USA > New Mexico > Santa Fe County > Santa Cruz > Los conquistadores : the story of Santa Cruz Evangelical United Brethren Church, Santa Cruz, New Mexico > Part 3
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The main matter, however, must be recorded - that people came into the fellowship of the Church during those years. Church records list twenty-five - names such as Williams, Mardorf, Holterman, John-
DR. AND MRS. GLEN F. McCRACKEN
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son, Munns, Blake, Herrick, Medina, Whitney.100 Among names of new members during 1921-27. J. M. Martinez, Cruz, and McCracken.
In May of 1927, Rev. Harold Megill was appointed by the Board of Missions as pastor on the Santa Cruz circuit. Furniture was shipped and stored at the Española parsonage. But for the summer, he and his wife101 were sent to Amistad. That church began to grow, and when Annual Conference met in August at Santa Cruz, laymen from Amistad drove over the mountains to request the bishop to leave the Megills where they were. The bishop agreed but added the Sedan church just to show who was boss! But if the ordinary process had prevailed, the Megills would have succeeded the Overmillers at Santa Cruz.102
1927-1929
So, in 1927 the Rev. and Mrs. C. C. Gish came to this church. Mrs. Gish took over the preaching at Española, with Mr. Gish handling Santa Cruz, Alcalde and Velarde.103
During this period another person was added to the school staff - Glen F. McCracken. His labor continued till retirement in 1965 - a ministry of nearly thirty-nine years (nearly forty-three for his wife). Amid the coming and going of pastors and staff and community folk, Dr. and Mrs. McCracken over the years helped to give a continuity, stability, and depth to the life of the congregation.
1929-1931
The Rev. and Mrs. Walter Lobb served from 1921-1931 - the heart of the Great Depression across the country. Naturally, these were not easy years in church work.104
1931-1933
The Rev. Wilbur York brought his new bride here to their first church in 1931, remaining until 1933.105
During these years, the pastors had to serve four churches. This meant that their work had to be confined pretty much to holding worship services and preaching, with what calling and visitation they were able to do. The school staff handled most of the weekday program. Records are either missing or very brief in these times, but we do know that those times were hard, the work small, but faithful pastors and people carried on their quiet, steady work in the community.
1933-1938
The man who years before had explored the Valley with Rev. Huff- man now returned as pastor - the Rev. Clarence A. Schlotterbeck. He was a bachelor. Constant illness plagued his work. It was under his ministry that Alcalde and Velarde were separated from the circuit. There- after, Sunday Morning Worship was at 10:00 at Santa Cruz, 11:00 at Española. 106
Though the exact date is unknown, at some point in these years a group began to meet and has continued to do so through the present - The Spanish Prayer Group. Mrs. McCracken was one of those who helped get the wheels rolling. Spanish services were held Friday nights in McCurdy Chapel. Later, the group frequently met in homes. And so, even today in Santa Cruz Church the Christian faith can be expressed
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not only in English but also through himnos y oraciones in the beautiful Spanish tongue.
1938-1941
Former missionaries in Africa gave their witness to the Valley in the years 1938-1941 - the Rev. and Mrs. George Richter. Rev. Richter is remembered for his thought-provoking sermons, but even more for the things he did for needy people - such as walking the streets at night to sober an alcoholic. He is remembered as a pastor who mingled with the men in the downtown drug store and finally interested them in the church.107
1941-1946
Thirty years before, a young man in training for the ministry sat beside his veteran pastor-father in discussions at the New Mexico Mis- sion Conference sessions. After years of service in the Kansas Confer- ence, the Rev. and Mrs. A. L. Brandstetter came back to New Mexico to serve at Santa Cruz and Española during the difficult war years.
Our nation was at war. Los Alamos came into major importance. Gradually, soldiers from "The Hill" began to come down on Sunday nights to attend Christian Endeavor - perhaps six or eight of them at a time. One such was a Michigan soldier named Lawrence Taylor, later a pastor of one of our large Detroit congregations and a Conference Superintendent in Michigan. One Sunday morning Rev. Brandstetter
CONGREGATION IN THE CHAPEL ON SUNDAY MORNINGS
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SANCTUARY
spied this hitchhiker along the highway and gave him a ride. The rider asked the way to the UB Mission; the driver was able to give some help at this point. The result was a rather regular church-goer. He would come in the morning, teach a Sunday School class, and stay all day.
It was during this time that the chapel was getting impossibly over- crowded, so the congregation began talking about a new church build- ing. Quarterly Conference on May 14, 1946, mentioned that "the chair- man of the building committee (Mr. C. E. Medina) reported almost $6,500 pledged and $1,600 cash on hand." Dr. Hovermale had offered the Board's help if the church could raise $2,000 in cash and $5,000 in pledges. In time, $9,000-$10,000 was pledged and $5,000 cash was on hand.
