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Cover photoMajestic living welcomes story ideas and comments from readers.Email story ideas and comments to [email protected].

Celebrating the lifestyle, Communityand Culture of the Four Corners

MAGAZINE

publisher Don Vaughan

editor Cindy Cowan Thiele

designer Suzanne Thurman

writers Dorothy Nobis, Margaret Cheasebro,

Elizabeth Pettyjohn-Broten

photographers

Josh Bishop, Whitney Howle

sales staff

Shelly Acosta, Clint Alexander

administration

Lacey Waite

For advertising information

Call 505.516.1230

by Whitney howle.

Vol. 7, No. 3 ©2015 by Majestic Media. Majestic Living is a quarterly publication. Material herein may not be reprintedwithout expressed written consent of thepublisher. If you receive a copy that is torn or damaged call 505.516.1230.

Follow us on @MajesticMediaUSmajesticmediaUSA

contributorsMarGarEt ChEasEbro has been a freelancewriter for over 30 years. her articles have appeared in many magazines across the country.she was a correspondent for the albuquerquejournal and worked for several local newspapers. she has four published books ofchildren’s puppet scripts. a former elementaryschool counselor, she is a reiki Master and practices several alternative healing techniques.she enjoys playing table tennis.

josh bishoP is a graduate of san juan College with an associate degree in DigitalMedia arts and Design. he currently worksat Majestic Media as a video producer and photographer.

WhitNEy hoWlE was born and raised in Farmington and is proud to call san juan Countyhome. the richness of the landscape and the diverse people, culture and traditions are a photographer’s dream. Whitney has his ba in Visual Communication from Collins College intempe, ariz. he is a co-owner of howle Designand Photography—a family owned studio offering graphic design, photography, market research and consulting.

ElizabEth PEttyjohN-brotEN is a local freelance grant writer and resource DevelopmentCoordinator for the Four Corners Foundation. she enjoys cooking and traveling with her husband, Matt, raising her beautiful children and,while walking her yorkie, Nigel, contemplatinglife’s existential dilemmas.

Dorothy Nobis has been a writer and editor formore than 25 years. she authored a travel guide,the insiders Guide to the Four Corners, published by Globe Pequot Press, and has been a frequent contributor to New Mexico Magazine .


summerfeatures:

Debbie and Glen Vavras’ home is comfort-

able — and large enough for their family

and friends to gather and enjoy each other’s

company.

By Dorothy Nobis

Garden Oasis10

After returning home from a

two-day Creamland Dairy

milk run to the Navajo Reser-

vation in November 1972,

Milburn (Mac) McNamee

learned he had to go to

Animas Elementary School

that evening to talk about be-

coming a scoutmaster.

By Margaret Cheasebro

42 years as a

Scoutmaster27

When David Pierce was 14 his father bought a red trail bike

to carry on the back of the family’s motorhome. Pierce rode it

for the first time when his family visited him at Wasatch Academy

in Mount Pleasant, Utah, where he attended boarding school.


The Toy Department of Life16

In addition to being an artist, Michael Billie of Farmington has become a motivating force for American Indian

artists, challenging them to become more successful and business wise.


Creative motivator22

SUMMER 2015 | MAJESTIC LIVING | 9

Louise Miller sat comfortably in the kitchen of her home,

surrounded by memories and the things she loves. Dressed in

a mint green dress, her hair and makeup carefully done,

Miller shared stories of the more than 40 years she’s been

helping others.

By Dorothy Nobis

No signs of slowing down36

When Brenda Shepherd left

Dallas for Farmington she

expected a great adventure.

Compassion

and a sense

of humor48

Dave Schaefer’s golden voice and on air

personality have been making friends through

the radio for almost 40 years.

By Dorothy Nobis

40 Years on the air53

Dancing runs in this family!

The Winers, a local Farm-

ington family, have danced

their way into the hearts of

everyone they know.

Always

on the move58

Aerial Liese is an adjunct English professor and

writing tutor at San Juan College, happily

married, the mother of three children, and the

author of five books, the latest one coming

out this summer.


Faith and forgiveness42


Debbie and Glenn Vavras’ home is

comfortable – and large enough for their

family and friends to gather and enjoy

each other’s company.

The house sits on top of a hill and the

views are spectacular. There are 25 acres

of land surrounding the home, most of it

rocks and sagebrush. For a couple who

love to grow their own produce, the

rocks and the sagebrush present a prob-

lem, as does the sloping land atop of

which the home sits.

Always looking at challenges as oppor-

tunities, the Vavras have created a beauti-

ful oasis of gardens, along with a

greenhouse that encourages seeds to be-

come the fruits and vegetables the cou-

ple enjoys.

