Santa Fe Living Treasures – Elder Stories

An Eagle Scout, John collaborated with Uncle Benny Hyde, the naturalist and educator whose family donated 350 acres in Little Tesuque Canyon for the creation of Hyde State Park. "We worked up there most of a summer collecting animals. We caught two porcupines and a ground squirrel. It wasn't very successful."

John attended college in California and at New Mexico State University but transferred to Colorado State University to study forestry. His first job was in Deadwood, South Dakota. In 1936 he was paid $2 per day as a member of a field crew for the Rocky Mountain Equipment Station. "Out of our graduating class, only six of us got jobs." John returned to Santa Fe when he was offered a job as a range examiner.

John met his wife, Katherine, at a school carnival. A math teacher, Katherine was from Albuquerque. They were married in Albuquerque in 1940 and raised three sons. After serving in Europe in World War II, John returned home and bought the farm in 1945. "When we bought it, it was just an idle piece of land. We built the house, drilled the wells, put up fences, and planted the orchard in about 1947," he recalled.

Please see Volume 1 for complete text.
Photo ©1997 by Joanne Rijmes