Myrtle White Romero

SHE FOUND HER PLACE ALONG THE RIO GRANDE

Honored October, 1999

Myrtle White Romero

When Myrtle White Romero was a young girl in her native Kansas, her father was murdered. The family was plunged into poverty, and her mother took in washing to hold it together. Myrtle knew she had to pay her own way, as well as help the family, so at 11 she left home to care for some neighbors’ children. At 14 she became a housekeeper for a man and his wife. Yet none of the hardship was enough to quench her indomitable spirit.

Seeking adventure, she arrived in New Mexico in 1929 aboard a Fred Harvey bus. She found a teaching job at the little missionary school in Velarde, a school that through the years grew into the impressive McCurdy School in Española. Soon the pretty young teacher caught the eye of a local man, Carlos Romero, who sang in the church choir. They married in 1930, and had two daughters by 1934. The Depression was hard on the family, and Myrtle returned to Kansas to complete work on a teaching certificate that would qualify her to work in the public-school system. Then she came back to Velarde.