USA > New Mexico > Santa Fe County > Santa Cruz > Los conquistadores : the story of Santa Cruz Evangelical United Brethren Church, Santa Cruz, New Mexico > Part 2
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Temporary quarters were rented in an old adobe house situated on McCurdy Road, a structure known through many years as the Borrego house.43 The women unloaded their little folding organ, dusted here and there, and generally readied themselves for business.44 On Sunday a meet- ing was called with thirteen people present. Three trustees were elected, following which they looked for the best location for a Mission building and actually sketched out rough plans for the house. Sunday School began on June 7 and the first worship services on July 28.45
On June 13 Miss Perkins was called to Texas because of her sister's sickness, travelling to Indiana with her and then on July 22 arriving back in Santa Cruz. She wrote that .. .
"During my absence the Catholic Bishop had visited Santa Cruz and had ridiculed our Cause, threatened his people, and called down the curses of the Almighty on Protestantism."46
A new worker, Miss Mary E. Brawner, described her arrival on Sep- tember 15, 1915, in this way:
". .. I remember riding over the county in a wagon. The wind was strong. I had on a hat with a feather on it and wind whistled through the feather like a flute. Perky called out some remark about taking the feather out in her loud way. When we reached Española we were dumped from the train to the station platform waiting for another wagon to take us 'home' to Santa Cruz. We had a rented adobe home, pretty well on the down- grade. Seems to me there were but three rooms but there might have been four. ... The mission grounds ... were a beautiful green field of alfalfa at that time of our arrival. . . . "47
In the days that followed, life actually got exciting at times :
"One night after we had settled down and were supposed to be asleep, we had a visitor. The weather was warm and we had hooked the screens. We were awakened by someone walking
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through the kitchen and into (the) living room. We thought Carlos (brother of Susanita Martinez) had gone out and come in again, but when we called him there was no answer. Then Perky remembered her purse, etc., were in the room where our visitor was supposed to be. We lay almost without breathing, wondering and waiting. Threats had been made that we would not build the mission. At long last the visitor walked out with shoe strings clicking on the floor. We never knew what God saved us from. He did not disturb or take anything."48
Most days were less exciting and less dangerous :
"We opened the living room of this home for services and sings around the old organ. Sometimes the room was packed. We had a wool Mexican rug - black and white - at the door. After the fellows had come and gone with their dusty or muddy shoes the rug was a sight, but usually a good shaking and the use of a broom would bring it out bright and clear. How these young folks did love to sing! Another time in the old house - of course the roof was mud. It was Saturday. We had worked hard clean- ing (the) kitchen especially ... for Sunday. Cleaned and pol- ished the little cook stove, scrubbed the floor and whatever else needed it. By noon all was done. Just after dinner, almost a cloudburst came down. Water and mud poured from the roof down our freshly polished stove pipes, over the stove and all over the floor. When the rain was over I was dispatched to the roof- top (Carlos may have gone too) to see if I could plaster more mud around the pipe and close the leak."49
A New House
Meanwhile, two and a half acres of property had been purchased along the road to the north,50 and from September to November work- men put together a two-story adobe building which would serve as living quarters for workers, school room, and chapel for church services. Men from the community helped with the construction, among them Mr. John Block. Miss Brawner tells about those hectic days:
"School for a few pupils had started in the living room of the old house, but we moved into the new place as soon as there was enough place to furnish a place to sleep and eat and protec- tion from weather. We started school here to the accompani- ment of the din of hammer and saw. Later on when the weather got cold, we set the pupils to filling the chinks between adobes in the unplastered walls with their waste paper. We workers stuffed around door frames and windows with paper and excel- sior packing that had come with furniture. One morning when we opened the front door, we found plenty of matches and burned paper where an attempt had been made to set fire to the building. God must have restrained the burning process."51
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Miss Perkins herself relates how on October 11, 1915, school opened in the Borrego House with eight pupils, but four days later school shifted to the newly-completed 12×6 store room on the mission grounds.52 On November 17 everyone moved into the first half of the house, and on the twenty-first made it the mission residence.