Still another goal - a full-time pastor -- had to be postponed because of the war years.
1946-1954
The ministry of Rev. and Mrs. William Young marked some new beginnings.
First of all, the old Santa Cruz-Española circuit was broken up, and for the first time the pastor at Santa Cruz had only one congregation to build.
Secondly, the congregation finally was able to move out of the over- crowded quarters of the historic McCurdy Chapel to the beautiful sanc- tuary built across the road. Back in 1948 Dr. Hovermale and visiting Bishop Clippinger were pushing for "a real church, not just a chapel," and the new edifice surely reflected that leadership. On July 26, 1953,
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the new sanctuary was dedicated by Bishop D. T. Gregory. This followed eight long months of labor by contractor Ralph Valdez, with $15,000 worth of donated labor on the part of the pastor and congregation. For example, the foundation was poured with help from the dormitory boys and some community men, beginning in the afternoon and continuing into the night. The people did all the painting, staining of ceiling boards, and installation of pews, with everything ready in time for the Bacca- laureate Service that spring. The stained glass windows were installed a year or so later.
A third development was the move into the spacious and comfortable parsonage that had been built just south of the church.108
Under the Youngs there was the building of lives and Christian influ- ence too - Youth Fellowship meetings in the parsonage, a Boy Scout troop, Red Cross chairmanship, and many other efforts for God and good. Two men who were in the church during this period entered the ministry109 and have served in the Mission program.
These were important years for the slowly developing congregation.
1954-1959
Rev. and Mrs. Andy Jordan picked up the reins in 1954. Attendance and participation increased year by year. And dreams were being dreamed. One of the goals in 1957 was a new educational unit by 1967. This goal was reached four years ahead of schedule, but dreams always precede progress. Progress is also preceded by some hard work, and the first of a number of Every-Member Canvasses was held in the
THE NEW CHURCH
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GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY FOR NEW EDUCATIONAL UNIT, SUNDAY, MAY 20, 1962
(Left to right) DR. WILLIAM YOUNG, MR. GLEN RUSK, MR. ALFONSO DURAN, REV. RICHARD CAMPBELL. (Digging): REV. A. L. BRANDSTETTER
autumn of 1957 - an effort which tremendously increased the finances of the congregation.
Of course, in the midst of dreams and progress there were the usual minor troubles to keep life interesting - such as the problem that the Quarterly Conference grappled with in the winter of 1956:
"Motion by Rev. Brandstetter that we refer the matter of the horses getting on the church lawn to the Board of Trustees and suggest that every trustee call higher authorities regarding the matter."111
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X
FELLOWSHIP HALL
NEW EDUCATIONAL UNIT AND PATIO
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HOLY COMMUNION AT SANTA CRUZ CHURCH
1959-1961
Further growth occurred under the ministry of the Rev. and Mrs. B. Richard Templeton, 1959-1961. Another Canvass was conducted in 1960. Double Sunday morning services were launched. And a building committee was formed to study plans for a new educational unit.
1961 -?
The story since 1961 is too recent to need re-telling. The Rev. Richard C. Campbell and family arrived from Detroit, Michigan, in October of that year. Let this record mention, though, the completion of earlier labors when the debt was liquidated in note-burning ceremony on New Year's Eve, 1962, and the fulfillment of those earlier dreams when on March 17, 1963, Dr. Norman W. Klump from the Division of Home Missions and Church Extension dedicated the new $50,000 edu- cational unit built behind the original building and laid out around a lovely patio. The building committee under the chairmanship of Mr. C. E. Medina was reinforced by the donated labor of nearly one hundred people who did all the interior painting. A retired Methodist layman, Mr. E. L. Corbin, visiting the Valley from Missouri, spent unnumbered hours making classroom furniture and equipment. And the attractive patio, under Mrs. C. E. Medina's leadership, was completed in the spring of 1964 - just in time for Annual Conference delegates to enjoy it.
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Chapter Five HORIZONS
And so we come to the end of our story of Los Conquistadores who explored and marched and discovered for Christ and His Church in this Valley of the Rio Grande.
It is a story of those early workers who lit a light in the darkness.
It is a story of pastors who came and labored and left behind their imprint.
It is a story of denominational executives who gave their leadership across the years.112
It is a story of mission school teachers who spread their devotion on two sides of a road.113
It is a story of faithful community people whose names are too numerous to begin to mention - worshipping regularly, serving busily, giving generously, praying fervently.
