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Transcript of Majestic Living Magazine Summer 2015
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4 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
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6 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SPRING 2015
Comments
Cover photoMajestic living welcomes story ideas and comments from readers.Email story ideas and comments to [email protected].
Celebrating the lifestyle, Communityand Culture of the Four Corners
MAGAZINE
publisher Don Vaughan
editor Cindy Cowan Thiele
designer Suzanne Thurman
writers Dorothy Nobis, Margaret Cheasebro,
Elizabeth Pettyjohn-Broten
photographers
Josh Bishop, Whitney Howle
sales staff
Shelly Acosta, Clint Alexander
administration
Lacey Waite
For advertising information
Call 505.516.1230
by Whitney howle.
Vol. 7, No. 3 ©2015 by Majestic Media. Majestic Living is a quarterly publication. Material herein may not be reprintedwithout expressed written consent of thepublisher. If you receive a copy that is torn or damaged call 505.516.1230.
Follow us on @MajesticMediaUSmajesticmediaUSA
contributorsMarGarEt ChEasEbro has been a freelancewriter for over 30 years. her articles have appeared in many magazines across the country.she was a correspondent for the albuquerquejournal and worked for several local newspapers. she has four published books ofchildren’s puppet scripts. a former elementaryschool counselor, she is a reiki Master and practices several alternative healing techniques.she enjoys playing table tennis.
josh bishoP is a graduate of san juan College with an associate degree in DigitalMedia arts and Design. he currently worksat Majestic Media as a video producer and photographer.
WhitNEy hoWlE was born and raised in Farmington and is proud to call san juan Countyhome. the richness of the landscape and the diverse people, culture and traditions are a photographer’s dream. Whitney has his ba in Visual Communication from Collins College intempe, ariz. he is a co-owner of howle Designand Photography—a family owned studio offering graphic design, photography, market research and consulting.
ElizabEth PEttyjohN-brotEN is a local freelance grant writer and resource DevelopmentCoordinator for the Four Corners Foundation. she enjoys cooking and traveling with her husband, Matt, raising her beautiful children and,while walking her yorkie, Nigel, contemplatinglife’s existential dilemmas.
Dorothy Nobis has been a writer and editor formore than 25 years. she authored a travel guide,the insiders Guide to the Four Corners, published by Globe Pequot Press, and has been a frequent contributor to New Mexico Magazine .
8 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
summerfeatures:
Debbie and Glen Vavras’ home is comfort-
able — and large enough for their family
and friends to gather and enjoy each other’s
company.
By Dorothy Nobis
Garden Oasis10
After returning home from a
two-day Creamland Dairy
milk run to the Navajo Reser-
vation in November 1972,
Milburn (Mac) McNamee
learned he had to go to
Animas Elementary School
that evening to talk about be-
coming a scoutmaster.
By Margaret Cheasebro
42 years as a
Scoutmaster27
When David Pierce was 14 his father bought a red trail bike
to carry on the back of the family’s motorhome. Pierce rode it
for the first time when his family visited him at Wasatch Academy
in Mount Pleasant, Utah, where he attended boarding school.
By Margaret Cheasebro
The Toy Department of Life16
In addition to being an artist, Michael Billie of Farmington has become a motivating force for American Indian
artists, challenging them to become more successful and business wise.
By Margaret Cheasebro
Creative motivator22
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 9
Louise Miller sat comfortably in the kitchen of her home,
surrounded by memories and the things she loves. Dressed in
a mint green dress, her hair and makeup carefully done,
Miller shared stories of the more than 40 years she’s been
helping others.
By Dorothy Nobis
No signs of slowing down36
When Brenda Shepherd left
Dallas for Farmington she
expected a great adventure.
Compassion
and a sense
of humor48
Dave Schaefer’s golden voice and on air
personality have been making friends through
the radio for almost 40 years.
By Dorothy Nobis
40 Years on the air53
Dancing runs in this family!
The Winers, a local Farm-
ington family, have danced
their way into the hearts of
everyone they know.
Always
on the move58
Aerial Liese is an adjunct English professor and
writing tutor at San Juan College, happily
married, the mother of three children, and the
author of five books, the latest one coming
out this summer.
By Margaret Cheasebro
Faith and forgiveness42
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 11
Debbie and Glenn Vavras’ home is
comfortable – and large enough for their
family and friends to gather and enjoy
each other’s company.
The house sits on top of a hill and the
views are spectacular. There are 25 acres
of land surrounding the home, most of it
rocks and sagebrush. For a couple who
love to grow their own produce, the
rocks and the sagebrush present a prob-
lem, as does the sloping land atop of
which the home sits.
Always looking at challenges as oppor-
tunities, the Vavras have created a beauti-
ful oasis of gardens, along with a
greenhouse that encourages seeds to be-
come the fruits and vegetables the cou-
ple enjoys.
Glenn brings in soil for the multitude
of gardens that surround the house. The
compost includes chicken and cow ma-
nure, recycled paper, straw – but never
food scraps. “The chickens get the food
scraps,” Glenn said with a laugh. He
mixes the soil with compost in three large
cells, located just west of the green-
house. The greenhouse, however, is a
work of art – literally.
“All of the woodwork was done by
Glenn,” Debbie said proudly. The plants
are set in beautifully designed wood
planters. An intricately designed wooden
arch provides stability for vines, and the
story by Dorothy Nobis | Photos by Josh Bishop
Seed catalogs are like Christmas to Debbie and Glenn Vavras
oasis
12 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
pond that recycles water was created by huge
rocks. Many of the rocks have plants growing
out of them – because Glenn wanted greenery
mixed in with the rocks and the water, Debbie
explained.
Glenn drilled holes in the rocks and planted
seeds in the same mixture of soil and compost he
uses in his gardens. The rocks were placed around
the pond and, when the plants begin to grow, the
pond becomes more than just a recycling center
for water – it becomes art in motion.
The greenhouse is 40 feet high at the center
of its dome, with walls that are 18 feet high.
Ventilation keeps the air circulating.
Tomatoes, chiles, peppers, lettuce, cucum-
bers, kale, squash, carrots, cabbage, spinach,
and artichokes are just some of the many veg-
etables that get an early start in the greenhouse.
Fruit also is abundant in the Vavra gardens.
Raspberries, apricots, watermelon, and pump-
kins can be found and relished.
On the opposite side of the house are an
ever-increasing number of wooden flats that the
Vavras use for other vegetables. Carefully
groomed, and looking more like flower gardens
than vegetable gardens, the flats contain vegeta-
bles of every kind.
The Vavras look at seed catalogs the way
children do Christmas catalogs. They receive
many catalogs and “We order from all of them,”
Debbie said with a laugh.
The catalogs begin arriving in January, Deb-
bie said. “And we like looking at them,” Glenn
said, adding they usually order by the end of
February, and the seeds begin arriving in early
March.
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 13
Treva Fox-Christy IMSDAssociate Broker
4022 E. Main St.Farmington, NM 87402Office: 505-.325.4153Fax: 505.325.4205
Cell: [email protected]
14 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
A recent order included 67 different varieties
of squash. While the squash will “all taste about
the same,” Glenn admitted. “I just wanted to see
what they all look like. Some of them are orna-
mental, and I’ll have a hill of unusual squash.”
The fertilizer the Vavras use contains no chemi-
cals. “Good dirt is the key to good vegetables,”
Debbie said. “And we, as a country, need to start
worrying about our kids and the food they eat.
We enjoy our gardens and the food is healthier.”
Daily soap and water baths ensure the plants
are free of insects early in the growing season.
“And sunshine helps feed our plants,” Glenn said.
“We worry that one of these days we are going
to have to live on what we raise,” Debbie added.
“We have to know how and what to grow, and
our kids need to know that.”
The Vavras can most of the produce they raise
– and it all fills the large pantry in the equally
large kitchen of the home. Debbie has also
learned the art of pressure cooking,
“Once a week Glenn’s four daughters come
over because they want to learn pressure
cooking,” Debbie said. “And they all like to can –
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 15
cooking,” Debbie said. “And they all like to can – and we can everything! We
can corn bread, green chile stew, egg noodles, sauerkraut.” If they grow it,
they can it, she added with a laugh, adding that they raise 10 percent of the
food they eat.
The gardens consume much of the Vavras’ time during the spring. “It’s a lot
of effort and a lot of work, but once it’s going, it’s worth it,” Debbie said.
A lot of work and a lot of effort are the norm for the Vavras. Owners of
several businesses and parents of eight children and 17 grandchildren – all of
whom live close by – the couple enjoys family time. And family always comes
first.
The perfect spot for Glenn’s 67 kinds of squash was not considered for his
plants. “It’s where the kids play volleyball,” Debbie said, “so we picked another
place.”
Glenn created several play areas for the grandchildren and is building out-
door ovens so they family can enjoy homemade pizzas and bread.
It is rare when some of the children and grandchildren aren’t visiting, but
there is always something for lunch or dinner, thanks to the bounty of fruits and
vegetables that now grow in the “rocks and sagebrush” areas of years ago.
And while Debbie does occasionally think about doing less gardening and
more traveling, Glenn thinks only of how and where he can expand his gardens.
“My daughter has a place just down the road,” he said, gesturing to the
south. “I think I’ll start a garden there.”
“For her, of course,” he added, with little conviction.
Courte
sy ph
oto
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 17
When David Pierce was 14 his father bought a red trail bike to carry on
the back of the family’s motorhome. Pierce rode it for the first time when
his family visited him at Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, Utah, where he
attended boarding school.
“It sort of ran away with me from there,” Pierce said. “It was huge fun –
and still is.” He competed in his first race on The Bluffs in Farmington in
1969 at age 18.
Today, Pierce doesn’t confine himself to trail bikes in motocross races.
Two-thirds of his races are on pavement. His specialty is vintage racing be-
cause he enjoys the older motorcycles. Vintage bikes are “1974 and earlier
because that’s when the technology really started to change,” he explained.
“They’re easy to work on and fun to ride. It’s just a piece of history from
my youth. In a lot of cases with vintage racing, what you see are guys racing
bikes they had or wish they had back in the day.”
Story by Margaret Cheasebro | Photos by Josh Bishop
Racing, collecting and repairing motorcycles a lifelong pursuit for David Pierce
of life
The toydepartment
Retired bank board chairman
He has more time for motorcycles now that
he’s retired from being chairman of the board at
Citizens Bank. The last three years in a row he’s
been a national champion with the vintage club,
American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association,
or AHRMA. He won in the CPL Systems Formula
250 class. He got that title by racing in about 10
national road race events throughout the year
during which points are awarded based on each
rider’s finish.
“I was able to accumulate more points than
the next guy,” Pierce said. “That speaks to my
willingness to travel as much as anything.”
Last year, he competed in races in California,
Louisiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Alabama and
Utah. He keeps journals about his experiences in
his blog at www.motogeezer.com, describing such
things as RV breakdowns, personal injuries and
the accomplishments of fellow racers.
Injuries don’t stop him
“I’ve broken my shoulder,” he said. “I had
one pretty good concussion. I’ve had a broken
wrist and a broken collarbone. I never made it
past the emergency room, and I’ve never had a
cast.”
Injuries have not cooled his passion for racing.
In his 2,400-square-foot shop in Farmington he
works mostly on restoring his own motorcycles.
“One I’m doing as a favor for a friend,” he
said. “There’s another couple of guys who are
good racers that I repair bikes for, but mostly it’s
for my own amusement.”
Getting parts for the old bikes is no problem.
He either makes them or finds them through a
worldwide network of people. Once Pierce con-
tacts people in a search for parts, they often be-
come good friends. “The whole social thing and
the network is just a big part of it for me,” he
said.
Makes lifelong friends
One of those friends is Lynn Mobley, who
owns Bultaco Parts in Minden, Nev. Pierce didn’t
know Mobley when he called him about twenty
years ago, looking for motorcycle parts. Mobley
had what he was looking for, so Pierce stopped
by Mobley’s shop on his way to the West Coast.
He and Mobley got acquainted over lunch.
“He’s an easy going guy,” Mobley said. “We
got to be good friends. We talk on the phone al-
most daily. He’s welcome here anytime he
wants.”