". .. For nearly a month (we) listened to the daily pound, pound, of the carpenter's hammer; but undaunted, we taught school, cooked, washed dishes and did the other necessary duties required in keeping a home, all to the music of the hammer and saw.58
"The first year we lived in the house with but the mud walls; no casing or ceilings. However, the Lord gave us a very mod- erate winter and we did not suffer from cold; and with the exception of falling dirt, got along quite nicely. Miss Brawner and I taught school in the same room - she in one end and I in the other. Both learned to modulate our voices, which was not bad for either."'54
If one thinks that was crowded, imagine another situation: there were two girls boarding with Miss Perkins - but only one small cot. Solution - the girls slept in opposite directions!55
FIRST BUILDING AT SANTA CRUZ
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So it was that on November 24, 1915, Bishop Cyrus Kephart and Superintendent Huffman dedicated the building. Sixty people were pres- ent, seventy-five per cent being Spanish-American. The structure was named "The Edith McCurdy Mission" - because of the gift of $1,000 from Mr. and Mrs. E. E. McCurdy of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, in memory of their daughter, Edith McCurdy, who had given Spanish instruction to Miss Perkins back in 1911.56
"Christmas comes but once a year," and when it arrived in 1915 it brought good cheer:
"The children all received gifts and a fine treat of candy through the kindness of friends who sent boxes. Beautiful decora- tions were sent, so our two trees were very bright. We had the room decorated with bright colored chains made by the chil- dren, and Christmas bells. The program was fine, considering the short time we had to prepare. Some of the patrons' faces fairly shone with pride as their children took part. Christmas morning about thirty children called on us with yells of 'Christ- mas.' That meant a treat. I was glad I could give them a little cheer. Some had never been near the mission before, as they had been warned against 'the devil and her spirits.' I told Miss Brawner it took the 'kiddoes' to risk evil spirits when a treat was in sight. I sent three baskets of cheer and three dinners to the aged and sick. The home got some beautiful and useful gifts - dishes, cooking utensils, pictures, bedding, tables and bed linen. It surely made us feel good, brightened the home and lightened our tasks. December 31 we gave a 'watch party' -- the first social evening for the young people. They were a little shy at first, but then soon entered into the spirit of the affair and we surely did have a fine time. We served stick candy, cookies, apples, and peanuts. Twenty-seven were present. Had games, contests, music, and more games, with plenty of laughs mixed in."57
During the following months, things kept humming with a January scarlet fever epidemic that forced closing classes and services for two weeks, boarding three to four children in the home, and housing the carpenter for two months. In April, Miss Perkins travelled back East for rest and field work, returning on July 1 to Santa Cruz.58
Reinforcements
By this time reinforcements were needed. On September 2, 1916, Miss Lillian Kendig reached Santa Cruz to teach the upper grades.59 She wrote about her feelings then :
"I have been on this field three weeks, and three wonderful weeks they have been. New Mexico has won my admiration. The clear, dry, healthful climate, with its beautiful moonlight and starlight nights and almost cloudless skies are wonderful con- trasted with the eastern fogs and cloudy weather. ... The past three days have been the very happiest since I've been here. Last
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MISS PERKINS (far left), MISS BRAWNER (far right) AND CHILDREN AT THE SCHOOL IN SANTA CRUZ (1915-1916)
Sunday we had Sunday School and Christian Endeavor with a total attendance of sixty-six. ... Miss Martinez taught the adults in Spanish and I taught the younger ones in English. You cannot imagine how hard it is for me, who loves to talk so much, to meet so many persons who cannot understand me. But just wait; I'm learning their language, then I'll be a real New Mexican."60
Another worker who arrived a bit earlier than Miss Kendig was Susanita Martinez, from Wagon Mound, New Mexico. She was one of the first pupils in our school at Velarde, and was the first Spanish pupil in Rio Arriba County to receive a diploma. From Velarde she went to high school in Santa Fe, from which she graduated in May of 1916. She became our first Spanish-American deaconess when she was appointed to teach the lower grades at Santa Cruz.61
The third new helper was Mrs. Lillian Markey, from Otterbein Memorial Church in Baltimore, Maryland. She came to care for house- hold affairs, thus relieving Miss Perkins and Miss Kendig of those tedious details.62
During this period, informal gatherings were held - mostly hymn singing around the old reed organ that Miss Perkins had brought down from Velarde.63 In the summertime, social times were scheduled. Perhaps fifty Anglos would get together, but very few Spanish families because of pressure from their church. Christian Endeavor met on Sunday evenings at 7:00 in the mission house, led by Miss Perkins. Sunday School classes were formed a bit later. Then, after Miss Kendig's arrival, she shared in
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Christian Endeavor leadership, and Sunday evening worship services were begun.64
A Pastor
The story of Santa Cruz Church has its own peculiar mystery! The story begins with the appointment of the first pastor, and the first Spanish- American pastor in the denomination. His name was Rev. T. Z. Salazar, assigned to the Santa Cruz circuit of Santa Cruz and Velarde by the 1916 Annual Conference.65 In the records of that Conference session at Wagon Mound, we read that .. .