It is a story that began with an adobe house and continues fifty years later with a Protestant Christian witness of stature in the community, linked to a denominational network in the Valley of other mission churches, schools and hospital - a complex undreamed of a half-century ago.
It is a story of modern-day conqustadores marching not in search of "seven cities of gold and silver" but rather "to gather into one the chil- dren of God who are scattered abroad."114
It is a story not yet done, for the march of Los Conqustadores moves ever toward the distant horizons that are always calling Christ's Church!
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Appendix A THE SPANISH HERITAGE IN AMERICA
Spain may be a small nation today, but she has left her mark upon the world - and upon our hemisphere.
"By 1600, Spain had conquered almost the whole of coastal South America except Brazil, and much of the interior as well, down to the River Plate. Thus, foundations had been laid for every one of the twenty republics of central and South America, excepting the Argentine. No other conquest like this has there been in the annals of the human race. In one generation the Spaniards acquired more new territory than Rome conquered in five centuries. Genghis Khan swept over a great area but left only destruction in his wake; the Spaniards organized and administered all that they conquered, brought in the arts and letters of Europe, and converted millions to their faith. Our forebears in Virginia and New England, the pathfinders of the great West, and the French pioneers of Canada, were indeed stout fellows; but their exploits scarcely compare with those of brown-robed Spanish friars and armed conquistadores who hacked their way through solid jungle, across endless plains, and over snowy passes of the Andes, to fulfill dreams of glory and conversion. . . . "1
There are actually two great cultures that have molded our American life - English and Spanish.2 The following illustrations will show what the Spanish influence has been.
· GEOGRAPHY
About two thousand cities or towns in the U. S. have Spanish names -- 400 in California, 250 in New Mexico, 250 in Texas.8
· HISTORY
"The whole southern section of the United States from South Caro- lina across ss to California was explored by the Spanish conquista- dores. . . . "4 And at one time, Spain ruled more than one-half of the present area of the United States.5 The oldest city (Santa Fe, New Mex- ico), and the oldest church in America (San Miguel, also in Santa Fe), were all built by Spaniards. And our great Southwest "is as Spanish in color and historical background as New England is Puritan, as New York is Dutch, as New Orleans is French."6 Interestingly enough, some of our great Americans read Spanish. Cotton Mather was an actual scholar in the language,7 and had a Spanish-Indian servant with whom he conversed in Spanish.8 He also wrote a book entitled, La Fe del Cris- tiano (1699).9 Benjamin Franklin studied Spanish,1º as did John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. In fact, Jefferson read Don Quixote twice, and this was the only novel he selected for his collection of books for the Uni- versity of Virginia.11
· FOOD
Various foods, imported from Mexico and originally borrowed from the Indians, have become commonplace in America - tortillas, tamales,
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enchiladas, tacos, to name a few.12 These might be found as easily in Chicago as in Santa Fe.
· COWBOYS
Everybody knows the cowboy - the man in the rodeo and in the TV western. But not everybody knows that he is descended culturally from Spanish-Mexican cattlemen who wore broad-rimmed hats, lariat, and chaps.13
· CATTLE AND HORSES
Oñate's journey to San Gabriel gave to the future United States not only the site of the first capital in this land but also domesticated cattle and horses. His cattle turned loose led to the Texas longhorns, and his mares and stallions became mustang or bronco.14
® LANGUAGE
With eight million Spanish-Americans in the United States (and only three states without Spanish-speaking people), Spanish ranks fourth in language used in our country.15
· LIBRARIES
Any good library has books about Spain or Spanish America or books by Spanish authors. Blasco-Ibañez' The Four Horsemen of the Apoca- lypse, translated in 1921, became a very popular novel in America,16 and Cervantes' Don Quixote has been one of the very greatest influences on American writers. Any good library has Don Quixote on its shelves. This novel was a favorite of Thomas Jefferson.17 John Witherspoon, President of Princeton, 1768-1794, ranked Cervantes above Homer in wit and irony.18 Washington Irving wrote a parody, History of New York, modeled on Don Quixote.19 Hawthorne20 and Poe21 refer to Cervantes. Herman Melville owned a copy of the novel with marginal notes, and this was his inspiration for writing Moby Dick.22 Bret Hart loved the book.23 Walt Whitman refers to it.24 And Mark Twain points to Cervantes in Huckle berry Finn. Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer reflect Sancho Panza and Don Quixote.25 Cervantes was, next to the Bible, the most vital influence on Twain. It is interesting to note that in seventeenth century America, we cannot find evidence of Shakespeare in Puritan library lists, but we can find Don Quixote!26
ARCHITECTURE
The Southwest, a land of little timber, no minerals for nails, and no facilities for making glass, developed instead a house-style of adobe brick, earth roofs, and viga supports. Modern builders still cannot improve on adobe as insulating material in a hot climate.27 Both this "Pueblo style" modeled after the Indians and the "California style" have become part of our American architecture, and both are Spanish-influ- enced. Other architectural features that are often borrowed and adapted are the patio, projecting balconies, red tile roofs, iron grillwork, carved door panels, tile floors, and stucco walls.28
· EDUCATION
Spanish language instruction goes on in high schools and colleges (even in grade schools - for example, in kindergarten in Detroit) all
321
over the country. This goes back to 1735 when the first instruction in Spanish was available in New York, and to 1766 when the first college course was available in Philadelphia.29
· FLOWERS
Our lovely Christmas flower, the Poinsettia, comes from Spanish America - from Mexico, named after one of our ambassadors there many years ago - Joel R. Poinsett, from South Carolina (1851).