When Mobley traveled this direction, he
stopped at Citizens Bank. “We met in the lobby
where there were people in three-piece suits,”
Mobley recalled. “A guy in shorts and a tank top
popped out of the elevator. It was David. He
grabbed me and took me to his office. He had
motorcycles there. One was leaking oil, and he
had a Wall Street Journal under it so the oil
wouldn’t get on the carpet.”
Another good friend is Ray McCarty of Man-
cos, Colo. Pierce maintains one of McCarty’s
bikes in his shop. McCarty was the first American
in the world to race motocross in Europe back in
the late 1950s and early 1960s, and he still
races.
“I can’t say enough good things about David,”
McCarty said.
Another friend, Damon Weems, added,
“David is an exceptional person in all the good
ways. For more than 30 years I have watched him
help those who could not help themselves, with
quiet generosity.”
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18 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
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No trouble finding motorcycles
Pierce has no trouble finding the motorcy-
cles he repairs and races. “Sometimes people
just drop machines off and say, ‘Get it out of
my garage,’” he said. “It’s a whole process of
disassembly, renewal. Some of them are
restorations. Some are resurrections. One bike,
a 1975 Husqvarna 400 WR, was in line to go
through the shredder at a scrapyard in
Knoxville, Tennessee. Somebody called up a
racing buddy of mine, and he rescued it, but
he didn’t do anything with it. He told me, ‘Why
don’t you take it?’”
Pierce restored the motorcycle, and it
ended up in his museum across the street from
his shop with about 60 other vintage motorcy-
cles. “It turned out to be a very nice bike,”
Pierce said. “I’ve raced it a few times.”
Quality museum
Doug Sandefer, owner of Doug’s Kawasaki
in Farmington called Pierce’s museum quite im-
pressive. “I don’t know if you could find one
of that quality in Albuquerque,” he said.
“David is an awful nice guy. He’s had a lot
of success riding dirt bikes and vintage bikes.”
Added Sandefer’s wife, Pat, “He’s a gentle-
man, a really great person.”
Pierce’s 5,000-square-foot museum sits in
an old warehouse along railroad tracks that
once ran through town. When he finishes work-
ing on motorcycles that he owns, he moves
them from his shop to his museum. He still
races some of those bikes.
Knows motorcycles’ history
The 210-pound CanAm bike that won him
the AHRMA title the last three years in a row
has a place in the museum. He still races it, and
he knows its history.
“It’s a motorcycle that was produced by
Bombardier in Canada,” he said. “That’s the
company that builds Ski-Doos and that sort of
thing. They had a motorcycle division for
awhile from kind of 1971 to 1983. They built
some very nice off-road bikes, and a friend of
mine corrupted this one into a pavement bike.
It has a good feel, excellent horsepower. It’s
very rugged and very reliable.”
Partly because the CanAm has so few break-
downs, Pierce does well in the races. “It had
been a championship winning machine before,
so it was well thought out,” he explained.
Oldest cycle is 1924 Douglas
At some point, he knows he’ll have to stop
racing because of his age. When that time
comes, he’ll have the museum to occupy his
time. The oldest motorcycle there is a 1924
Douglas.
“It has a lot of bicycle DNA,” he said. “It
has a carbide headlight like the old miner’s
lamps.”
A friend of his had restored one, and Pierce
rode it at a bike show. “Riding it is very inter-
esting because it doesn’t have the controls as
we understand them,” he said. “Instead of a
throttle, it has a spark lever, an air lever and a
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20 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
fuel lever. I got the thing going and got the
levers where they needed to be, and it just tick-
led me.”
He was intrigued. Another friend had an unre-
stored 1924 Douglas, and Pierce jumped at the
chance to buy it. He intends to make sure the
bike runs and to preserve it in its present shape
because, he said, “it’s all right to look like it’s
80 years old.”
Preserves history of the sport
Ray McCarty thinks a lot of Pierce. “It’s fel-
lows like him who give most of their time and en-
ergy and resources to the sport of motorcycle
racing that preserve the history of the sport,” he
said. “He has quite a motorcycle collection. It’s
amazing that one person can do that. It’s almost
like a religion to him.”
Every motorcycle in Pierce’s museum has a
story. “This is the Husqvarna that I got from
Doug Sandefer in 1972,” he said. “It’s still here
and ready to go. That red tank with the chrome
– the first time I saw one it was like seeing a
spaceship. It was so trick and exotic.”
On some walls of the museum his motorcycles
sit three tiers deep on metal shelves. Pierce isn’t
planning to do much with those on the top
shelves.
“It’s a bit of a project to get them up and
down,” he said. “I have some guys come over
from Farmington Construction. They have a lift,
so we just make a morning of it.”
Many motorcycle brands
Among his motorcycles are brands that range
from Bultacos, Harley-Davidsons, and Suzukis to
Kawasakis, Husqvarnas and CanAms.
* Motorcycles page 62
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In addition to being an artist, Michael Billie
of Farmington has become a motivating force
for American Indian artists, challenging them to
become more successful and business wise.
As an encaustic artist, Michael works with
bee’s wax and Damar tree resin to form a
medium with which he builds his creations. He
also teaches the method.
In his job as motivator, he works for the
N.A.T.I.V.E. (Navajo Artists Technology Innova-
tion and Vision Enterprise) Project to help
American Indian artists find greater success in
their artistic endeavors. The project is a three-
year grant administered by Capacity Builders,
Inc., a non-profit organization in Farmington.
He likes the opportunity to help artists.
Finding success as an artist, he said, is “ex-
tremely time consuming. It’s so discouraging,
because you’re going to get so many rejec-
tions. You’ve just got to keep plugging at it.
Working with artists is exhausting but gratify-
ing. The ones who want it bad enough will
keep doing it. Others will give up after
awhile.”
Powerful motivator
Local sculptor Ambrose Teasyatwho thinks
Michael is a powerful motivator.
“He twisted my arm and kicked me,” Am-
brose said with a laugh. He says, ‘You’re not
going to this show? Why is that?’ It made me
think I should be doing these shows. You need
guidance, and he’s there. It’s a blessing for
somebody to do what he’s doing. He’s not bi-
ased. He’s fair. It’s in his heart that he wants to
do a good job.”
The N.A.T.I.V.E Project helps to pay artists’
registration fees at festivals, fairs and art
shows, as well as vendor booth fees. It pro-
vides a mentorship program in which artists are
paired with successful painters, film makers,
sculptors and weavers to learn how to run a
successful business. It provides microloans and
builds websites with online stores for artists. It
also offers business management workshops.
Helping Michael with the project are grant
administrator Josey Foo and intern Kaylaya
McKinney.
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 23
Story by Margaret Cheasebro | Photos by Whitney Howle
Michael Billie helps American Indian artists find success
Creativemotivator
24 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
Serves developmental needs
The main goal of Capacity Builders, which
was founded in 1995, is to serve the develop-
mental needs of non-profit organizations,
tribes, individuals, and government agencies all
over the country, equipping them with what
they need to create jobs, find economic inde-
pendence, wellness and abundance.
“Our goal for the N.A.T.I.V.E. Project is to
increase business opportunities for Native
American artisans,” said Capacity Builders Ex-
ecutive Director Rachel Nawrocki.
Reconnects with his language
Michael’s work with artists has helped him
to reconnect with his own Navajo language. He
used to speak it fluently, but by the time he
was in his 20s, he had forgotten it.
Born in Gallup on Feb. 25, 1968, he grew
up with his parents in Naschitti, where the only
language they spoke was Navajo. He graduated
from Highland High School in Albuquerque in
1985, attended the University of New Mexico
in Albuquerque for two years and the Art Cen-
ter, also in Albuquerque, for two more years,
where he earned an associate degree in
graphic design.
He got completely away from any contact
with the Navajo language after he graduated
from the Art Center and spent two years in
Washington, D.C. There, he worked two weeks
for a commercial design house that was exper-
imenting with doing design projects in-house
instead of farming them out. When the experi-
ment didn’t work, Michael was out of a job.
Sends out resumés
For almost two years he sent out resumés,
knocked on doors, and went for many inter-
views, but no one was hiring, so he returned
to Albuquerque. Back in Albuquerque, a D.C.
company called to offer him a job, but by
then it was too late. He found a job as a page
designer at The Daily Times in Farmington.
“I didn’t think I would last because I’m not
a rural type,” he said. “In the beginning it was
hard, but it eventually grew on me. I like it
here now.”
He worked there for several years before
finding employment at Majestic Media. Later,
he returned part time to The Daily Times while
pursuing his encaustic art on the side. He
joined Capacity Builders in the fall of 2014 to
help American Indian artists find success.
Visits artists on rez
In his role at Capacity Builders he visits
artists on the reservation. “A lot of them come
up to me and say ‘hello’ in Navajo or try to
talk to me in Navajo, and I say, ‘I’m sorry. I
lost it.’ A very, very little of it is coming back.
I can recognize certain words now, but speak-
ing it is another matter.” He often takes photo
shoots of artists for a website and online store
he will build for them. He taught himself web
design, applying some of the skills he’d
learned at The Daily Times, where he used
Quark XPress and Page Design programs.
“The templates are the same, the drag and
drop, the text boxes, they’re basically the
same format,” he said.
Mostly self-taught
Teaching himself new skills comes naturally
to Michael. That’s how he began learning
about encaustic art. He first saw it at a gallery
in Albuquerque. “I didn’t know what it was,”
he said. “I looked at this one painting, and
you could look into it. I thought it was glass. I
didn’t know you could work that way with
wax.”
When he got home and googled it, he be-
came fascinated by encaustic art. He began
gathering tools and experimenting with it.
After a year, he knew he was doing something
wrong, so he took a couple of workshops
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 25
from artists in Santa Fe and Tucson.
“I discovered there were a lot of things I was
not doing the right way,” he said.
Melting process time consuming
The process is time consuming. He buys 55
pounds of bee’s wax, because it’s cheaper to
buy in bulk. He also purchases Damar resin,
which is as hard as a rock. He mixes six cups of
bee’s wax to one cup of Damar resin, puts them
in a big pot and slowly melts them down. “If you
melt it too fast, it’s going to burn the wax,” he
said. “Once the wax is burned, it’s depleted
down so it’s not usable.”
It takes him about two hours to complete the
melting process. “I have these muffin tins and
mini-loaf pans all over the counter to pour the
mixture into,” he said. “It has to cool down and
solidify, and that’s my medium. When I’m ready
to use it, I have a big pancake griddle, and I put
some medium on it and melt it down. I add my
pigment to it, and then it’s called encaustics.”
He pours the wax mixture on a hard surface,
such as a wood panel. The melted wax fuses to
the panel. He continues to add wax until he has
about 20 layers. “That’s how I make my sur-
face,” he said. “From there I usually add embell-
ishments like bundles and sticks and sand and
maybe an image transfer.” He even uses gourds.
Mother was a weaver
He created a series of encaustic art that he
called “A Navajo Rug,” in honor of his mother,
Evelyn Billie, who was a weaver for many years.
As a child, Michael helped her with her weaving,
including spindling the yarn. She used to weave
purses.
“I was really proud of her, because I think she
was one of the first crafters to do those purses,”
he said. “As it started to grow and evolve, other
Native American ladies started copying her in
making those bags. Then she began making
clutches.”
The encaustic series he made in her honor
contains hints of Native rug designs.
Improves his skills
Since he began doing encaustic art eight years
ago, he continues to attend workshops to im-
prove his skills, including the International En-
caustic Confere in Provincetown, Mass. Locally
he has taught encaustic workshops at the Three
Rivers Art Center in Farmington.
His artistic endeavors help him to understand
better how to work with artists who come to the
N.A.T.I.V.E. Project seeking help.
“You have to be very patient, because they’re
just so all over the place,” he said with a smile.
“You have to keep their mind on things. I need
this. I need it. It’s past deadline. Sometimes I
feel like I’m herding cats. But it’s fun. It’s very
rewarding.”