"Rev. Salazar was asked to speak a few words in regard to conditions as he found them at Velarde and Santa Cruz."66
Miss Perkins wrote of him:
"Mr. Salazar has been recommended as a conscientious Christian whose soul is burdened for the salvation of his race. Thus far we have found him to be all that he is recommended and more, too - good speaker, good preacher, and always ready to testify for his Master. He possesses a pleasing personality, which is bound to win friends. His family, consisting of wife and four children, we consider a great credit to our work. . . . "67
Rev. Salazar arrived in time to lay the cornerstone for the new chapel and conducted evening services in Spanish. "His Spanish sermons attracted some folks but not many."68 What follows is a mystery yet unsolved. No one seems to know when or why he left the mission. At the Annual Con- ference session at Las Vegas, August 24, 1917, Miss Perkins reported for the work, and on the Conference Roll, Miss Lillian M. Kendig was listed from Santa Cruz, but the name of T. Z. Salazar was missing. Local resi- dents either have no memory of him at all or remember that he was here without any recollection of his departure. The gentleman seems to have vanished from sight and memory. It is the great unsolved mystery of Santa Cruz Church.
Two Other Workers
About this time in 1917, Miss Lottie Newman came out from Willard, Ohio, to visit. She became Mrs. Peterson and remained to help in the mission, serving without salary and assisting with sewing and other odds and ends.69 Likewise, in April, Miss Callie King, an ordained minister, came to hold evangelistic services. She remained through the summer because of Miss Perkins' illness and gave fine assistance.70
The New Chapel
Autumn in the Valley is unusually exciting and lovely. The fall of 1917 was extra exciting when the long-awaited chapel building took shape just north of the mission home.71 The building was dedicated on Sunday,
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September 2, by Rev. P. M. Camp, United Brethren Home Missions Sec- retary from Dayton, Ohio - "dedicated and set apart for the worship of almighty God."72 Dr. Camp himself related how that Sunday ...
". . . was a bright and joyous day ... bright and clear, and by sunrise everybody about the grounds was busy putting things in shape for the occasion. The writer reached Santa Cruz in the afternoon of Saturday, and there found Mr. and Mrs. E. E. Mc- Curdy, after whose sainted daughter, Edith McCurdy, the mis- sion and school were named. I found them congenial and large- hearted. They came all the way from Lebanon, Pennsylvania, to join in the dedication. 5973
Miss Perkins described the building to the women of the denomina- tion :
"How I wish you all could come and see it! Nothing grand, but so roomy and comfortable. How grateful we are to the Mc- Curdys, Women's Missionary Association, Church Erection, and friends that this United Brethren monument stands here today,
THE EDITH MCCURDY CHAPEL AT SANTA CRUZ
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and that through it those long bound in chains of superstition and ignorance may be loosed and given educational and Chris- tian enlightenment. . . . The chapel is fifty by thirty feet, two stories. The basement contains two splendid well-lighted, well- ventilated schoolrooms, fuel room, furnace room, and two cloak rooms. Built-in cupboards for industrial work and school equip- ment. Then - listen please - we have real hydroplated black- boards and real chalk trays and genuine school desks. The latter were made possible by some Sunday Schools, classes, and Junior societies. Now, upstairs a moment, please. An entry-way, a Sun- day School room, a large auditorium, a pulpit, and twenty com- fortable pews that will seat 160 people. .. . "74
This building still serves the school both as an historical monument and a present-day facility.
Conquests and Disappointments
With mission house, chapel, and staff - what more could one desire? Discoveries and conquests ahead! However, as with the conquistadores of old, the tale was told of conquests mixed with disappointments.
With a chapel now built, Sunday morning worship services were begun. In addition, a fine adult class was started, made up of the Mardorfs, the Petersons, the Broadwells, the Holtermans, the Hendersons (Mrs. Whit- ney's parents), and Mrs. Womelsduff. Miss Kendig also organized a Women's Missionary Association.75 Especially important was the creation of a church organization, with the following members received on that dedication Sunday, September 2, 1917:76
Mellie E. Perkins Lillian M. Kendig Esther Peterson
Mary E. Brawner Angelica Romero Fidel Roybal
On September 9, Rev. R. N. Huffman was present and received the fol- lowing into membership (baptizing the latter) : Manuelita Martinez, Nancy Thomas, and Solomon Martinez. On October 28, Miss Kendig received Antonio Roybal and later Mrs. Manuelita Gurule. On November 11, Mrs. Lucy Womelsduff Berry became a member.