· LITERATURE
So many of our great American writers knew Spanish literature and wrote on Spanish themes. James Russell Lowell wrote Impressions of Spain in the 1870's, also a poem "The Nightingales in the Study," about his love of Calderón.3º Washington Irving wrote four or five books on Spain, one on the history of the conquest of Granada and another on Columbus.31 H. W. Longfellow wrote articles on Spanish poetry and language, numerous translations, and a textbook for students-Novelas Españolas.32 He was actually a scholar in the language. Washington Irving wrote The Alhambra (1832) plus Spanish Papers and Spanish Voyages.33 William Cullen Bryant wrote Moriscan Romances, and James Fenimore Cooper composed a story of Columbus, Mercedes of Castille (1840).34 Edgar Allen Poe analyzed Irving's and Longfellow's writings on Spain, analyzed some Spanish translations, used Spanish titles and characters and oaths, and took The Pit and the Pendulum from Spanish writers. 35
Lew Wallace read many Spanish books and wrote The Fair God about Cortes.36 Bret Harte read Spanish and described Spanish life in Cali- fornia.37 There was a subtle but real Spanish influence on O. Henry; in The Cactus, Hearts and Crosses, Pimienta Pancake, etc., he uses Spanish words, characters, and scenes.38 Stephen Vincent Benét composed Span- ish Bayonet in 1926, Thornton Wilder The Bridge of San Luis Rey in 1927, John Steinbeck Tortilla Flat in 1935, and Willa Cather Death Comes for the Archbishop in 1927.39 John Roderigo Dos Passos, of Portu- guese descent, studied Spanish, lived in Spain awhile, and wrote novels with Spanish scenes, e.g., Rosinante to the Road Again.4º Ernest Heming- way wrote about the Spanish Civil War, e.g., For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), also, The Spanish Earth.41 Gertrude Stein's articles and novels refer much to Spain. In fact, Picasso influenced her greatly, and led her to put together Tender Buttons.42 Walt Whitman could read Spanish, used Spanish phrases, and wrote an article called The Spanish Element in Our Nationality.43 Ezra Pound refers to Lope de Vega and has Spanish echoes in his verse.44 And Archibald MacLeish's novel, Conquistador, is a poem about Cortés. 45
· PAINTING
Some of America's best artists were influenced by Spanish painters while studying in Paris with French teachers.46 Some of these were Trum- bell, Dannat, Chase, Eakins, Whistler, Henri, Cassatt, and Sargent.47 Goya, Picasso, El Greco, Orozco, Diego Rivera, Siqueiros, and Dali, have all been influential,48 but none more so than Velásquez. Sorolla declares that "The real founder of American art was Velásquez."49 Spanish paint- ings hang in the galleries of all our major cities.5º Picasso alone, in 1945,
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had over 150 works in twenty-six American museums, with seventy-seven exhibitions since 1911.51
· MUSIC
Spanish influence on music has not been as strong, but we might mention Pablo Casals, cellist, and José Iturbi.52
· ATHLETICS
Spanish-background athletes have been prominent in baseball, tennis, and boxing.