Builds websites
Some artists want him to build them a web-
site, but they don’t know how to use a com-
puter and don’t have one. They just want to sell
online. “They’re eager, but it takes a lot of edu-
cating, especially on the reservation,” he said
He built a website for clothing designer
Jolonzo Goldtooth of Huerfano, who has been
featured in a New York City fashion show and is
scheduled to be interviewed in Los Angeles by
Project Runway.
“He’s taking it all the way to the bank,”
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26 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
Michael said. “If he gets on Project Runway,
that’s going to blow up his career. He’s going
back to New York this fall.”
Jolonzo credited Michael with helping him
get interviews at local and regional magazines
and newspapers shortly before he had his
first fashion show in New York City in Febru-
ary.
“He’s helping me develop a website,”
Jolonzo said. “He got me connected with out-
side sources.”
Travels to spread the word
So far, Michael has built websites for nine
artists, and is in the process of building six
more. He spends part of his time traveling in
New Mexico and surrounding states to spread
the word about the N.A.T.I.V.E. Project and
what it has to offer. A lot of his job is net-
working.
While he was looking for mentors to give
artists guidance, he contacted painter Tony
Abeyta, who lives in both California and New
Mexico.
“I sent him a blind invite to be a mentor
and decided to see what happened,” Michael
said. “I didn’t hear from him for a couple of
weeks. Then I got an email from him. He said,
‘This sounds interesting, tell me more, here’s
my number.’ So I called him, and we talked
for a little bit. He said, ‘Yeah, I’m interested.
I’m always willing to help up-and-coming.’”
Tony gave him the names of artists who
have studios in Flagstaff and Tucson, Ariz.
Michael went there and, with the help of
those contacts, spoke to many artists about
the N.A.T.I.V.E. Project and what it has to
offer. He’s been to the Hopi Center in Arizona
several times, and the project recently hired a
photographer to do photo shoots with several
artists there who want Michael to build them a
website with an online store.
Artists in group shows
Some artists involved with the N.A.T.I.V.E.
Project will be included in a group show
Michael curated at the Encaustic Art Institute
during Indian Market throughout the month of
August at the Railyard District in Santa Fe.
Michael will conduct a workshop there about
encaustic art.
“Being able to get them into a show in
Santa Fe is great exposure for them, and re-
warding,” he said.
Michael also helps with business manage-
ment workshops for artists. He assisted with
one in April at the Indian Cultural Center in
Albuquerque before Gathering of the Nations.
He is low key about his work with the
N.A.T.I.V.E. Project. “I’m just winging it as I
go,” he said. “This is something that’s proba-
bly never been done, so all of us – we’re just
maneuvering through it. We want it to work.
We’re excited about it. We think it’s a great
program.”
for great entertainment at the
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28 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
“It’s a little intimidating to follow in his footsteps. Mac is aselfless individual. He gives ofhimself all the time.
— Russ Benson
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 29
After returning home from a two-day
Creamland Dairy milk run to the Navajo Reser-
vation in November 1972, Milburn (Mac) Mc-
Namee learned he had to go to Animas
Elementary School that evening to talk about
becoming a scoutmaster.
His oldest son, Ed, was 11 and wanted to
join Boy Scouts but couldn’t find a troop he
liked. McNamee and his wife, Frances, had dis-
cussed the situation earlier. She volunteered
him for scoutmaster, and the rest is history.
McNamee retired in 2014 after serving 42
years as a scoutmaster. Ed eventually became a
scoutmaster himself.
In all those years with Troop 321, McNamee
has seen 80 boys become Eagle Scouts.
Though he’s retired, he still sits on three scout-
ing committees, one that oversees the paper-
work of Eagle Scout candidates. At 83, he
plans to camp out in a tent with the scouts this
summer.
Always another Eagle candidate
McNamee isn’t sure why he stayed in scout-
ing so long. “I did it while my son was in
scouts,” he said. “When he grew out of it, I
just stayed on. I always had this bunch of boys
that was working on their Eagle. I’d say, ‘When
they leave, I’ll stop.’ Well, then there was an-
other group working on their Eagle.”
When he first became scoutmaster, Mc-
Namee had no idea what he was doing. He’d
never been a scout himself because his parents
were in poor health, and he worked so many
hours while going to high school to support his
family that he didn’t have time or gas money
to attend scout meetings.
When he met with the Animas Elementary
School PTA and the scouting district director
back in 1972, he took on the challenge of
being scoutmaster anyway.
Gets trained on the fly
“The scout meeting was the next week, and
I had three boys,” McNamee recalled. “The
next week the district executive quit, and they
didn’t have another district executive for
about a year.”
So he called a lady who worked at the
scout office in Albuquerque. “I’d call her and
say, ‘I did so and so. Now what do I do next
week?’ She’d tell me what to do. That’s how I
got trained. They finally got a district execu-
tive, and I went up to his house on 24th Street
and sat down in the middle of his living room
one Saturday night, and I got trained by him.”
Three years after the troop started, three of
its members became Eagle Scouts: Ed Mc-
Namee, Tom Johnson and Billy Schaaphok.
Elks Lodge sponsors Troop 321
Troop 321 has had several sponsors. When
the Animas Elementary School PTA went out of
business, the Optimist Club sponsored the
troop until that club went out of business. For
about 35 years, it’s been sponsored by the
Elks Lodge.
Elks USA will present McNamee with the
Marvin M. Lewis Award during a special presen-
tation in Indianapolis, Ind., on July 6. A letter
from the Grand Lodge Activities Committee
noted, “Your work in Scouting and in Elkdom
has been outstanding,”
High standards as scoutmaster
McNamee had high standards as a scoutmas-
ter. When people saw a well set-up tent or
camp or noticed something well organized,
they called it a “321 operation,” because
Troop 321 scouts were known for their excel-
lent performance.
But he didn’t always go by the book. At
McNamee’s Retirement Court of Honor on
Sept. 13, 2014, one of his former scouts, John
Goodman, noticed that adult leaders wore
Black Sheep Patrol patches which McNamee
had ordered for them.
In a book of memories he created about
McNamee and his own scouting years, Good-
man wrote, “The adults that served under
Mr. McNamee did not do some things by the
book if there was an alternative approach that
was more efficient. They were innovative and
unconventional, doing things their own way at
times while still adhering to Boy Scout stan-
dards.”
42 YEARS AS A SCOUTMASTER
Story by Margaret Cheasebro | Photos by Whitney Howle
Selfless Mac McNamee has put a lot of kids on the right track
30 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
Midnight requisitioning
For example, most scouts arrived on Sunday
to attend week-long events at Camp Frank Rand,
now called Gorham Scout Ranch, near Chimayo.
Members of Troop 321 came a day early so they
could go through uninhabited camp sites and ex-
change their tents, fire buckets and other equip-
ment in poor condition for better ones.
Goodman recalled, “Mr. McNamee called this
‘liberating’ or ‘midnight requisitioning’.”
His laid-back, unconventional ways may be
one reason why there was standing room only at
the Tyckson Scout Hut in Farmington when Mc-
Namee retired and handed over Troop 321
scoutmaster duties to Russ Benson.
Selfless individual
“It’s a little intimidating to follow in his foot-
steps,” Benson said. “Mac is a selfless individual.
He gives of himself all the time. I’ve known Mac
since 1998 when he was my mentor in scouting.
He always set me on the right track. He was the
scoutmaster for both of my boys, who were Ea-
gles.”
Cub Scout den leader and member of the
Eagle Board Amy Henkenius calls herself one of
McNamee’s biggest fans. “Mac has a way of work-
ing with people that brings out the best in
them,” she said. “He works with both youth and
adults. My husband, Mike, used not to be outgo-
ing. Mac asked him to work with six boys teach-
ing a small skill. Now Mike teaches skills to 200
people. Mac builds people up slowly in a way
they don’t realize it’s happened.”
Besides working with Troop 321, McNamee
was involved with many other scouting activities,
among them the Order of the Arrow, or OA,
Crow Chapter, part of Lodge 66 Yah-Tah-Hey-
Si-Kess. He guided many of his scouts to be ac-
tive in it, too.
No hazing or bullying
He also encouraged them to attend Troop
Leader Development at Gorham Scout Ranch,
where they learned leadership skills and team-
work. During scouting events, he had older
scouts help younger ones to develop leadership
skills, and he insisted that all boys treat each
other with respect. He tolerated no hazing or
bullying, and some scouts transferred to Troop
321 from other troops because of that, Good-
man noted.
Because McNamee wanted scouts and their
leaders to focus on advancement and on learning
scout skills, he decided the troop would own no
camping gear. Instead, scouts owned their own
gear and learned to be responsible for it. As a
result, the troop wasn’t burdened by fund-raising
activities. That may be why they had at least 190
campouts, attended 42 summer camps, went to
four national jamborees, one world jamboree,
and participated in a host of other scout activi-
ties.
Camp near McNamee’s cabin
Some of those campouts occurred near the
McNamees’ cabin 20 miles north of Durango at
Hermosa Cliffs, where scouts hiked, skied and
enjoyed other outdoor activities.
“We had a mountain lion out behind the
cabin,” Frances recalled with a smile. “It would
yowl. When the scouts came up, it was late at
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SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 31
night, so they set up their tents in the dark. I told
one of the assistant scoutmasters, ‘There’s a
mountain lion up there.’ He said, ‘It will have to
take care of itself. I’ve got these boys.’”
Scouts learned survival skills during some cam-
pouts. One skill was building a snow cave and
spending the night in it. They also learned how to
eat insects. During one summer camp, scout
Richard Morehead, son of Ralph and Annette
Morehead, became concerned when he saw an
ant in his tent. He called out to McNamee,
“There’s an ant in my tent. What shall I do with
it?”
Recalling the story, McNamee replied, “Eat it.”
To which Richard responded, “Should I bite off
its head first?”
Morehead went on to attend the U.S. Air
Force Academy in Colorado Springs, where he
sailed through survival training and had a long,
successful Air Force career.
Plays tricks on scouts
McNamee enjoyed playing tricks on the scouts.
One evening at Gorham Scout Ranch, scouts
camped at Sacrifice Rock. McNamee made up
stories about how people’s and animals’ heads
were cut off on that rock. Before he began the
story, he’d rigged up a nine-volt battery with
some steel wool hooked to two long wires at-
tached to a switch that he placed in a nearby
tree. At the scariest part of the story he reached
his hand into the tree and told the scouts, “Look,
a fire started over there,” Then he popped the
switch, and the steel wool caught fire just as he
planned.
“The kids all took off running in the woods,”
he said with a chuckle. “I was hunting kids for
quite awhile. I didn’t do that again.”
Scouts learn skills
McNamee spends a lot of time training scouts
so they know how to perform many camping
skills.
“You stand around and ask if the boy needs
help,” he said. “You go over and explain to him
and show him how to put up a tent. Then you
tear everything back down and say, ‘Now you put
up the tent.’ Then you stand back and watch. The
next time you don’t have to, because they know
how to do it.”
Frances, who is a Girl Scout leader and sup-
ported her husband’s scouting interest, nodded.
“What Mac does a lot is take the parents for a
walk so the kids will do what has to be done
themselves, because most of the parents are used
to taking care of their kids,” she said. “It’s the
scoutmaster’s job to take the parents on a walk
so that the next time the kid goes camping, he’ll
say, ‘Dad, get out of here, I can do it.’”
Pitch tents in dark
Because McNamee worked late on his route as
a Creamland Dairy deliveryman, often he
didn’t get home until 6 p.m. During scout
meetings, he’d turn off the lights and teach kids
how to pitch a tent in the dark.
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“We’d roll the tents up and put them in a sack,
and the scouts had to get them out of the sack,” he
said. “They got so they could set them up in 65
seconds. If they messed it up, we put it back in the
bag and they had to get it out again. We practiced
that.”
Once when Frances was reviewing a scout for ad-
vancement to Tenderfoot, she asked him, “What did
you learn in the troop?” Frances’ eyes sparkled as
she remembered his reply. “I learned that you never,
never go camping in the daylight. You have to put
your tent up in the dark or you can’t put it up
straight.”