Glenn brings in soil for the multitude

of gardens that surround the house. The

compost includes chicken and cow ma-

nure, recycled paper, straw – but never

food scraps. “The chickens get the food

scraps,” Glenn said with a laugh. He

mixes the soil with compost in three large

cells, located just west of the green-

house. The greenhouse, however, is a

work of art – literally.

“All of the woodwork was done by

Glenn,” Debbie said proudly. The plants

are set in beautifully designed wood

planters. An intricately designed wooden

arch provides stability for vines, and the

story by Dorothy Nobis | Photos by Josh Bishop

Seed catalogs are like Christmas to Debbie and Glenn Vavras

oasis


pond that recycles water was created by huge

rocks. Many of the rocks have plants growing

out of them – because Glenn wanted greenery

mixed in with the rocks and the water, Debbie

explained.

Glenn drilled holes in the rocks and planted

seeds in the same mixture of soil and compost he

uses in his gardens. The rocks were placed around

the pond and, when the plants begin to grow, the

pond becomes more than just a recycling center

for water – it becomes art in motion.

The greenhouse is 40 feet high at the center

of its dome, with walls that are 18 feet high.

Ventilation keeps the air circulating.

Tomatoes, chiles, peppers, lettuce, cucum-

bers, kale, squash, carrots, cabbage, spinach,

and artichokes are just some of the many veg-

etables that get an early start in the greenhouse.

Fruit also is abundant in the Vavra gardens.

Raspberries, apricots, watermelon, and pump-

kins can be found and relished.

On the opposite side of the house are an

ever-increasing number of wooden flats that the

Vavras use for other vegetables. Carefully

groomed, and looking more like flower gardens

than vegetable gardens, the flats contain vegeta-

bles of every kind.

The Vavras look at seed catalogs the way

children do Christmas catalogs. They receive

many catalogs and “We order from all of them,”

Debbie said with a laugh.

The catalogs begin arriving in January, Deb-

bie said. “And we like looking at them,” Glenn

said, adding they usually order by the end of

February, and the seeds begin arriving in early

March.

Treva Fox-Christy IMSDAssociate Broker

4022 E. Main St.Farmington, NM 87402Office: 505-.325.4153Fax: 505.325.4205

Cell: [email protected]


A recent order included 67 different varieties

of squash. While the squash will “all taste about

the same,” Glenn admitted. “I just wanted to see

what they all look like. Some of them are orna-

mental, and I’ll have a hill of unusual squash.”

The fertilizer the Vavras use contains no chemi-

cals. “Good dirt is the key to good vegetables,”

Debbie said. “And we, as a country, need to start

worrying about our kids and the food they eat.

We enjoy our gardens and the food is healthier.”

Daily soap and water baths ensure the plants

are free of insects early in the growing season.

“And sunshine helps feed our plants,” Glenn said.

“We worry that one of these days we are going

to have to live on what we raise,” Debbie added.

“We have to know how and what to grow, and

our kids need to know that.”

The Vavras can most of the produce they raise

– and it all fills the large pantry in the equally

large kitchen of the home. Debbie has also

learned the art of pressure cooking,

“Once a week Glenn’s four daughters come

over because they want to learn pressure

cooking,” Debbie said. “And they all like to can –


cooking,” Debbie said. “And they all like to can – and we can everything! We

can corn bread, green chile stew, egg noodles, sauerkraut.” If they grow it,

they can it, she added with a laugh, adding that they raise 10 percent of the

food they eat.

The gardens consume much of the Vavras’ time during the spring. “It’s a lot

of effort and a lot of work, but once it’s going, it’s worth it,” Debbie said.

A lot of work and a lot of effort are the norm for the Vavras. Owners of

several businesses and parents of eight children and 17 grandchildren – all of

whom live close by – the couple enjoys family time. And family always comes

first.

The perfect spot for Glenn’s 67 kinds of squash was not considered for his

plants. “It’s where the kids play volleyball,” Debbie said, “so we picked another

place.”

Glenn created several play areas for the grandchildren and is building out-

door ovens so they family can enjoy homemade pizzas and bread.

It is rare when some of the children and grandchildren aren’t visiting, but

there is always something for lunch or dinner, thanks to the bounty of fruits and

vegetables that now grow in the “rocks and sagebrush” areas of years ago.

And while Debbie does occasionally think about doing less gardening and

more traveling, Glenn thinks only of how and where he can expand his gardens.

“My daughter has a place just down the road,” he said, gesturing to the

south. “I think I’ll start a garden there.”

“For her, of course,” he added, with little conviction.