Even finances improved. At the 1916 Annual Conference, the appor- tionment for Santa Cruz circuit for the General Benevolence Budget was $10.00 and for Conference Extension $10.00. A year later it was $40.00 for Benevolence and $40.00 for Church Extension.77 Reports in June, 1917, showed a school attendance of fifty-four at Velarde and twenty- seven at Santa Cruz, with sixty present at Christian Endeavor at Santa Cruz.78
Then, to express still further conquest, in 1917 Miss Perkins started a third mission school at Alcalde, halfway between Velarde and Santa Cruz. The community itself requested this.79
But not all was encouraging. Miss Kendig shared her memories of that time:
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"I must state this year was the most discouraging. We thought the new church would help but it made the Catholic priest very active and children were prohibited from coming to school and church. It made us aware that if we were to succeed it would be by establishing a boarding school. .. . "80
Annual Conference minutes for 1917 show the same mood:
"Miss Perkins reported for Veracruz (sic). No visible results. Some disturbances in Sunday School but being overcome. Perse- cutions and oppositions. But much encouraged. ... There has not been the progress in the evangelistic field we had hoped and prayed for."81
Probably the most dramatic discouragement was the burning of the Bible in the public plaza. Let Mrs. Lillian Kendig Cole tell the story:
"Miss Perkins had given Bibles the first year, but on a Sunday morning the second year (1917) a visiting priest was in Santa Cruz and he commanded that everybody bring their books for him to examine. Those not fit .. . would be burned. Two of our boys attended the burning and many Bibles were on the pile. Then when the worshippers went into the church, the boys picked out a book only scorched and brought it home. It was A Child's Story of the New Testament in Spanish."82
This book is kept today in the offices of the Division of Home Mis- sions, in Dayton, Ohio. One of the boys who helped burn the Bibles by pushing the books with a long pole, Mr. Fidel Gutierrez, was later con- verted and sent several of his children through our schools.83 Actually, the entire incident helped the work grow. And today, a Bible is given to each McCurdy graduate on Commencement Night, commemorating that event in 1917 as well as providing a tool for Christian living today.84 Happily, this spirit of hostility is disappearing, and there is a growing attitude of tolerance and acceptance.
End of an Era .
Nineteen Hundred and Eighteen! World War I was about to end in Europe, and with this landmark there ended an era in world history. In Española Valley another era ended also. On March 6, Mrs. Callie King came "to take charge of the pastoral work until a regular pastor was secured." In April, Miss Kendig took Manuelita Martinez back to Penn- sylvania for a rest, deputation, Branch and Board meetings, and summer school. Miss Leila Luckey went to Colorado and Kansas for field work and vacation. Miss Brawner stayed at Velarde, Miss Shanklin at Alcalde. June 1 arrived - three years to the day when Miss Perkins moved to Santa Cruz. On this day in 1918 she left for a month's vacation in the mountains, but by July 5 she had hurried to Grabill, Indiana, to attend the funeral of her father. Suddenly deciding to remain there with her mother, she ended her six years of work in the Valley by retiring from
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her position with the Mission.85 Back in Indiana, Miss Perkins worked in the welfare department for a while, also was a matron of a WCTU home for girls. Ill health forced her to quit. Moving to Bakersfield, Cali- fornia, she took up teaching again, but on June 15, 1924, in Puente, California, death came to this one who had so nobly walked in the tradi- tions of the conquistadores.
Miss Kendig wrote this memorial:
"In Loving Memory of Miss Mellie E. Perkins. There are many monuments built to the memory of great men and women, but the greatest monuments in the world are the deeds and influ- ence of a great life. The three missions in the Rio Grande Valley for Spanish-Americans shall forever stand in loving remembrance of the heroism, energy, and love of Miss Mellie Perkins . Velarde, (in) 1912, and in 1915 ... at Santa Cruz, (and) ... at Alcálde .. . in 1917. ... But even a great life is subject to physical weakness. The body is weaker than the will and it became necessary that Miss Perkins leave the field. Today when we think of the splendid schools for Spanish-Americans in the Valley our minds go back to the days of the beginning and we say of her who founded the work as it was said of David Living- stone: 'She greatly lived, she greatly loved, and died right mightily'."86
An era had ended.