National jamboree
During McNamee’s first national jamboree, he
took 36 scouts along, including 10 from the Navajo
Reservation. Personnel from the CBS network chil-
dren’s program, Razz Ma Tazz, came to film the
Navajo scouts. The CBS crew separated the Navajos
from the rest of the scouts to conduct the interview,
and McNamee accompanied them. When one crew
member urged the boys to speak in Navajo, they
didn’t want to. But instead of refusing, one scout,
from Dzilth-Na-O-Dith-Hle, said in Navajo exactly
what he thought about the request.
After the crew left, the scout turned to Mc-
Namee. “Are they going to show that on TV?” Mc-
Namee replied, “That was the idea behind it.” With
a gulp, the scout said, “I sure hope my parents
don’t hear what I said.” McNamee recalled, “I knew
what he said, and it wasn’t pretty.”
McNamee went on to attend three more national
jamborees in 1981, 1985 and 1989 and an interna-
tional jamboree in Canada in 1983, taking many
scouts with him from this area.
Son brags on dad’s record
McNamee’s scout experiences made a big impres-
sion on his son, Ed. “When I think of Boy Scouts, I
always think of my dad,” he said. “He committed an
enormous amount of time and energy to the troop
and all other aspects of scouting. To this day I still
brag on his record for nights camping, attendance at
summer camp and the number of Eagles that his
troop has produced. Scout Vespers says, in part:
Silently each Scout should ask, have I done my daily
task? Have I kept my honor bright? Can I guiltless
sleep tonight? The answer to each of those for Dad
is a resounding, ‘Yes!’”
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Louise Miller sat comfortably in the
kitchen of her home, surrounded by
memories and the things she loves.
Dressed in a mint green dress, her hair
and makeup carefully done, Miller shared
stories of the more than 40 years she’s
been helping others. She had just re-
turned home after facilitating a grief sup-
port group she and her friend, Jeanne
Berhost, started three years ago.
That support group came after Miller
suffered the devastating loss of her
beloved husband, Max, on Oct. 14,
2010.
The day had been a good one, Miller
remembered. “We had a wonderful day,”
she said, her eyes misting with tears.
“Every night, we said the rosary together
before bed. That night (after preying the
rosary), he walked around the bed and
told me how much he loved me.”
Max got into bed, but had a difficult
time getting comfortable. Miller was ad-
justing the blankets for him, when he
gasped for breath. Thinking he was having
a stroke, Miller called a friend, who
called 911. With Max in the care of para-
medics in the ambulance, Miller went to
the hospital with her friend.
“A feeling came over me,” she said.
“An awesome, beautiful feeling came over
me.”
The beautiful feeling turned to anger
when the nurses at the hospital wouldn’t
let her into the room to see her husband.
Not long after, the doctor came out of
the room, knelt down beside her and
said they couldn’t save Max.
Her husband, her best friend, and the
love of her life was gone. What remained,
however, was her faith
“That was a very difficult time in my
life,” Miller said quietly. “I thank God for
my faith. That helped me get through it.”
Support groupThe first year after Max’s death was ex-
tremely difficult, she said. “but the sec-
ond year was much harder. The realization
(that Max was gone) finally hit. There was
no one to help me get through it.”
Jeanne Berhost suggested to Miller that
they start a grief support group. After re-
searching the idea and recognizing the
need, Berhest and Miller got the word
out and the group began to meet. Peo-
ple who were struggling to get through
the death of a spouse, a child, or a fam-
ily member came to St. Mary’s Catholic
Church hoping for help from the support
group. While many came because of the
death of a loved one, it’s not just death
that causes grief to people, Miller said.
“Broken relationships can make us feel
like we’ve lost our identity,” she said.
“And society today doesn’t really allow us
to grieve. Whether it’s a family member, a
job, a relationship or the death of a pet,
losing someone or something you love
hurts.”
By turning her attention to helping
others through their grieving process,
Miller said she has healed herself. Talking
about the loss, sharing the multitude of
emotions that go with it and praying for
Story by Dorothy Nobis | Photos by Josh Bishop
NO SIGNSof slowing down
At 75 Louise Miller teaches computer classes with kindness, patience
38 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
emotions that go with it and praying for ac-
ceptance, the members of the group begin
to heal. Miller is glad to be part of that
group.
Grief causes people to build walls to pro-
tect themselves from further pain and to
close doors, because opening them and
dealing with what’s on the other side is
frightening, Miller said. “It’s painful to share
your hurt with others,” she said, “but its all
part of the healing process.”
Opening doors
Miller said she continues to benefit from
the group. “I have doors I still don’t want to
open either,” she said, adding that people
can’t fully move on from grief until they re-
cover from it. Opening those doors, as diffi-
cult as it might be – even for her – is the
answer to moving on.
Miller’s love of helping others extends be-
yond the grief support group, however.
Miller has been a teacher for more than
40 years. She has taught Confraternity of
Christian Doctrine classes for more than 40
years – and has been teaching CCD at St.
Mary’s since the mid-’80s. In addition, she
has taught ENCORE classes at San Juan Col-
lege since 2008 and a computer basic class
for the Center for Workforce Training for
several years as well.
Miller retired from San Juan College in
2007, after serving as an instructional asso-
ciate for business and computers in the sci-
ence department.
Teaching computers at 75
“I think God gave me a special gift as a
teacher and I have a lot of knowledge to
share,” she said. “I love the ENCORE classes.
Senior (citizens) have to know how to oper-
ate computers today.”
While all teachers prepare lesson plans for
their students, Miller goes a step further. “I
write my own handbook,” she said, adding
the books she had been given to use were
difficult to understand. “Every year, I update
the handbook, because every year technol-
ogy changes.”
At almost 75 years of age, Miller is older
than most of her students. The average age
of her ENCORE students is between 60 and
65, and her Center for Workforce Training
students are slightly younger.
Brenda Blevins was one of Miller’s stu-
dents. “At the age of 42, I enrolled in San
Juan College to learn the basics of using a
computer,” Blevins said. “Since I wasn’t fa-
miliar or comfortable with the computer and
the classes moved very fast, I was totally
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SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 39
Roundtree Children’s Developmental ServicesRoundtree Children’ al Seropments DevelRoundtree Children’ vicesal Ser
overwhelmed. So I began to stay after classes to
work in the computer labs and that is when I met
Louise Miller.”
“The day I met Louise changed my attitude on
whether I was capable of going back to school.
She was there to tutor me for all of my computer
classes and with her help, I not only passed the
classes with an A but I learned so much more. My
self-confidence improved so much that I applied
to San Juan College for an administrative assistant
position,” Blevins added. “I have had a successful
career for 13 years at San Juan College and I
consider myself very fortunate for having a
chance to be taught by Louise.”
Nancy Sisson is the director for the Center for
Workforce Training and has worked with Miller
for many years. “Louise has been invaluable with
editing the MS Office Excel and Word curriculum
at the Center for Workforce Training,” Sisson
said.
“She knows what is important for our students
to learn, that is applicable to their specific work
needs. She makes the students feel at ease in her
classroom and encourages them with her patient,
considerate manner.”
“We are so blessed to have her,” Sisson added
of Miller. “She is priceless to us.”
Keeping up with the latest technology for her
classes is demanding, but fun, Miller said, and she
loves her students. “I was going to quit in January
of 2010, and stay home, but Max talked me out
of it,” she said. “He passed later that year and it
(teaching) was a blessing for me. I needed to be
with people and I thank God for putting me
there. I enjoy helping people live better lives.”
Miller’s enjoyment of helping others extends
to the children in her CCD classes. The children
are fourth graders and “They love me!” Miller
said with pride.
Making a difference
“I want to make a difference in their lives,”
she said, explaining why she continues to teach
the classes after more than 40 years. “In this
troubled world we live in, children need to have
positive role models. I teach them the ‘number
one’ rule – respect. Kids are just wonderful little
people.”
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In addition to her classes, her support group,
her constant research of computer technology
and maintaining the home she and Max bought
years ago, Miller also sews and is a painter. She’s
been sewing since she was in the fifth grade and
taught adult sewing classes for years. She and Max
were painters, and she still enjoys it. “I like to
paint, but I don’t have time,” she said.
Her hobby room is filled with fabric, patterns,
paints, brushes – and an ironing board. “God has
given me talented hands,” she said.
With little time to “spare,” Miller is content
with her life. “I’m almost 75 and I’m having so
much fun,” she said. “I love my life. I love my
children and my grandchildren. I’m a senior (citi-
zen) and I hurt (physically) too, but I still keep
going and growing as much as I can.”
Patient and kind
With a mother who is 95 years old and still
lives alone and takes care of herself, Miller is
confident she’ll be teaching and changing lives for
years to come. “I’ve got at least 20 more years
left and I’ll continue to teach until I decide it’s
time to quit.”
“I’m a blessed person,” Miller added. “And I
want to give back to God’s world what He’s given
to me.”
Miller’s students have high praise for their
teacher, said Liesl Dees, director of the San Juan
College Learning Center that offers the ENCORE
program. “The two words that appear over and
over on Louise’s evaluations from students are
‘patience’ and ‘kindness,’” Dees said. “She meets
student’s right at their current skill level without
any judgment and walks them through computer
processes until the light bulb clicks and they’ve
mastered new tasks.”
“For our Encore students, this lack of judgment
puts them at ease and opens up new worlds on
the computer,” Dees added. “Louise is also an
inspiration to our Encore students. As someone in
their chronological peer group, they see the pos-
sibilities of being at ease with technology.
Whether learning to communicate with grandchil-
dren, developing the skills to fill out online appli-
cations or creating personal documents, Louise
has helped students fulfill dreams—all the time
with a smile on her face.”
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Aerial Liese is an adjunct English professor
and writing tutor at San Juan College, happily
married, the mother of three children, and the
author of five books, the latest one coming
out this summer.
Her success is a tribute to her choice to sur-
vive in spite of a traumatic childhood that left
many scars. They didn’t begin healing until she
sought help from a local psychotherapist and
took advice from her dying sister, Jane, to for-
give quickly, love deeply, and live thankfully
with purpose.
Her newest book, Three Promises for Jane,
is being published by Tate Publishing of Mus-
tang, Okla. It tells the story of her life, from
staring at the brink of madness to finding
wholeness.
Mind in deep, dark pit
Jane died of AIDS at the age of 33, the gift
of a lover who abandoned her and left her
pregnant with twin boys born with HIV. Sexu-
ally and physically abused as a child, Jane
found meaning by protecting Aerial, who was a
year younger. As Jane lay dying, she gave Aer-
ial wise council after Aerial confided that her
body felt in one place and her mind in a
deep, dark pit.
“You are angry and have every right to be,”
Jane said, “but the longer you hold onto the
anger, the longer you’ll be stuck in the pit. No-
body can pull you out but you. You have al-
ways been God’s idea, meant for a purpose,
just like me and my children, but you won’t ful-
fill it (the purpose) if you can’t let go of the
past.”
However, Aerial wasn’t ready to let go. The
memories were too vivid, the anger, the sense
of guilt and worthlessness, too strong.
Born with many problems
Aerial came into the world in Oakley,
Kansas, on March 4, 1973, with many chal-
lenges. A colicky infant, she was born cross-
eyed, to a mother who did drugs when she was
pregnant with Aerial. She never knew her fa-
ther but heard he spent time in prison for
armed robbery.
Uncertain what to do with her difficult child
amid her own challenging circumstances, Aer-
ial’s mother gave the baby to Aerial’s aunt and
uncle. They already had seven children, five
boys and two girls, all ages 10 and under. Aer-
ial called them her brothers and sisters and ad-
dressed her new parents as Mother and Pops.
She knew her real mother only as Aunt Bubby,
who visited her several times and showered her
with love but never stayed long.
Mother was emotionally and physically ab-
sent, and Pops drank heavily. The children
were often neglected and physically and ver-
bally abused. Aerial bonded with her two sis-
ters, Jane and Lee. They became inseparable
and promised to always be there for each
other, often telling each other, “I promise with
your promise.”