Courte

sy ph

oto


When David Pierce was 14 his father bought a red trail bike to carry on

the back of the family’s motorhome. Pierce rode it for the first time when

his family visited him at Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, Utah, where he

attended boarding school.

“It sort of ran away with me from there,” Pierce said. “It was huge fun –

and still is.” He competed in his first race on The Bluffs in Farmington in

1969 at age 18.

Today, Pierce doesn’t confine himself to trail bikes in motocross races.

Two-thirds of his races are on pavement. His specialty is vintage racing be-

cause he enjoys the older motorcycles. Vintage bikes are “1974 and earlier

because that’s when the technology really started to change,” he explained.

“They’re easy to work on and fun to ride. It’s just a piece of history from

my youth. In a lot of cases with vintage racing, what you see are guys racing

bikes they had or wish they had back in the day.”

Story by Margaret Cheasebro | Photos by Josh Bishop

Racing, collecting and repairing motorcycles a lifelong pursuit for David Pierce

of life

The toydepartment

Retired bank board chairman

He has more time for motorcycles now that

he’s retired from being chairman of the board at

Citizens Bank. The last three years in a row he’s

been a national champion with the vintage club,

American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association,

or AHRMA. He won in the CPL Systems Formula

250 class. He got that title by racing in about 10

national road race events throughout the year

during which points are awarded based on each

rider’s finish.

“I was able to accumulate more points than

the next guy,” Pierce said. “That speaks to my

willingness to travel as much as anything.”

Last year, he competed in races in California,

Louisiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Alabama and

Utah. He keeps journals about his experiences in

his blog at www.motogeezer.com, describing such

things as RV breakdowns, personal injuries and

the accomplishments of fellow racers.

Injuries don’t stop him

“I’ve broken my shoulder,” he said. “I had

one pretty good concussion. I’ve had a broken

wrist and a broken collarbone. I never made it

past the emergency room, and I’ve never had a

cast.”

Injuries have not cooled his passion for racing.

In his 2,400-square-foot shop in Farmington he

works mostly on restoring his own motorcycles.

“One I’m doing as a favor for a friend,” he

said. “There’s another couple of guys who are

good racers that I repair bikes for, but mostly it’s

for my own amusement.”

Getting parts for the old bikes is no problem.

He either makes them or finds them through a

worldwide network of people. Once Pierce con-

tacts people in a search for parts, they often be-

come good friends. “The whole social thing and

the network is just a big part of it for me,” he

said.

Makes lifelong friends

One of those friends is Lynn Mobley, who

owns Bultaco Parts in Minden, Nev. Pierce didn’t

know Mobley when he called him about twenty

years ago, looking for motorcycle parts. Mobley

had what he was looking for, so Pierce stopped

by Mobley’s shop on his way to the West Coast.

He and Mobley got acquainted over lunch.

“He’s an easy going guy,” Mobley said. “We

got to be good friends. We talk on the phone al-

most daily. He’s welcome here anytime he

wants.”

When Mobley traveled this direction, he

stopped at Citizens Bank. “We met in the lobby

where there were people in three-piece suits,”

Mobley recalled. “A guy in shorts and a tank top

popped out of the elevator. It was David. He

grabbed me and took me to his office. He had

motorcycles there. One was leaking oil, and he

had a Wall Street Journal under it so the oil

wouldn’t get on the carpet.”

Another good friend is Ray McCarty of Man-

cos, Colo. Pierce maintains one of McCarty’s

bikes in his shop. McCarty was the first American

in the world to race motocross in Europe back in

the late 1950s and early 1960s, and he still

races.

“I can’t say enough good things about David,”

McCarty said.

Another friend, Damon Weems, added,

“David is an exceptional person in all the good

ways. For more than 30 years I have watched him

help those who could not help themselves, with

quiet generosity.”

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No trouble finding motorcycles

Pierce has no trouble finding the motorcy-

cles he repairs and races. “Sometimes people

just drop machines off and say, ‘Get it out of

my garage,’” he said. “It’s a whole process of

disassembly, renewal. Some of them are

restorations. Some are resurrections. One bike,

a 1975 Husqvarna 400 WR, was in line to go

through the shredder at a scrapyard in

Knoxville, Tennessee. Somebody called up a

racing buddy of mine, and he rescued it, but

he didn’t do anything with it. He told me, ‘Why

don’t you take it?’”

Pierce restored the motorcycle, and it

ended up in his museum across the street from

his shop with about 60 other vintage motorcy-

cles. “It turned out to be a very nice bike,”

Pierce said. “I’ve raced it a few times.”

