trying to make a difference in his students' lives When his health declined he asked his parents to drive him to the track He would encourage his runners from his lawn chair in the back of a pickup truck He had one of the fathers of the Duke City Dacher runners take him out to the airport because he was hardly able to walk a little on drive himself And they unloaded trophies and banners and ribbons and they set up a display They're one of the display cases at the airport so that when the girls got ready to leave for St. Louis for the National

AAU Across country meet that they could see a display of all of their trophies and pictures and banners and wishing them good luck And that was one of the last things that he was able to do The Dacher's won the championship title while they were gone John Baker died The students it has been requested that the school's name be changed to honor the teacher they loved so much This story about John is not about his death it's about his triumph and what he accomplished And what it takes to be a hero in somebody's life isn't perfection It isn't being an athlete it isn't being somebody who died It's being someone who has chosen to lead a good example He was not some extraordinary human being He was just a human being that did some extraordinary things with his life

Everyone is a little Irish on St. Patrick's Day even in a western city like Albuquerque with all the subtly of a dynamite explosion Brother Matthias Barrett spent most of his 90 years caring for the poor and homeless He was emphatic that there would always be someone 24 hour available to meet the needs of people who were in crisis That was absolutely his hallmark and not only did he preach it but he practiced it heroically by making himself available to anyone who came to the door That we were to be available to quote him to those from no one else wanted and that was absolutely brother Matthias Accepted into the brothers of St. John of God

at 15, Brother Matthias traveled a Montreal set up homeless shelters in Los Angeles and Boston Then came to Himas and finally set up a shelter in Albuquerque little brothers of the good shepherd Brother Matthias had just begun For Brother Matthias there's no doubt about it Everyone he met had significance and particularly for the poor and the people in the streets It was in them that Brother Matthias met God So because he truly believed that everyone had such great dignity Whether it was the mayor of the city, the Archbishop of Santa Fe, or the dirtiest, primest, homeless man or woman on the street To him that was Jesus Christ and he embraced that person with person, with personality, with a sense of uniqueness, with reverence and with welcome And he did it with such sincerity

that I actually felt I saw Jesus myself in them Brother Matthias was a man of prayer and action When in the 1970s city leaders gathered to discuss the needs of the downtown community Brother Matthias invited a friend of his, a homeless woman named Dolly So he took her to the luncheon and Dolly was a character and of course she was incontinent Her personal hygiene was not the best and of course there were odors and things that people could find offensive And he sat her near the mayor which made the mayor a little uncomfortable understandably so she didn't smell the best But the mayor began to talk about addressing some of the human needs in the community And I think Brother Matthias was trying to say, you know, remember you're dealing with people So whatever you decide to do, this woman represents a human being So

address the problem as addressing the needs of human beings Brother Matthias is a symbol for Albuquerque's best, giving what he could, taking time and caring for the list fortunate And honor of the good work that Brother Matthias began, a carn to beef and cabbage potluck charity dinner, is held every year to raise funds for the work of the little brothers of the good shepherd It's fitting that the dinner is held on St. Patrick's Day, also the birthday of Brother Matthias, one of the greatest souls that Albuquerque has ever known Brother died of a simple complications from a simple acute appendicitis During the time where he was getting ready to die, he began to hallucinate The toxins were doing me a thing And I noticed he was reaching up to the sky and it was grabbing things and I said to him Brother, what are you doing? He said, oh I'm feeding this poor man How are you now?

Where are you from? And of course no one was there, but in his mind But my meditation was even at his end, he's still at service to those of me I'm here at the end of the day So for those who are right here, and each person right here has a gift, has an essence that makes this place great if it opens its heart and accepts the gift but you have to give it. Number one, you have to know you have it and then you have to give it and then it has to be received and then everybody, you know, is uplifted by that. You know, we become more than the some of our parts. We

become more. you you