· THEATER
Again, Spanish influence has not been great, but we can point out that Irving loved the Spanish Theater and Lowell visited Spain to see a play performed.53 Benevente y Martínez Jacinto's Bonds of Interest was the first play presented by the Theater Guild of New York City. And Niña Rosa with its Peruvian background registered 137 perform- ances in the same city back in 1930.54
· PHILOSOPHY
George Santayana, poet, philosopher, and critic, was born in Spain, lived there only seven years, refers little to Spain, yet exhibits a Spanish mind and therefore a Spanish influence.55
· PUBLISHING
There is a constant publication of Spanish-language newspapers and magazines. New York alone publishes seventeen regular periodicals and twenty-four trade journals. Tampa has five periodicals.56 This is not to mention Spanish-language radio stations, of which there are 200 AM stations with some Spanish programs and thirty entirely in Spanish.57
· WORDS
There are many Spanish words that have become common-place among the English-speaking people-such as "adobe," "bonanza," "fan- dango," "corral," "sombrero," "hacienda," "cañon," "adios."58 There are also words such as "quixotic" (Cotton Mather refers to Roger Wil- liams' "quixoticism"59) meaning impractical idealism. Or phrases such as "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," "murder will out," "tilt- ing at windmills"; these all come from Don Quixote.
· MILITARY SERVICE
General Angel A. Del Valle, a Puerto Rican, was with general Mac- Arthur at Bataan. And Genaro Lopez, from Santa Fe, was in that group of soldiers who placed the American flag on top of Iwo Jima in World War II - immortalized by a huge statue in Arlington Cemetery in Wash- ington, D. C.60
. RELIGION
Christianity, in its Roman Catholic form, came to the Southwest first by Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca who was shipwrecked on the Texas coast. A missionary from Coronado's expedition in 1540, Fray Juan de Padilla afterwards returned to Quivira (near Wichita, Kansas) and erected the first Christian church building in the United States.61 The earliest Fran-
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ciscans who worked among the Indians were dedicated and brave, and many lost their lives. The Protestant witness has had its stalwarts, though not always as well-known. One example would be the Rev. Gabino Rendón who did so much in establishing Protestant churches throughout Colorado and New Mexico.62
If, as Leon Samson feels, "war is a transfer of property from nation to nation," then perhaps civilization is a transfer of culture from nation to nation. The culture of many nations belongs to America. Among the greatest of these transfers is that of Spain.
THE AREA - NORTH CENTRAL NEW MEXICO
THE LAND-The upper Rio Grande Valley
Sunshine
Dry air
Clear blue skies
High elevation
(5,590 feet --- Española)
Terrain :
(Zia)
River valley Foothills and arroyos (dry stream beds)
Mountains: Sangre de Cristo
Range (Truchas Peak-13,255 feet) Jemez Range
. Taos Española .. Santa Cruz . Santa Fe
Vegetation :
Cactus, sage, piñon, juniper, ponderosa pine, fir-balsam Enchantment:
Ancient cliff dwellings
Present day pueblos (pottery, ceremonial dances)
Mixture of Indian, Spanish, and Anglo cultures
THE PEOPLE
Unique culture :
Indian-8% Spanish-American-35% Anglo-57%
Occupations :
Agriculture (beans, chile, alfalfa, fruit) using irrigation ditches and dams Arts :
Pueblo crafts: pottery
Chimayó weaving Santa Fé and Taos-Painting Nambe ware
Science and military: Los Alamos (atomic energy center)
White Sands (missiles) Air Force bases Tourism
Houses : Adobe (also the round outdoor ovens)
THE COMMUNITIES
Modern and old side by side
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Appendix B OÑATE AND SAN GABRIEL
"Near the junction of the Chama and the Rio Grande rivers, across the bridge from San Juan Indian Pueblo, the ruins of San Gabriel de los Españoles overlook a broad valley and encircling peaks. Here it was that Captain Juan de Oñate settled his colony July 11, 1598, after a journey of a thousand miles, requiring two years in the making and the expendi- ture of an approximate million dollars.1 The group of 400, including 130 soldiers, and 83 ox-drawn carts, had crossed the Rio Grande at 'El Paso del Norte.' After crossing the desert (called Jornada del Muerto, 'Val- ley of Death'), they finally reached friendly Indians and food at a place they named Socorro, or 'Succor."2 The slower supply trains arrived at San Gabriel a month after the soldiers.3 The royal banner of Spain waved over the temporary first capitol of New Mexico, a San Juan Indian house. Subsequently Oñate took possession of an abandoned pueblo on the west side of the Rio Grande, still known in tradition as Yunqueyungue. Here he erected his buildings. He named his settlement San Gabriel de los Españoles. The name was shortened as time passed and became Española, the name still borne by the present village which is a few minutes' drive from the original Oñate colony location. For some reason not yet entirely clear, after a dozen years or so, the administrative headquarters of San Gabriel de los Españoles was moved to Santa Fé."4
It must be remembered that all this was happening over 10 years before the founding of Jamestown and over twenty years before Plymouth Rock.
"At the time of its settlement, San Gabriel was a thousand miles from any other civilized community. It was the capital of a New Mexico extending from Mexico to the North Pole and from the eastern coast ranges to the Pacific."5
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