Quality museum

Doug Sandefer, owner of Doug’s Kawasaki

in Farmington called Pierce’s museum quite im-

pressive. “I don’t know if you could find one

of that quality in Albuquerque,” he said.

“David is an awful nice guy. He’s had a lot

of success riding dirt bikes and vintage bikes.”

Added Sandefer’s wife, Pat, “He’s a gentle-

man, a really great person.”

Pierce’s 5,000-square-foot museum sits in

an old warehouse along railroad tracks that

once ran through town. When he finishes work-

ing on motorcycles that he owns, he moves

them from his shop to his museum. He still

races some of those bikes.

Knows motorcycles’ history

The 210-pound CanAm bike that won him

the AHRMA title the last three years in a row

has a place in the museum. He still races it, and

he knows its history.

“It’s a motorcycle that was produced by

Bombardier in Canada,” he said. “That’s the

company that builds Ski-Doos and that sort of

thing. They had a motorcycle division for

awhile from kind of 1971 to 1983. They built

some very nice off-road bikes, and a friend of

mine corrupted this one into a pavement bike.

It has a good feel, excellent horsepower. It’s

very rugged and very reliable.”

Partly because the CanAm has so few break-

downs, Pierce does well in the races. “It had

been a championship winning machine before,

so it was well thought out,” he explained.

Oldest cycle is 1924 Douglas

At some point, he knows he’ll have to stop

racing because of his age. When that time

comes, he’ll have the museum to occupy his

time. The oldest motorcycle there is a 1924

Douglas.

“It has a lot of bicycle DNA,” he said. “It

has a carbide headlight like the old miner’s

lamps.”

A friend of his had restored one, and Pierce

rode it at a bike show. “Riding it is very inter-

esting because it doesn’t have the controls as

we understand them,” he said. “Instead of a

throttle, it has a spark lever, an air lever and a

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fuel lever. I got the thing going and got the

levers where they needed to be, and it just tick-

led me.”

He was intrigued. Another friend had an unre-

stored 1924 Douglas, and Pierce jumped at the

chance to buy it. He intends to make sure the

bike runs and to preserve it in its present shape

because, he said, “it’s all right to look like it’s

80 years old.”

Preserves history of the sport

Ray McCarty thinks a lot of Pierce. “It’s fel-

lows like him who give most of their time and en-

ergy and resources to the sport of motorcycle

racing that preserve the history of the sport,” he

said. “He has quite a motorcycle collection. It’s

amazing that one person can do that. It’s almost

like a religion to him.”

Every motorcycle in Pierce’s museum has a

story. “This is the Husqvarna that I got from

Doug Sandefer in 1972,” he said. “It’s still here

and ready to go. That red tank with the chrome

– the first time I saw one it was like seeing a

spaceship. It was so trick and exotic.”

On some walls of the museum his motorcycles

sit three tiers deep on metal shelves. Pierce isn’t

planning to do much with those on the top

shelves.

“It’s a bit of a project to get them up and

down,” he said. “I have some guys come over

from Farmington Construction. They have a lift,

so we just make a morning of it.”

Many motorcycle brands

Among his motorcycles are brands that range

from Bultacos, Harley-Davidsons, and Suzukis to

Kawasakis, Husqvarnas and CanAms.

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In addition to being an artist, Michael Billie

of Farmington has become a motivating force

for American Indian artists, challenging them to

become more successful and business wise.

As an encaustic artist, Michael works with

bee’s wax and Damar tree resin to form a

medium with which he builds his creations. He

also teaches the method.

In his job as motivator, he works for the

N.A.T.I.V.E. (Navajo Artists Technology Innova-

tion and Vision Enterprise) Project to help

American Indian artists find greater success in

their artistic endeavors. The project is a three-

year grant administered by Capacity Builders,

Inc., a non-profit organization in Farmington.

He likes the opportunity to help artists.

Finding success as an artist, he said, is “ex-

tremely time consuming. It’s so discouraging,

because you’re going to get so many rejec-

tions. You’ve just got to keep plugging at it.

Working with artists is exhausting but gratify-

ing. The ones who want it bad enough will

keep doing it. Others will give up after

awhile.”

Powerful motivator

Local sculptor Ambrose Teasyatwho thinks

Michael is a powerful motivator.

“He twisted my arm and kicked me,” Am-

brose said with a laugh. He says, ‘You’re not

going to this show? Why is that?’ It made me

think I should be doing these shows. You need

guidance, and he’s there. It’s a blessing for

somebody to do what he’s doing. He’s not bi-

ased. He’s fair. It’s in his heart that he wants to

do a good job.”

