Santa Fe Living Treasures – Elder Stories

"We are true Spaniards," said Bouncer. "My great-grandfather was a blacksmith and stood six feet, five inches and weighed 280 pounds. My cousin, Maria Isabel Sena, traced the family name. Sena derived from the River Seine."

Bouncer likes to see people keeping the Santa Fe traditions alive. "I'm a Catholic, and I believe in a lot of the things we do--the procession, Fiesta de Santa Fe," he said. "When we were little, during the day of Fiesta, my mom and dad would spend the day visiting with people they hadn't seen all year long. And then we'd go have a full meal for seventy-five cents."

Bouncer made the Santa Fe High School football team when he was a sophomore. "We had a lot of luck that year and won the state championship," he said. After graduation, Bouncer attended the University of New Mexico, but he returned home when the College of Santa Fe opened and earned a degree in business administration in 1951.

Bouncer was coaching the Demons' sophomore basketball team when he met Bernadette Ortiz. "She came to watch the games," he said. They married in 1958 and became parents to Dolores, Melinda, José, and Rebecca.

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