After Miss Perkins' resignation in the summer of 1918, Miss Kendig hastened back to Santa Cruz, bringing with her a new worker, Miss Ruth Smith, arriving on August 8. On the 22nd, Mrs. Callie King left the work to care for her aged mother back home. Miss Kendig was made acting pastor and principal of the school, with Miss Smith as assistant.87
So, at the end of this era, how were things really going? The first wedding took place on July 18 - Mr. Charles Peterson and Miss Lottie Newman, married in the chapel by Mrs. Callie King. And the first funeral service was held on October 19, that of Mr. John Womelsduff, conducted by Miss Kendig.88 The first infant baptism was observed in the fall of 1919 by Miss Kendig, a Spanish-American baby.89 Members were received. The Petersons united with the church on the evening of their wedding day. And on Easter Sunday, April 20, 1919, four girls made their Confes- sion of Faith at the altar.90 Attendance had climbed, with a Sunday School enrollment of fifty-nine (from eleven in 1915 and twenty-four in 1916), an average attendance of forty-four (from ten in 1915), and a church membership of fourteen. Finances had risen from a $218.24 budget in 1915 to a $559.65 budget in 1916 and $3,664.46 in 1919.91.
Then another flu ban closed the church to public services from Octo- ber until December 22, 1918. Misses Wohlheiter and Brawner had to come from Velarde to help at Santa Cruz, and Miss Dora Housekeeper came for three months in 1919 to help in the school, home and church.92
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Chapter Four
THROUGH THE YEARS
The congregation now entered a period much as Coronado found on his long marches throughout the Southwest - day after day, night after night, sometimes the excitement of finding, often the discouragement of not finding. Yet, out of this little church in the Valley went forth a witness and a work for the Master.
1919-1921
The Rev. and Mrs. W. E. Dye were appointed by the Board in 1919, arriving in time for the school to open in the fall. Rev. Dye took over the pastoral work in Santa Cruz, Alcalde, and Velarde, besides the main- tenance work at the schools.93 Mrs. Dye became matron at McCurdy School.94 In these years many were brought into the life of the church. On Easter day, 1920, twenty members were received, and on Pentecost eleven more.95 On Easter Sunday in 1921, thirteen members were received. There were three baptisms by sprinkling and twelve by immersion.
GROUP OF SANTA CRUZ YOUTH WHO HAD BECOME CHRISTIANS (MRS. GALLEGOS [JANE BLOCK], middle row, second from right. MRS. VICTORIA CRUZ, middle row, second from left.)
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CHAPEL BELL BEING DELIVERED ON MR. MARDORF'S WAGON
In 1921, Miss Kendig was elected as a delegate to General Confer- ence. What a shock and embarrassment it was when officials there dis- closed that the Santa Cruz Church was not properly organized and therefore not really a church - just a mission - which left Delegate Kendig a non-member of the denomination! She was graciously allowed to remain at the Conference! But you can well imagine that things were put in shape thereafter - apparently after Rev. Overmiller came.96
1921-1927
Next on the scene came the Rev. and Mrs. John R. Overmiller. Of him it has been said that "much credit must be given ... in every area of our work."97 Certainly he was a busy man! He was pastor of four churches - Santa Cruz every other Sunday morning, alternating with Miss Kendig, plus Alcalde and Velarde in the afternoon, and Española at night.98 He supervised the erection of the church building at Española.99 Occasionally, he added preaching services at Ojo Caliente and Abiquiu, spicing those programs with his saxophone. Students such as Mrs. Victoria Cruz, Mr. J. M. Martinez, and Mr. C. E. Medina were often taken along to interpret and assist. Then, in Rev. Overmiller's spare time, he served as Superintendent of the New Mexico Missionary Conference and, for a time, Superintendent of the mission schools. He milked the cows, cared for the livestock, purchased all supplies for the
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schools, and coached the McCurdy basketball team! Oh yes, he sang in the Santa Cruz Church choir and organized a church orchestra. And his wife governed the boys' dorm. In 1924 they managed to serve as host and hostess to Annual Conference.
Of course, we must not forget the chapel bell! The congregation wanted so badly a "Protestant" church bell, so money was pledged by the congregation and solicited in the community. The bell was ordered, shipped by train, and brought by Mr. Mardorf's horse and wagon from the station to the chapel. Then, of all things, once installed, it couldn't be heard! Raising the belfry seemed to solve that problem, thanks to the carpentry work of Rev. Overmiller and Mr. Jake Johnson. And that bell still rings, too!
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