The N.A.T.I.V.E Project helps to pay artists’

registration fees at festivals, fairs and art

shows, as well as vendor booth fees. It pro-

vides a mentorship program in which artists are

paired with successful painters, film makers,

sculptors and weavers to learn how to run a

successful business. It provides microloans and

builds websites with online stores for artists. It

also offers business management workshops.

Helping Michael with the project are grant

administrator Josey Foo and intern Kaylaya

McKinney.


Story by Margaret Cheasebro | Photos by Whitney Howle

Michael Billie helps American Indian artists find success

Creativemotivator


Serves developmental needs

The main goal of Capacity Builders, which

was founded in 1995, is to serve the develop-

mental needs of non-profit organizations,

tribes, individuals, and government agencies all

over the country, equipping them with what

they need to create jobs, find economic inde-

pendence, wellness and abundance.

“Our goal for the N.A.T.I.V.E. Project is to

increase business opportunities for Native

American artisans,” said Capacity Builders Ex-

ecutive Director Rachel Nawrocki.

Reconnects with his language

Michael’s work with artists has helped him

to reconnect with his own Navajo language. He

used to speak it fluently, but by the time he

was in his 20s, he had forgotten it.

Born in Gallup on Feb. 25, 1968, he grew

up with his parents in Naschitti, where the only

language they spoke was Navajo. He graduated

from Highland High School in Albuquerque in

1985, attended the University of New Mexico

in Albuquerque for two years and the Art Cen-

ter, also in Albuquerque, for two more years,

where he earned an associate degree in

graphic design.

He got completely away from any contact

with the Navajo language after he graduated

from the Art Center and spent two years in

Washington, D.C. There, he worked two weeks

for a commercial design house that was exper-

imenting with doing design projects in-house

instead of farming them out. When the experi-

ment didn’t work, Michael was out of a job.

Sends out resumés

For almost two years he sent out resumés,

knocked on doors, and went for many inter-

views, but no one was hiring, so he returned

to Albuquerque. Back in Albuquerque, a D.C.

company called to offer him a job, but by

then it was too late. He found a job as a page

designer at The Daily Times in Farmington.

“I didn’t think I would last because I’m not

a rural type,” he said. “In the beginning it was

hard, but it eventually grew on me. I like it

here now.”

He worked there for several years before

finding employment at Majestic Media. Later,

he returned part time to The Daily Times while

pursuing his encaustic art on the side. He

joined Capacity Builders in the fall of 2014 to

help American Indian artists find success.

Visits artists on rez

In his role at Capacity Builders he visits

artists on the reservation. “A lot of them come

up to me and say ‘hello’ in Navajo or try to

talk to me in Navajo, and I say, ‘I’m sorry. I

lost it.’ A very, very little of it is coming back.

I can recognize certain words now, but speak-

ing it is another matter.” He often takes photo

shoots of artists for a website and online store

he will build for them. He taught himself web

design, applying some of the skills he’d

learned at The Daily Times, where he used

Quark XPress and Page Design programs.

“The templates are the same, the drag and

drop, the text boxes, they’re basically the

same format,” he said.

Mostly self-taught

Teaching himself new skills comes naturally

to Michael. That’s how he began learning

about encaustic art. He first saw it at a gallery

in Albuquerque. “I didn’t know what it was,”

he said. “I looked at this one painting, and

you could look into it. I thought it was glass. I

didn’t know you could work that way with

wax.”

When he got home and googled it, he be-

came fascinated by encaustic art. He began

gathering tools and experimenting with it.

After a year, he knew he was doing something

wrong, so he took a couple of workshops


from artists in Santa Fe and Tucson.

“I discovered there were a lot of things I was

not doing the right way,” he said.

Melting process time consuming

The process is time consuming. He buys 55

pounds of bee’s wax, because it’s cheaper to

buy in bulk. He also purchases Damar resin,

which is as hard as a rock. He mixes six cups of

bee’s wax to one cup of Damar resin, puts them

in a big pot and slowly melts them down. “If you

melt it too fast, it’s going to burn the wax,” he

said. “Once the wax is burned, it’s depleted

down so it’s not usable.”

It takes him about two hours to complete the

melting process. “I have these muffin tins and

mini-loaf pans all over the counter to pour the

mixture into,” he said. “It has to cool down and

solidify, and that’s my medium. When I’m ready

to use it, I have a big pancake griddle, and I put

some medium on it and melt it down. I add my

pigment to it, and then it’s called encaustics.”

He pours the wax mixture on a hard surface,

such as a wood panel. The melted wax fuses to

the panel. He continues to add wax until he has

about 20 layers. “That’s how I make my sur-

face,” he said. “From there I usually add embell-

ishments like bundles and sticks and sand and

maybe an image transfer.” He even uses gourds.