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 43
FaithForgiveness
and
Letting go of the past forges bright future for Aerial LieseStory by Margaret Cheasebro | Photos by Josh Bishop
Brothers ridicule her
When Aerial learned to talk it became apparent
that she had a stuttering problem, and she strug-
gled to make the correct sounds for certain letter
combinations. Her brothers ridiculed her and
chanted, “Mickey Mouse! Mickey Mouse! Who’s the
dummy of the house?” In school a learning disabil-
ity and emotional instability at home made it hard
for her to sit still, focus and retain information. She
repeated kindergarten twice.
Aerial had no idea she’d been given away by her
mother until she was 4, when one of her brothers
told her the truth.
“You don’t belong here,” he concluded. “You’re
not one of us.”
There was little supervision in the large family,
and Mother often left them alone during the day.
When Pops came home from work at the slaughter
house and found the house in a mess, kids unsuper-
vised, and no meal prepared, he screamed at his
wife and kids, sometimes swiping them across the
face with his huge hands.
Many moves
In her book, Aerial recounts many different
moves, some of them traumatic, as she had to leave
friends and school programs she loved. When
Mother ran off with another man and left Pops
with all the children, he never recovered, and the
household descended into even greater chaos. A
series of different living arrangements followed,
with Pops, with Grandma, or with Mother and her
new husband.
Men were attracted to Jane, and early on they
looked at her in ways that disturbed Aerial. On
many occasions, Jane’s uncles sexually molested
Jane, who locked Aerial in a closet to keep her
safe. Aerial wanted to rescue her sister, and for
many years she carried deep guilt, shame and a
sense of unworthiness because she failed to protect
her beloved sister.
Keeps a journal
As a child, she began journaling her experiences
and thoughts. Getting the feelings onto paper
helped her cope. As the journals multiplied, she
had to throw some away for lack of space. Later
she threw away more for fear that people would
read them and call her crazy. 44 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
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Today, she encourages everyone to journal.
“You’re getting things out, and you see patterns
of thought,” she said. “If I see patterns in my be-
havior or my thinking, it helps me. ‘Maybe I need
to stop doing this.’”
Develops suicidal symptoms
Over the years, Aerial developed suicidal
symptoms, hallucinated, was bulimic and anorexic
and developed unhealthy perfectionistic tenden-
cies. Her first suicide attempt at age 14 left her
throwing up after taking Pepto-Bismol and pills.
No one knew what she’d done. Four months later
she began cutting herself with broken glass to
provide short-term relief from deep emotional
pain. No one seemed to suspect she had an eat-
ing disorder or suicidal thoughts. She felt unwor-
thy of love, guilty and full of shame.
As a freshman in high school in Oklahoma, she
ran seven or eight miles in the morning
before breakfast to stay thin. Sometimes she
blacked out from hunger and mental anguish. By
then she had become a model student and ex-
celled in school. Her second suicide attempt oc-
curred at age 16 when she jogged one morning
and decided to throw herself into traffic. Before
she could do it, she heard Jane’s voice in her
head as clearly as though her sister ran beside
her. “You can’t leave me! We promised with a
promise, no matter what.” It convinced her to
fight to stay alive.
Seeks help from counselor
She sought help from a high school counselor,
who reported to Mother that she was suicidal.
Mother chastised her for revealing family secrets
and sent Aerial to live with Pops in a tiny trailer
in Spencerville between Aztec and Flora Vista.
Jane had been living with Pops for some time,
but not long after Aerial arrived, Jane moved to
Virginia.
Aerial attended Aztec High School during her
junior and senior years. Pops’ deteriorating alco-
holism and his unwillingness to change led Aerial
to leave home. She stayed with a friend for
awhile, then slept and showered in the school
gym until she reached out to high school coun-
selor Jerry Parker for help. He bent over back-
ward to help her find a home, job, and treat-
ment program for her anorexia, but she wasn’t
ready to change. She graduated from high school
in 1992.
Problems continue in college
Her mental anguish and feelings of guilt over
leaving Pops continued when she attended San
Juan College. Through the college’s cooperative
arrangement with other universities, Aerial earned
her bachelor’s degree in education and her mas-
ter’s degree in special education while dealing
with an on-again off-again relationship with the
man she met when she was 19.
In Sept. 1994, she married him. He was a heavy
drinker like Pops. She divorced him seven years
later, then remarried him three more times before
she divorced him for the last time in 2012. She
kept trying to make it work because she believed
God could do anything, including change her mar-
riage. She finally recognized that the relationship
was doomed because during a period of mania
during her first marriage, she’d had an affair, and
her husband could never forgive her. She began to
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heal, thanks to help from a local psychotherapist
and her own determination to get well.
Decides to be a teacher
She chose to become a teacher so she could
help students with challenging lives. “When I see a
student who’s struggling, I can relate to that,” she
said. “I tell them, ‘I know this is frustrating right
now and you feel like you’re never going to get
it, but you will. You just have to practice, and you
have to keep at it. Don’t give up.’” She gives her
students a lot of the strategies that worked for
her.
She became a kindergarten teacher in 1999
but morphed into a college professor. “Teaching
wasn’t fun anymore in the public schools,” she
said. “It felt scripted, like you need to do this,
this and this. The paperwork was unbelievable.”
So she took a leap of faith in 2007 and quit
her teaching job to write. From 2009 through
2015 she penned five books, four of them in-
volving learning strategies, and her latest one, the
story of her life. Besides writing, she began
teaching part time at San Juan College.
Likes teaching adults
“I really like teaching adults,” she said. “It’s the
best of both worlds. A lot of the writing I do is
for children, and I get to help adults.”
She sympathizes with those who struggle, be-
cause she’s been there. It was in August 1999 that
she experienced her first period of mania. She’d
just taken her daughter to daycare after running
seven miles. Then she went to her teaching job.
Things seemed normal until she experienced
intense thirst after lunch, felt flushed, and per-
spired profusely. “My heart began pounding, and
I was overwhelmed by an intense ringing in my
ears,” she wrote in Three Promises for Jane. “I
distinctly recall my energy levels shooting through
the roof. It was as if strong, cold coffee coursed
through my veins. My senses amplified. Everything
turned neon and full volume. Colors jumped out
at me. Every shade signaled an overwhelming
emotion. Red was loud and terribly aggressive.
Purple – dreadfully forlorn.”
Can’t stop talking
Sounds became piercing and painful, and
smells overwhelmed her. She had no idea what
ailed her, but she felt invincible and alive in a way
she’d never felt before. She stormed through the
mall one weekend in skimpy shorts and a filmy T-
shirt. She spoke non-stop at full speed. “I never
knew what was going to fly out of my mouth,”
she said. “I literally couldn’t stop talking.” She
scarcely could keep up with her racing thoughts.
“Days would elapse before I realized I’d slept
only a few hours, but the more feverishly I
worked, skipped meals and avoided sleep, the
more manic I became.”
Her sex drive heightened, and she flirted with
every attractive man she saw. She had an affair
with an older colleague at work. Almost 13
months later, suicidal lows assaulted her after she
confronted what she’d done during that period of
mania. “I felt as if I had been sleepwalking through
a bad nightmare,” she said. Screaming matches
46 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
with her husband followed, and her first marriage
ended in 2001.
Medicine masks her symptoms
She tried medication for her condition, but it
left her an insomniac. Medication masks the
symptoms and don’t help you get to the root
cause of the illness, she said. Today she uses
three strategies to stay mentally and physically
healthy.
“I try to eat healthy,” she said, “I exercise al-
most every day. I also have a relationship with
Christ. I pray. Those times when I feel over-
whelmed, I instantly go to prayer. I try to refocus
myself. When I get anxious, apprehensive or fear-
ful, or I get this thought that I’m a worthless
mom, that’s stinkin’ thinkin’. So I go to the Lord
and talk to him. The more my relationship with
Christ developed, I was in his Word and reading
all these things like ‘I am fearfully (awesomely)
and wonderfully made.’ (Psalm 139:14) The more
I was getting healthy, the more I was coming
through the fog of all that crap that I grew up
with. You are not your past. You are not what
the world says you have to be.”
Makes choice to stay healthy
When she feels herself moving toward mania
or depression, she makes a choice not to go
there. She calls two supportive girlfriends, who
keep her accountable and talk her through chal-
lenging moments. Her husband of two-and-a-half
years, Bill Liese, also helps.
“He’s so gentle with me,” she said. “God gave
him to me as a gift. When I had a rough night, I
sat on the bed and told Bill what I was thinking.
He said, ‘When you get anxious, what are you
supposed to do? Did you do that?’ I make a
choice to kick it and say, ‘Get away from me. I’m
not going to listen to that. I know the truth. I am
beautifully and wonderfully made.’ I can control
it now because I know what the signs are. I have
my days, but I’d rather deal with that than with
the side effects of medication.”
Passion to help others
Her husband, Bill, said, “Aerial has such a pas-
sion to stay well and to be what she calls normal.
When I see her in some of her less optimum
times, I just remind her that she’s a glorious cre-
ation, and she was created to help others
through their situation. When you get to know
Aerial, you realize how extremely bright she is
and how much vision she has for individuals and
what they’re going through. That’s her passion in
life, to help others.”
She is working on her PhD in education with a
specialization in mental health issues.
Notes for her doctoral dissertation spill over
her kitchen table. She’s writing it about the rela-
tively new Potocki-Lupski Syndrome.
“It’s a syndrome that’s a duplication of a
gene, and 80 percent of children diagnosed with
it have features of autism,” she said. “It’s like
they’re autistic, but they’re not. They’re usually
small for their age and can’t seem to get going.
They have feeding problems and other issues.”
The syndrome was first diagnosed in 1995,
and the first case study was written on it in
2000. Her grandson, Brody, has it. “There’s not
a lot of research out about it,” she said. “I want
to add to the literature.”
City Counselor Dan Darnell, a friend of Aer-
ial’s, called her a wonderful person. “She goes
out on a limb to help people as much as she
can,” he said. “I have a tremendous amount of
respect for her.”
Promotes her book
When she’s not teaching, tutoring, being a
wife and mother or writing her dissertation, Aer-
ial is busy promoting her soon-to-be-published
book. Several people have endorsed it, among
them New Mexico Attorney General Hector
Balderas, New York Times best-selling author
Lawrence Fisher, Kim and Cricket Carpenter, and
San Juan College President Toni Pendergrass.
What she wants readers to take away from the
book “is that if you’re not a forgiving person,
you’re cheating yourself, and you’re cheating
others out of who you really are,” she said.
“Hate and unforgiveness are such horrible things,
because you’re literally locked in this prison. To-
morrow isn’t a guarantee, and allowing yourself
to be a prisoner of past pain is futile. Today I am
a fighter. Today I am forgiven. Today I know I am
not my past.”
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 47
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48 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
When Brenda Shepherd left Dallas for
Farmington she expected a great adventure.
“I thoroughly expected to see a fort with
teepees – because that’s all I’d seen on tele-
vision,” Shepherd said with a laugh.
The big-city 16-year-old moved to Farming-
ton with her mother, who married Jack Drake,
and they were to make their home at Navajo
Missions (now Navajo Ministries), which Drake
had founded in 1953 to care for disadvan-
taged Navajo children
Moving from a big city home to a “lovely
big home at the Mission” was an adjustment
for the teenaged Shepherd, but the work
done at the Mission would become part of
Shepherd’s heart and soul.
“I lived at the Mission for two and a half
years, until I graduated from high school. I
had been an only child, but at the Mission
home there were 15 of us in the same house,
all 16 years of age and younger,” Shepherd
said. “At one time we had five babies under
1-year-old living with us – and that was be-
fore disposable diapers! I did a lot of
babysitting.”
After graduation
After graduating from high school, Shep-
herd enrolled at Calvary Bible College in
Kansas City, Mo. She came home in 1974 with
a bachelor’s degree and became a dorm
mother at Navajo Methodist Mission School
(now Navajo Prep), where “I had a great
time,” Shepherd said.
In 1975, Shepherd got married and moved
away, but in 1984, when her mother was di-
agnosed with Alzheimer’s, she came home
again to be close to her mother.