Mother was a weaver

He created a series of encaustic art that he

called “A Navajo Rug,” in honor of his mother,

Evelyn Billie, who was a weaver for many years.

As a child, Michael helped her with her weaving,

including spindling the yarn. She used to weave

purses.

“I was really proud of her, because I think she

was one of the first crafters to do those purses,”

he said. “As it started to grow and evolve, other

Native American ladies started copying her in

making those bags. Then she began making

clutches.”

The encaustic series he made in her honor

contains hints of Native rug designs.

Improves his skills

Since he began doing encaustic art eight years

ago, he continues to attend workshops to im-

prove his skills, including the International En-

caustic Confere in Provincetown, Mass. Locally

he has taught encaustic workshops at the Three

Rivers Art Center in Farmington.

His artistic endeavors help him to understand

better how to work with artists who come to the

N.A.T.I.V.E. Project seeking help.

“You have to be very patient, because they’re

just so all over the place,” he said with a smile.

“You have to keep their mind on things. I need

this. I need it. It’s past deadline. Sometimes I

feel like I’m herding cats. But it’s fun. It’s very

rewarding.”

Builds websites

Some artists want him to build them a web-

site, but they don’t know how to use a com-

puter and don’t have one. They just want to sell

online. “They’re eager, but it takes a lot of edu-

cating, especially on the reservation,” he said

He built a website for clothing designer

Jolonzo Goldtooth of Huerfano, who has been

featured in a New York City fashion show and is

scheduled to be interviewed in Los Angeles by

Project Runway.

“He’s taking it all the way to the bank,”

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Michael said. “If he gets on Project Runway,

that’s going to blow up his career. He’s going

back to New York this fall.”

Jolonzo credited Michael with helping him

get interviews at local and regional magazines

and newspapers shortly before he had his

first fashion show in New York City in Febru-

ary.

“He’s helping me develop a website,”

Jolonzo said. “He got me connected with out-

side sources.”

Travels to spread the word

So far, Michael has built websites for nine

artists, and is in the process of building six

more. He spends part of his time traveling in

New Mexico and surrounding states to spread

the word about the N.A.T.I.V.E. Project and

what it has to offer. A lot of his job is net-

working.

While he was looking for mentors to give

artists guidance, he contacted painter Tony

Abeyta, who lives in both California and New

Mexico.

“I sent him a blind invite to be a mentor

and decided to see what happened,” Michael

said. “I didn’t hear from him for a couple of

weeks. Then I got an email from him. He said,

‘This sounds interesting, tell me more, here’s

my number.’ So I called him, and we talked

for a little bit. He said, ‘Yeah, I’m interested.

I’m always willing to help up-and-coming.’”

Tony gave him the names of artists who

have studios in Flagstaff and Tucson, Ariz.

Michael went there and, with the help of

those contacts, spoke to many artists about

the N.A.T.I.V.E. Project and what it has to

offer. He’s been to the Hopi Center in Arizona

several times, and the project recently hired a

photographer to do photo shoots with several

artists there who want Michael to build them a

website with an online store.

Artists in group shows

Some artists involved with the N.A.T.I.V.E.

Project will be included in a group show

Michael curated at the Encaustic Art Institute

during Indian Market throughout the month of

August at the Railyard District in Santa Fe.

Michael will conduct a workshop there about

encaustic art.

“Being able to get them into a show in

Santa Fe is great exposure for them, and re-

warding,” he said.

Michael also helps with business manage-

ment workshops for artists. He assisted with

one in April at the Indian Cultural Center in

Albuquerque before Gathering of the Nations.

He is low key about his work with the

N.A.T.I.V.E. Project. “I’m just winging it as I

go,” he said. “This is something that’s proba-

bly never been done, so all of us – we’re just

maneuvering through it. We want it to work.

We’re excited about it. We think it’s a great

program.”

for great entertainment at the

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Exile&Juice Newton

Friday, Aug. 14


“It’s a little intimidating to follow in his footsteps. Mac is aselfless individual. He gives ofhimself all the time.

— Russ Benson


After returning home from a two-day

Creamland Dairy milk run to the Navajo Reser-

vation in November 1972, Milburn (Mac) Mc-

Namee learned he had to go to Animas

Elementary School that evening to talk about

becoming a scoutmaster.

His oldest son, Ed, was 11 and wanted to

join Boy Scouts but couldn’t find a troop he

liked. McNamee and his wife, Frances, had dis-

cussed the situation earlier. She volunteered

him for scoutmaster, and the rest is history.

McNamee retired in 2014 after serving 42

years as a scoutmaster. Ed eventually became a

scoutmaster himself.

In all those years with Troop 321, McNamee

has seen 80 boys become Eagle Scouts.

Though he’s retired, he still sits on three scout-

ing committees, one that oversees the paper-

work of Eagle Scout candidates. At 83, he

plans to camp out in a tent with the scouts this

summer.

Always another Eagle candidate

McNamee isn’t sure why he stayed in scout-

ing so long. “I did it while my son was in

scouts,” he said. “When he grew out of it, I

just stayed on. I always had this bunch of boys

that was working on their Eagle. I’d say, ‘When

they leave, I’ll stop.’ Well, then there was an-

other group working on their Eagle.”

When he first became scoutmaster, Mc-

Namee had no idea what he was doing. He’d

never been a scout himself because his parents

were in poor health, and he worked so many

hours while going to high school to support his

family that he didn’t have time or gas money

to attend scout meetings.

When he met with the Animas Elementary

School PTA and the scouting district director

back in 1972, he took on the challenge of

being scoutmaster anyway.

Gets trained on the fly

“The scout meeting was the next week, and

I had three boys,” McNamee recalled. “The

next week the district executive quit, and they

didn’t have another district executive for

about a year.”

So he called a lady who worked at the

scout office in Albuquerque. “I’d call her and

say, ‘I did so and so. Now what do I do next

week?’ She’d tell me what to do. That’s how I

got trained. They finally got a district execu-

tive, and I went up to his house on 24th Street

and sat down in the middle of his living room

one Saturday night, and I got trained by him.”

Three years after the troop started, three of

its members became Eagle Scouts: Ed Mc-

Namee, Tom Johnson and Billy Schaaphok.

Elks Lodge sponsors Troop 321

Troop 321 has had several sponsors. When

the Animas Elementary School PTA went out of

business, the Optimist Club sponsored the

troop until that club went out of business. For

about 35 years, it’s been sponsored by the

Elks Lodge.

Elks USA will present McNamee with the

Marvin M. Lewis Award during a special presen-

tation in Indianapolis, Ind., on July 6. A letter

from the Grand Lodge Activities Committee

noted, “Your work in Scouting and in Elkdom

has been outstanding,”

High standards as scoutmaster

McNamee had high standards as a scoutmas-

ter. When people saw a well set-up tent or

camp or noticed something well organized,

they called it a “321 operation,” because

Troop 321 scouts were known for their excel-

lent performance.

But he didn’t always go by the book. At

McNamee’s Retirement Court of Honor on

Sept. 13, 2014, one of his former scouts, John

Goodman, noticed that adult leaders wore

Black Sheep Patrol patches which McNamee

had ordered for them.

In a book of memories he created about

McNamee and his own scouting years, Good-

man wrote, “The adults that served under

Mr. McNamee did not do some things by the

book if there was an alternative approach that

was more efficient. They were innovative and

unconventional, doing things their own way at

times while still adhering to Boy Scout stan-

dards.”

42 YEARS AS A SCOUTMASTER

Story by Margaret Cheasebro | Photos by Whitney Howle

Selfless Mac McNamee has put a lot of kids on the right track


Midnight requisitioning

For example, most scouts arrived on Sunday

to attend week-long events at Camp Frank Rand,

now called Gorham Scout Ranch, near Chimayo.

Members of Troop 321 came a day early so they

could go through uninhabited camp sites and ex-

change their tents, fire buckets and other equip-

ment in poor condition for better ones.

Goodman recalled, “Mr. McNamee called this

‘liberating’ or ‘midnight requisitioning’.”

His laid-back, unconventional ways may be

one reason why there was standing room only at

the Tyckson Scout Hut in Farmington when Mc-

Namee retired and handed over Troop 321

scoutmaster duties to Russ Benson.

Selfless individual

“It’s a little intimidating to follow in his foot-

steps,” Benson said. “Mac is a selfless individual.

He gives of himself all the time. I’ve known Mac

since 1998 when he was my mentor in scouting.

He always set me on the right track. He was the

scoutmaster for both of my boys, who were Ea-

gles.”

Cub Scout den leader and member of the

Eagle Board Amy Henkenius calls herself one of

McNamee’s biggest fans. “Mac has a way of work-

ing with people that brings out the best in

them,” she said. “He works with both youth and

adults. My husband, Mike, used not to be outgo-

ing. Mac asked him to work with six boys teach-

ing a small skill. Now Mike teaches skills to 200

people. Mac builds people up slowly in a way

they don’t realize it’s happened.”