By then, caring for others was part of who
and what Shepherd was all about. In 1990,
Shepherd visited a friend who was in San Juan
Regional Medical Center and stopped in the
administration offices to say hello to a church
friend, Karen Broten.
“Karen asked if I wanted a job – it would
be a full time job, working as administrative
secretary,” Shepherd remembered. “I still had
kids at home and I didn’t know if I wanted to
work full time. Karen told me to go home and
pray about it. That night, about 8, she called
and asked if I’d prayed about it yet.”
Compassion
Story by Dorothy Nobis | Photos by Whitney Howle
Brenda Shepherd is heading up the foundation she loves
& A SENSE OF HUMOR
50 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
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San Juan Regional Medical Center
Shepherd met with Don Carlson, the CEO of
San Juan Regional Medical Center, who explained
the position. “It was office work, and I’d never
done office work,” Shepherd said. “But when
Don asked if I thought I could do the job, I had
no doubt that I could. I got the job.”
That job was Shepherd’s first introduction to
the San Juan Medical Foundation. “There was a
drawer in a file cabinet and a box in the closet in
administration (devoted to the Foundation),” she
said with a laugh. “Karen did the secretarial work
during (Foundation) board meetings.”
Making receipts for financial contributions to
the Foundation, getting to know the members of
the board and working with them had a big im-
pact on Shepherd. “I fell in love with the Foun-
dation,” she said. “I got to work with and get to
know (Foundation board members) Dennis Peter-
son, Barbara Schwab, Mary Lou Jacobs, Althea
Greer, Herb Cox, Myron Taylor, Blanche Wag-
oner and Daphne Morrison.“
Shepherd embraced the mission of the Foun-
dation. Her first major event was the 1991 Can-
cer Walk-a-thon. “It was the 10th anniversary of
the walk-a-thon and US WEST was our sponsor,”
she recalled. “I remember being so excited be-
cause we had a record 100 walkers and raised
$13,000. I loved it.”
Another sweet memory of that first event
came in the form of YNS Twizzlers. “YNS (which
had a plant west of town) donated a box of indi-
vidually wrapped Twizzlers – and they were fresh.
You couldn’t get them that fresh anywhere.”
San Juan Medical Foundation
In 2001, Shepherd left San Juan Regional
Medical Center to become a full-time employee
of the San Juan Medical Foundation, which had
grown substantially from the one drawer in the
file cabinet and one box in the closet. “The
Foundation had an office on West Maple and
they were moving to the Umbach Building (be-
hind the hospital),” Shepherd explained. “Karen
(Broten) was the executive director of the Foun-
dation and she posted a position for an execu-
tive assistant. The Foundation was growing and I
had that spot in my heart for it. I applied for the
position, got it and started working in June of
2001.”
In addition to her new responsibilities with the
Foundation, Brenda volunteered two weekends
each month at the Connelly House, which
opened its doors in February of 2000. Since
then the hospitality house has served more than
1,200 families. Over half of the families staying
at Connelly House are dealing with cancer.
Other families are dealing with traumatic injuries.
“I went over (to the Connelly House) on Fri-
day after work and stayed until Sunday after-
noon,” Shepherd said, adding she did that for
several years. “It was a wonderful experience for
me to be there, to share in the lives of the can-
cer patients.”
When Broten left the Foundation in July of
2004, Shepherd said, “It was kind of scary. It
was six months before a new director came, and
Leslie Fitz and I were in that (executive director’s)
position (during that time). I had two people
who shared a secretarial position and we kept
going and pulled off a (Cancer) Walk-a-thon that
raised more money that year than it ever had.”
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 51
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Shepherd enjoyed working for the new director –
and the two directors that followed. Even though
Shepherd had done the job of the executive direc-
tor and knew all about the Foundation, she contin-
ued staying in the background.
Always the dedicated worker, always the team
player, Shepherd was content to “let them knit and
I’d purl,” she said.
Shepherd becomes executive director
All of that changed, however, in November of
2014. Her passion for the Medical Foundation was
at its peak, and Shepherd decided it was her time to
be the executive director.
“I knew it was my time to make it or break it,”
she said about the position. “I had a strong feeling
that if I didn’t speak up and tell the board of direc-
tors what I wanted (the position), it would never
happen.”
If Shepherd was waiting for the “right time” to
apply for the executive director’s position at the
Foundation, her friends realized long before she did
that she could not only do the job, but be success-
ful and happy in it
“She’s always had the ability,” said Vicki Thille,
who has been friends with Shepherd for almost 30
years, “and finally, she had the self-confidence.”
“Brenda’s been through a lot,” said Randy Thille,
Vicki’s husband and equally good friend of Shep-
herd, “and she has a good faith. She’s a good lis-
tener and she’s fun to be around. I love her sense
of humor and we always laugh.”
The Thille’s believe that a sense of humor, along
with her experience, loyalty and willingness to give
the Foundation her best, make her a perfect fit for
the Foundation’s director position.
Shepherd was named interim executive director in
November of 2014. “God prepared me for this
time,” she said.
Shepherd has a vision for how she wants to lead
the Foundation into the future. Having grown with
the Foundation, she realizes that the path the organ-
ization has taken in the past must change if it is to
move forward.
The Cathy Lincoln Memorial Cancer Fund
“The Foundation had been a ‘brick and mortar’
organization for years,” she said. “It owned the Can-
cer Center and raised money to purchase equipment
52 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
and enhance the center. When Cathy Lincoln, a
nurse at San Juan Regional, passed away from
breast cancer, her family and friends established
a fund to help women with the mammograms
they needed if they couldn’t afford to pay for
them.”
The Cathy Lincoln Memorial Cancer Fund was
a catalyst for the Foundation, adding a new di-
mension to its vision, Shepherd said. “George
and Sonny Riley of Riley Industrial had a golf
tournament to help with men’s health issues,” she
said. “The Riley Men’s Health Fund’s golf tourna-
ment has become an annual event and those two
programs have helped the Foundation expand to
include more than just the Cancer Center.”
Another major factor has helped the Founda-
tion financially. “In 1999, a personal representa-
tive of Robert W. Umbach walked into the
hospital administration office and said that Mr.
Umbach had left his entire estate to the Cancer
Center.”
With the funding for the Cancer Center en-
sured, the Foundation has changed its focus to
other health issues and concerns that need help.
“My vision for the Foundation is to make it
fully endowed, so when I’m long gone the Foun-
dation can carry on in the community. I want to
seek grants and funding to help San Juan Re-
gional Medical Center with needs it has and to
help with the county’s indigent funding,” Shep-
herd said.
Accomplishing her vision
Knowing she can’t accomplish her visions
alone, Shepherd said she enjoys working with
the Foundation’s board of directors. “It’s
more fun than I thought it would be,” she said
of the position. “I see the board getting in-
volved and it’s important that I provide the
information they need to make the best deci-
sions for the Foundation and the community.
When I share my vision with them, I get ex-
cited and that excitement spills over to the
staff and the board.”
“I’m very passionate about the Founda-
tion,” she continued. “I’ve been in the
trenches as a (Foundation) volunteer and I’ve
done everything in the Foundation at some
time. The Foundation is in a position and with
a good plan to grow. There are still people in
our community who don’t know who we are
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 53
or what we do – and we’ve been here, doing it
for more than 30 years.”
Karen Broten, Shepherd’s longtime friend and
co-worker, said her friend brings many strengths
to the Foundation.
“Brenda loves people and our community,”
Broten said. “She cares deeply about the Medical
Foundation, its history and its future. She brings a
wealth of knowledge to her new position.”
“Brenda is the most caring and compassionate
person I know,” Broten added. “Plus, she knows
a lot. She has had the most amazing life and
work experience. And if she doesn’t know some-
thing, she’s eager to learn.”
Broten appreciates the friendship and the fun
she has shared with Shepherd over the years.
“Brenda and I have shared a million laughs –
some during church services when, as ‘mature’
Christian women, we developed an uncontrol-
lable case of the giggles,” Broten said. “This hap-
pened at least twice. We were so embarrassed
that we made a pact not to sit together at
church!”
There’s always time for family
While she’s busy with the Foundation, Shep-
herd is never too busy for her family. She has
three children – Chris, who is married to Kristy,
Danna and Autumn. Chris and Kristy live in Aztec,
and Danna and Autumn live in Tempe, Ariz. She
dotes on her two grandchildren, Emerald and
London. Shepherd also has a dog, Gracie, who
rules not just at home, but at the Foundation of-
fices.
Heading up the Foundation she loves, working
with people she enjoys and respects, and giving
back to the community that has embraced her
makes life not just good for Shepherd, but very
good. But she’s determined not to just make her
life better, but also the lives of the people she
serves.
“There’s always more you can do,” she said.
“And always more you can learn. I’m just getting
started.”
“There’s always more you can do.And always more you can learn.
I’m just getting started.”— Brenda Shepherd
54 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
the40 YEARS
Dave Shaefer’s smooth voice the heart of local radio
in Farmington
Story by Dorothy Nobis
Photos by Whitney Howle
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 55
Dave Schaefer’s golden voice and on air
personality have been making friends through
the radio for almost 40 years.
Country music has been Schaefer’s chosen
genre, but not his first choice when he went
on the air in 1976.
“I intended to go into sports broadcasting
because I thought that felt like an exciting
thing to do,” Schaefer said. “But my first op-
portunity and my first full time job in Farming-
ton was for (radio stations) KRZE-AM and
KRAZ-FM. KRAZ was the second FM station in
Farmington – KWYK was the first. I was a disc
jockey (that’s what they called us back then!)
and I was on the air for eight hours a day,
four hours back to back on each station.”
“That was tough,” Schaefer said of that
eight-hour shift. “It was a strain on the voice
and back then, everything (on radio) was live.
You had to be on your toes all the time.”
Technology: No more vinyl or CDs
Technology has changed all of that, Schae-
fer said. “People under 40 don’t know what a
‘record’ is. They don’t know about 45s, LP
(long playing) or 33 rpms (rotations per
minute). In the 1980s, we moved to magnetic
tape and we used big reel-to-reel cassettes.
We stopped using records that skipped or had
scratches. That music format evolved into the
digital world of CD’s, which really changed
things. There weren’t any mistakes and the
quality (of the music) was so much better.”
From spinning records with a live microphone
on an eight hour shift to today – the world of
radio has changed dramatically. “Now, we don’t
even touch the music,” Schaefer said, with a
slight shake of his head. “At KRZE in the mid-
‘70s, we had more than 10,000 45s on a wall
in the studio. It was the largest library of coun-
try music in New Mexico.”
Schaefer moved easily from 45s to the digi-
tal music – all on computer hard drives – we
hear on the radio today. And if he still loves
radio, he especially loves local radio.
“I’ve always felt that people will listen to
their local stations. Most people don’t just lis-
ten to the music, but they connect with some-
one on the other end and they consider that
someone a friend,” Schaefer said. “I think
that’s how we’ve (local radio stations) with-
stood satellite radio. People still want to hear
a local voice and they want to know what’s
going on in their community, what’s happen-
ing, and what the weather’s going to be like.
Local radio still works.”
Johnnie Walker has been listening to Schae-
fer for years. Walker’s daughter, Crystal, and
Schaefer’s son, Riley, went to kindergarten to-
gether. Walker and Schaefer visited during
school functions and while waiting to pick up
their kids.
“It wasn’t long after meeting Dave and his
family that I was told he worked at the radio
station as a DJ,” Walker said. “He has a very
positive personality and was always friendly
and fun to visit with. When he became a day-
time DJ, I had the opportunity to listen to him
and always found him to very knowledgeable
of the artists, the music and the writers behind
the songs.
“I’ve always enjoyed country music and it
has always been a pleasure to listen to Dave
DJ. I still make it a point to listen to his ‘Clas-
sic Country Café.’ Dave’s always been an ad-
vocate on the radio for good happenings in
the community,” Walker added. “He always
shares the good side of what’s happening in
our community and he always encourages peo-
ple to help out and become a part of it. He
has a passion to do the right thing.”
A voice we all recognize
Schaefer’s “radio voice” is slightly different
from the voice he uses when he’s not on air.
“I don’t really think of it as my ‘radio voice,’”
he said. “I enunciate my words more and I
project, which makes my voice sound differ-
ently than when I’m not on the air.”
“I don’t want to be a “mush mouth” and I
want people to understand what I have to
offer,” he added. “And I think the way people
use the English language is very important.”
“I think that’s how we’ve (local radio stations) withstoodsatellite radio. People still want to hear a local voice and theywant to know what’s going on in their community...
— Dave Shaefer
Schaefer is usually at his office with iHeart
Radio at 3 a.m. As the senior vice president
of programming for all of iHeart’s Farmington
stations – KTRA (Number One Country), KAZX
(Star 102.9) KOOL, KKFG (KOOL 104.5)
KDAG (96.9, The Dog Rocks) and KCQL (Fox
Sports New Mexico) – he gets his paperwork
completed and prioritizes his daily “to do”
list. At 6 a.m., Schaefer pre-records most of
his radio show – the midday show on KTRA,
which airs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – then re-
turns to the managerial duties that are always
waiting. The majority of the staff comes in be-
tween 8 and 9 a.m., and Schafer keeps time
open, to make himself available to those who
need him.
“Since I oversee the programming for all
five of our radio stations, I need to stay well
versed in the products (we provide). I rely on
the people here. They’re really good people
and they’re professionals.”
Schaefer’s staff considers him to be more
than just part of the iHeart’s management.
A great boss
“It’s far more significant than Dave being a
boss for a lot of us,” said Steve Bortstein, the
program director and on-air personality for
Fox Sports New Mexico. “He’s a voice of rea-
son, for me in particular. He sees the third and
fourth step down the road when it comes to
decision making. He’s precise without being im-
pulsive and he makes us all accountable for our
decisions and our actions. At the same time, he
trusts us to make those right decisions, which
makes the team all that much more cohesive.”
“Dave is a genius about music,” Bortstein
continued. “He’s literally forgotten more about
country music – and a lot of other genres –
than most people I’ll ever know. That’s one of
the most fascinating things about him. Spending
an hour with him in his office, listening to ran-
dom songs that he’ll pull from his computer, is
one of those moments I enjoy most with him.”
Sherry Curry worked with Schaefer for
years, as a co-host of the Breakfast Flakes
radio show on KOOL. “Dave is one of the
best bosses I’ve ever had the pleasure of work-
ing for,” Curry said. “He genuinely cares about
his employees and he loves his family deeply
and would do just about anything for any one
of them – and the same can be said for his
close friends.”
“Dave worries too much and he works too
hard, but he also makes time for the things he
enjoys, like gardening and making his infamous
salsa,” Curry continued. “Not to mention (his
love) of the Denver Broncos and the Colorado
Rockies.”
“Dave is a reminder that there are good,
hardworking people in this world who are
more concerned with others than they are con-
cerned with themselves,” she added.
Schaefer’s daily schedule differs greatly from
that of his wife, Rhonda, who is the marketing
director at San Juan College. The couple met
at the radio station, where Rhonda was taping
a series of health related radio features for her
then employer, San Juan Regional Medical Cen-
ter.
“I was impressed with him,” Rhonda said.
“He was not only excellent at his job, but he
was also very kind and thoughtful.”
Still newlyweds after 15 years
The couple was professional friends for “a
long while,” Rhonda said. “Over a period of
time, that friendship just evolved.”
They’ll celebrate 15 years of marriage in July
and still act like newlyweds. A visit to Rhonda’s
office during 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. will find her
radio on and her husband’s voice coming from
it. “Dave really relates to his audience,” she
said with pride. “When we’re out, people will
stop and talk to him. They feel like they have a
relationship with him, and it’s heartwarming to
know that he has connected with them or
touched them in some way.”
With both of them having high pressure jobs,
making time together is a priority. “We balance
between work and home,” said Rhonda. “We
touch base whenever we can throughout the
day. He leaves for work at 2:30 in the morning
and on my way to work, I’ll call him. We talk
and text during the day and try to make eating
dinner together a priority.”56 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
The time they have together is always spe-
cial, Rhonda added. “Dave has a wonderful
sense of humor and he can make me laugh – a
real belly laugh,” she said.
“Rhonda is my sunshine and lollipops,”
Schaefer said with a wide grin. “I really think
we balance each other out. While I consider
myself to be pretty conservative and prefer to
live inside the box, she’s one that isn’t afraid
to color outside the lines. She’s very positive,
has an upbeat and optimistic attitude and she
helps me keep things in perspective.”
Balancing two demanding careers and mak-
ing time for each other isn’t always easy. “I
think it’s not the ‘quantity’ of time we spend
together, but the ‘quality’ of time,” Schaefer
said. “We still try to have ‘date nights’ – diner
out and a movie, or just a quiet night at home.
We do things together as much as possible,
whether that means going to the store for gro-
ceries, going to church, walking the dogs, or
just cleaning the house. We try to find the time
to do those little things together.”
“These 15 years (of marriage) have been the
best of my life,” Schaefer said. “Honestly,
they’ve been really great years.”
Those 15 years have included the couple’s
three children – Kelli, Megan and Riley and
two grandchildren, with another one on the
way. A visit with the Schaefer’s is peppered
with stories about their children and their
grandchildren.
Happy Dave Salsa
In what little spare time he has, Schaefer
“grows” the infamous salsa in his garden that
Sherry Curry mentioned.
“I make two kinds of salsa,” Schaefer said
with a laugh. “I make ‘Happy Dave Salsa’ and
‘Grumpy Dave Salsa.’ The ‘Happy Dave Salsa’ is
a little on the hot side.”
While the Schaefers both love their careers,
they do talk about and look forward to a time
when they have less stress and more time to
spend together.
“We’d like to travel – we love going to the
beach. There’s nothing better than not having
cell phones,” Schaefer said. “And I like to play
golf, although it takes me four to five hours to
play one round!”
Schaefer’s loyal following doesn’t need to
worry about him retiring any time soon, how-
ever. “I work a long day, but it’s not about the
time (put in), it’s about the fun we have,” he
said.
Walking away from the microphone and from
his listeners will be hard for Schaefer and those
who listen to him, said Phil Marquez, a long-
time friend.
“When you happen to run into Dave, he al-
ways wants to talk radio – what’s hot and
what’s not hot, how the market is trending and
taking time to visit with his staff,” Marquez
said. “Mostly, Dave is always smiling and cheer-
ful. He projects a positive attitude with every-
one he encounters. Dave does nothing half-way
– he gives every endeavor he undertakes 100
percent.”
“Over the years, his standard of profes-
sional excellence has made its mark,” Marquez
added. “I am extremely honored to have had
the opportunity to work with Dave. He is a
real asset to our industry.”
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 57
58 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
Dancing runs in this family! The Winers, a
local Farmington family, have danced their
way into the hearts of everyone they know.
Their story began 20 years ago with their
oldest daughter, Venus, who began dancing
as a Kelly Green at Farmington High School
in 1993. Her All-Star team, under the
coaching of Dance Force owner Sheila
Mobley, won the state championship in
1995. After high school, Venus was a Sun
Dancer at New Mexico State University. She
now teaches elementary school in San Anto-
nio.
Older brothers Trevor and Taylor also
danced competitively. Younger brother Tay-
lor still enjoys dance and teaches gymnastics
at Farmington Gymnastics Academy. The
older siblings certainly influenced the
younger siblings to get involved in the danc-
ing world as a jolly way to stay active.
Today the younger three children, daughters
Tiana 15 and Trinity 11, and son Takoda 9,
are following in their older siblings’ foot-
steps and carrying on the dance tradition.
Mother, Shelley Winer, says that while she
and her husband enjoyed country western
dancing together, they are not themselves
dancers. “I don’t dance; I finance,” father
Rick, a local computer programming con-
sultant, likes to joke. While Rick and Shelley
do not have a background in dancing, they
encourage the kids to try dance as a sport
and team-building experience.
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 59
Always moveDance is almost a full time job for the Winer family
Story by Elizabeth Broten | Photos by Josh Bishop and Courtesy photos
on the
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Indeed, dance is a full-time job for this unique
and talented family. The three kids are home
schooled and dance six days a week from 3:30 in
the afternoon until nearly 9 p.m. On Saturdays,
they typically practice from 9 to 5. Among the
three kids, they have danced in over 70 dances,
24 of those being formal dance competitions.
“Yes, we live in the car,” admits Shelley, holding
up her Venti Starbucks coffee, smiling.
When asked what dancing means to each of
them, all three kids expressed a deep love for the
art. “We live and breathe dance. Dancing makes
me feel free. Alive,” says Tiana who is an espe-
cially gifted lyrical dancer. Trinity’s favorite form
of dance is jazz, and younger brother Takoda
loves hip hop and breakdancing. “I just love it,”
he shrugs. “Everything else, all life’s problems go
away when I am dancing.”
Watching each of the kids perform their own
routines, their love for this physical form of artis-
tic expression is evident. They are each beautiful
to watch when in their element. With their long
limbs and lean bodies, anyone watching their per-
formances on stage knows that these special kids
were born to be dancers.
The Winers dance at two different local studios,
Mann Dance Academy and The Force. Mann Acad-
emy offers traditional stage forms of dance: ballet,
tap, jazz, hip hop, modern and lyrical dancing. The
Force specializes in competitive drill team dance.
Dancing at the different studios allows the kids to
learn several different types of dance and lets
them develop well-balanced skill sets.
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SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 61
Both dance studio owners confirm there is
something exceptional about the Winer kids. Judy
Mann, owner of Mann Dance Academy, says the
Winer children brighten any room. “They are a
wonderful and generous family with a positive en-
ergy that is contagious.” Sheila Mobley agrees,
“The Winer kids are the most respectful, dedi-
cated kids I’ve ever worked with. They are all tal-
ented, competitive, elegant dancers but, even
more than that, they all have an incredible work
ethic and are really sweet, respectful kids.” That’s
enough to make any parent proud even without
the hundreds of trophies and ribbons proudly
displayed in their home.
Tiana, who also teaches toddler dance classes
at Mann Academy, won First place at Kathy Roe
this year for her choreography for younger sib-
lings, Trinity and Takoda’s duet. Tiana hopes to
be accepted to a professional dance school such
as Juilliard to study dance and eventually to work
in the industry as a dancer and choreographer.
As crazy and busy as their schedule is, the
Winer family considers themselves very lucky to
have the opportunities that competitive dancing
brings. “It’s fun. We get to travel and meet all
kinds of new people and dancers at competi-
tions. “We make all kinds of good friends who
like to dance as much as we do,” Takooda says.
“This [dance] works for our family. We are to-
gether, which is the most important thing” says
Shelley.
All three of the Winer children will be per-
forming in Mann Dance Academy’s next produc-
tion, “Ella Enchanted,” at San Juan College.
He pointed to a 1974 Bultaco Pursang 360 cc on the top shelf. “One
of the fun things you get to do in this game is meet some of the old pros
who come out,” he said. “A fellow by the name of Jim Pomeroy, who was
the first American to win a world motocross event in
Europe in 1974, started racing with AHRMA. He raced
that bike in the Sandia Classic in 2005. We got to be
pretty good friends.”
Works in family bank
Though Pierce has liked motorcycles ever since he
rode his dad’s trail bike as a teenager, they weren’t a
steady part of his life for a long time. When he left col-
lege, he came home to Farmington to work at Citizens
Bank, which was founded by his great-grandfather,
Thomas Allen Pierce, in 1905. His grandfather, John
Allen, went to work for the bank, and his father, Martin
Allen, followed in his footsteps in 1948. Pierce started
as a teller in the family bank in 1971 and retired in 2003 as chairman of
the board.
“I did quite a lot of recreational trail riding and raced somewhat casu-
ally,” Pierce said. “As time went on, with getting a career started and a
marriage going, it fell by the wayside, but I always had motorcycles right
along. Where racing really took off was in the 1980s, a terrible time in
banking. I was in a position of responsibility and not having a lot of fun.
In 1989, my wife, Maxine, said, ‘You need a hobby.’”
Tries dirt, then pavement racing
About that time, he saw an article in Cycle World
about racing old motorcycles at Steamboat Springs,
Colo. So he prepared one of his old motorcycles and in
September 1989 rode in a motocross race for the first
time in a long time. It was so much fun that he began
racing on dirt tracks more and more. When he discov-
ered pavement racing was available at Steamboat
Springs, he entered his first pavement race there in
1999.
“I had nine kinds of machine trouble,” he said. “It was
a totally unsuccessful outing, but I was off and running.”
Maxine has been an avid supporter of his motorcycle
racing, handing him bottles of water to drink and sand-
wiches to eat when he might not think to eat or drink
during the race. He supports her in similar ways when she shows dogs
during dog agility competitions.
Pierce loves racing and the friends he meets along the way. And he
loves working on his motorcycles. As he pointed to his machines, he said
with a grin, “It’s the toy department of life.”
62 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
Motorcycles continued from 20
64 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
MLCoolest Things
It seems like by the time we have chosenitems for our popular Coolest Things listmany of the items are already outdated orversion 2.0 has already hit the market. Sothis time a number of our items are still indevelopment but orders are being taken fortheir delivery later this year. It sure seemslike technology is moving faster than everand I don’t know about you but I’d like topush the NOT-SO FAST button sometimes.
Outdated in the blink of an eye!
no more reaSon
to Get jacked up!
meet jaQ
www.myfcpower.com
The search is over – you’ll never have toplug into a power jack again. Ideal foreveryday on-the-go living, JAQ is com-pletely off-the-grid. It’s always readypower, generated from water and salt con-tained in a slim power card. Electricity isself -generated when a fresh power card isinserted into the JAQ charger. The insertedpower card then provides 2400 mAh to en-able a full smart phone charge. Once yourcharge is complete, you remove the sin-gle-use power card and throw it away. It isFAA travel certified. 10 cards should cost around $10, while the pouch will be $99.
1Grizzle adamS
BeSt friend
the kniper
www.urchinsky.com
More than a throwing knife, the Kniperpacks a rangefinder, smoke bowl, and 19other tools. The Kniper has a design andweight that’s optimized for effectivelythrowing at targets in an accurate man-ner. It also functions as a multi-tool with aselection of talents aimed at serving theoutdoor adventurer. It is milled from asingle piece of 420 high-carbon stainlesssteel. It measures 13 x 2.5 inches (lengthx width).
$75.
2drinknado!
Shark Shaker:
create an ocean of killer cocktails
www.potterybarn.com
Do you like to make cocktails while watch-ing show after show on Discovery Channelduring Shark Week? Yes, it’s a cocktailshaker clad in the likeness of the notoriousmarine predator, so you can tell peopleyou mixed that Bloodhound inside thebody of a deadly shark. Yes, you’re lying,but technically you’re, somehow, still tellingthe truth. Somehow. The Shark Shaker ac-tually consists of an erstwhile regular-look-ing stainless steel shaker that’s beenmodified to be encased permanently insidean aluminum shark$79
3Suck it up,
don’t Sweep it out
Bruno trash Bin
www.brunosmartcan.com
This trash bin eliminates the need for adustpan. Cleaning the house is hardenough. Having to sweep the floors overand over because the dustpan won’tscoop all the dirt completely just makes iteven harder. The Bruno, a trash bin withan integrated vacuum, eliminates thatproblem. Instead of scooping the dirt anddumping it into the can, you simply sweepit near the vacuum inlet until the sensorsdetect the presence of the broom and au-tomatically trigger the suction mechanism,which automatically stops when it sensesthe broom has been taken away. Starts at $139
4
1
2
3 4
SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 65
immortalize your pets
iN plush Form
cuddle clones
www.cuddleclones.com
Cuddle Clones specializes in producingplush versions of your beloved pets.Each plushy is made by hand using pre-mium materials, ensuring each one turnsout soft and cuddly. Pricing will vary, de-pending on the actual size of your animal.To order, upload one or more pictures ofthe pet you want to “clone,” specify anydistinguishing features, and place yourorder. It takes a while to get the doll (fourmonths), but the samples sure do look likethey’re worth the wait. cuddle clones is set at $129 for small
pets (rabbits, hamsters, and the like)
and $199 for all the others.
5Not just tacos
oN tuesdays
taco shell toaster
www.amazon.com
This is perfect for making a crunchy tacoshell from a fresh tortilla. At first glance itlooks like a regular two-slice toaster forbrowning your morning bread, albeit withlarger than usual compartments intowhich to slip the bread. It’s actually de-signed to hold the included taco cages,which will automatically shape the tortillayou place inside. Made by NostalgiaElectric, the dimensions are just slightlylarger than two-slice toasters at 13.25long by 7 wide and 8 inches high.
$29.99
6Virtually real
First stab at Vr: the innovator edition
www.samsung.com
The headset can be purchased for $200through Samsung or AT&T. Well, we sayit’s $200, but because the headset onlyworks when a Galaxy Note 4 is plugged in,you’ll need one of the $800 smartphonestoo. Otherwise, it’s a useless vision-ob-scuring facemask. The smartphone slotsinto the visor, where it becomes the heartof the Gear VR — offering up its Quad HD,5.7-inch screen Snapdragon 805 proces-sor and many different sensors to bring a360-degree, virtual reality entertainmentworld to life.$200 – but can only be used with a
galaxy Note 4s to 6s – $800
7No magic, just magNets
air2 Floating Bluetooth speaker
www.amazon.com
It’s weird we know, but yes, the speaker isfloating. The Air2 is made up of a metallicbase and a speaker unit with like magneticcharges, making the speaker unit levitatethanks to the power of magnetic repulsion.It even spins around! A built-in microphoneallows you to use the Air2 as a speaker-phone, too. Battery life is so-so at fivehours, but chances are you’ll just be leav-ing the Air2 on your desk, in which casethe easily accessible Micro USB port willdo just fine for power.Air2 comes in black, pink, teal, and red.$200
8
5
6
87
66 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015
ADVERTISERS DIRECTORyAnimas Credit Union..................................30
2101 E. 20th St., 3850 E. Main St.
Farmington, N.M.
505-326-7701
405 W. Broadway
Inside Farmer’s Market
Bloomfield, N.M.
www.animascu.com
The Barnyard............................................15
550 County Rd. 350
Farmington, NM
505-632-8988
Basin Electrical Contractors .......................20
3005 Northridge Dr., Suite K
Farmington, NM
505-327-7525
www.basinelectricnm.com
Beehive Homes.........................................61
400 N. Locke, 508 N. Airport
Farmington, N.M.
505-427-3794
The Bridge ...............................................40
1091 West Murray Dr.
Farmington, NM
505-324-6200
Budget Blinds.............................................2
825 N. Sullivan, Farmington, N.M.
505-324-2008
City of Farmington....................................35
505-599-1144
DeNae’s Boutique.....................................12
3030 E. Main
Farmington, N.M.
505-326-6025
Dentless Image LLC...................................32
1509 Schofield Lane, Suite C
Farmington, NM
505-592-2603
Deser t Hills Dental Care ..............................5
2525 E. 30th St.
Farmington, N.M.
505-327-4863
866-327-4863
www.deserthillsdental.com
The Dusty Attic .........................................35
111 W. Main
Farmington, NM
505-327-7696
Edward Jones ...........................................26
4801 N. Butler, Suite 7101
Farmington, NM
505-326-7200
www.edwardjones.com
Farmington CVB..........................................7
Lions Wilderness Amphitheater
1-877-599-3331
fmtn.org/sandstone
Farmington Family Dentistry......................38
703 N. Dustin Ave.
Farmington, NM
505-564-9700
www.myfarmingtondentist.com
Four Corners Community Bank...................32Six Convenient Locations
Farmington • Aztec • Cortez
NM 505-327-3222
CO 970-564-8421
www.TheBankForMe.com
Golden Door Realty/Treva Fox-Christy ........144022 E. Main St.
Farmington, NM
505-325-4153 - office
505-330-0584 - cell
Highlands University.................................53
505-566-3552
nmhu.edu/farmington
Jae-Geo’s Bridal and Tuxedo......................35302 W. Main St.
Farmington, NM
505-326-5240
www.jaegeosformalwear.com
Kitchen and Bath Artworks ........................46
7525 E. Main St.
Farmington, NM
505-860-8166
Le Petit Salon ...........................................47
406 Broadway, 5150 College Blvd.
Farmington, N.M.
505-325-1214
Aeriel Liese ..............................................41
www.tatepublishing.com
Lujan Quality Carpet Cleaning ....................60
215-2188
Magic Roofing ..........................................18
1206 E. Murray
Farmington, NM
505-324-1094
www.magicroofing.com
Morgan Stanley/Adam Hewett ...................194801 N. Butler
Farmington, N.M.
505-326-9323
www.morganstanleyfa.com/hewettloleitpalmer
Millennium Insurance ................................44
2700 Farmington Ave., Building A
Farmington, NM
505-325-1849
www.millnm.com
Naked Mobile ...........................................331-844-BE NAKED (236-2533)
www.mynakedmobile.com
Next Level Home Audio & Video ................63
1510 E. 20th St., Suite A
Farmington, N.M.
505-327-NEXT
www.327NEXT.com
Orthopedic Associates PA .........................13
2300 E. 30th St., D-10
Farmington, NM
505-327-1400
www.oa-pa.com
Parker’s Inc. Office Products .....................51714-C W. Main St.
Farmington, N.M.
505-325-8852
www.parkersinc.com
Partners Assisted Living ...........................45
313 N. Locke Ave.
Farmington, N.M.
505-325-9600
www.partnerassistedliving.com
Pinon Hills Community Church ...................68505-325-4541
www.pinonhillschurch.com
Presbyterian Medical Services ...................39
520 Dekalb Rd.
Farmington, NM
505-327-7220
www.pmsnm.org
Quality Appliance......................................40522 E. Broadway
Farmington, N.M.
505-327-6271
R.A. Biel Plumbing & Heating ....................34Farmington, N.M.
505-327-7755
www.rabielplumbing.com
Reliance Medical Group .............................563451 N. Butler Avenue
Farmington, N.M.
505-566-1915
1409 West Aztec Blvd.
Aztec, N.M.
505-334-1772
www.reliancemedicalgroup.com
ReMax of Farmington..................................3
108 N. Orchard
Farmington, N.M.
505-327-4777
www.remax.com
Rugs Galore & More ..................................313030 E. Main St.
Farmington, N.M.
505-326-1662
www.RugsGaloreAndMore.com
San Juan College ......................................67
505-326-3311
www.sanjuancollege.edu
San Juan County Fair .................................27
Sanchez and Sanchez Real Estate................4
4301 Largo St. Suite F
Farmington, NM 87402
505-327-9039
Sewing Studio & Vacuum Shoppe...............34
407 W. Broadway
Farmington, NM
505-325-2688
www.sewingstudio.net
www.vacuumshoppe.com
Smiles 4 Kids............................................52
Farmington, N.M.
505-592-0226
Southwest Concrete Supply .......................602420 E. Main
Farmington, N.M.
505-325-2333
www.swconcretesupply.com
Southwest Obstetrics and Gynecology........25
634 West Pinon
Farmington, NM
505-325-4898
www.Southwest-OBGYN.net
State Farm Insurance ................................21Ginny D Gil
3060 E 20th St., Suite D
Farmington, N.M.
505-327-3771
Sun Glass .................................................24
602 West Main Street
Farmington, N.M.
505-327-9677
www.sunglassfarmington.com
408 E. 8th Ave.
Durango, CO
970-247-5112
www.durangoglass.net
Sunray Gaming .........................................57
On Hwy 64.
Farmington, N.M.
505-566-1200
Tafoya Realty............................................39
5600 Mickey Dr. B&C
Farmington, NM
505-599-0000
www.tafoyarealty.com
Treadworks .............................................50
4227 E. Main St.
Farmington, N.M.
505-327-0286
4215 Hwy. 64
Kirtland, N.M.
505-598-1055
www.treadworks.com
Ziems Ford ...............................................51
5700 E. Main
Farmington, N.M.
505-325-8826