Besides working with Troop 321, McNamee

was involved with many other scouting activities,

among them the Order of the Arrow, or OA,

Crow Chapter, part of Lodge 66 Yah-Tah-Hey-

Si-Kess. He guided many of his scouts to be ac-

tive in it, too.

No hazing or bullying

He also encouraged them to attend Troop

Leader Development at Gorham Scout Ranch,

where they learned leadership skills and team-

work. During scouting events, he had older

scouts help younger ones to develop leadership

skills, and he insisted that all boys treat each

other with respect. He tolerated no hazing or

bullying, and some scouts transferred to Troop

321 from other troops because of that, Good-

man noted.

Because McNamee wanted scouts and their

leaders to focus on advancement and on learning

scout skills, he decided the troop would own no

camping gear. Instead, scouts owned their own

gear and learned to be responsible for it. As a

result, the troop wasn’t burdened by fund-raising

activities. That may be why they had at least 190

campouts, attended 42 summer camps, went to

four national jamborees, one world jamboree,

and participated in a host of other scout activi-

ties.

Camp near McNamee’s cabin

Some of those campouts occurred near the

McNamees’ cabin 20 miles north of Durango at

Hermosa Cliffs, where scouts hiked, skied and

enjoyed other outdoor activities.

“We had a mountain lion out behind the

cabin,” Frances recalled with a smile. “It would

yowl. When the scouts came up, it was late at

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night, so they set up their tents in the dark. I told

one of the assistant scoutmasters, ‘There’s a

mountain lion up there.’ He said, ‘It will have to

take care of itself. I’ve got these boys.’”

Scouts learned survival skills during some cam-

pouts. One skill was building a snow cave and

spending the night in it. They also learned how to

eat insects. During one summer camp, scout

Richard Morehead, son of Ralph and Annette

Morehead, became concerned when he saw an

ant in his tent. He called out to McNamee,

“There’s an ant in my tent. What shall I do with

it?”

Recalling the story, McNamee replied, “Eat it.”

To which Richard responded, “Should I bite off

its head first?”

Morehead went on to attend the U.S. Air

Force Academy in Colorado Springs, where he

sailed through survival training and had a long,

successful Air Force career.

Plays tricks on scouts

McNamee enjoyed playing tricks on the scouts.

One evening at Gorham Scout Ranch, scouts

camped at Sacrifice Rock. McNamee made up

stories about how people’s and animals’ heads

were cut off on that rock. Before he began the

story, he’d rigged up a nine-volt battery with

some steel wool hooked to two long wires at-

tached to a switch that he placed in a nearby

tree. At the scariest part of the story he reached

his hand into the tree and told the scouts, “Look,

a fire started over there,” Then he popped the

switch, and the steel wool caught fire just as he

planned.

“The kids all took off running in the woods,”

he said with a chuckle. “I was hunting kids for

quite awhile. I didn’t do that again.”

Scouts learn skills

McNamee spends a lot of time training scouts

so they know how to perform many camping

skills.

“You stand around and ask if the boy needs

help,” he said. “You go over and explain to him

and show him how to put up a tent. Then you

tear everything back down and say, ‘Now you put

up the tent.’ Then you stand back and watch. The

next time you don’t have to, because they know

how to do it.”

Frances, who is a Girl Scout leader and sup-

ported her husband’s scouting interest, nodded.

“What Mac does a lot is take the parents for a

walk so the kids will do what has to be done

themselves, because most of the parents are used

to taking care of their kids,” she said. “It’s the

scoutmaster’s job to take the parents on a walk

so that the next time the kid goes camping, he’ll

say, ‘Dad, get out of here, I can do it.’”

Pitch tents in dark

Because McNamee worked late on his route as

a Creamland Dairy deliveryman, often he

didn’t get home until 6 p.m. During scout

meetings, he’d turn off the lights and teach kids

how to pitch a tent in the dark.

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“We’d roll the tents up and put them in a sack,

and the scouts had to get them out of the sack,” he

said. “They got so they could set them up in 65

seconds. If they messed it up, we put it back in the

bag and they had to get it out again. We practiced

that.”

Once when Frances was reviewing a scout for ad-

vancement to Tenderfoot, she asked him, “What did

you learn in the troop?” Frances’ eyes sparkled as

she remembered his reply. “I learned that you never,

never go camping in the daylight. You have to put

your tent up in the dark or you can’t put it up

straight.”

National jamboree

During McNamee’s first national jamboree, he

took 36 scouts along, including 10 from the Navajo

Reservation. Personnel from the CBS network chil-

dren’s program, Razz Ma Tazz, came to film the

Navajo scouts. The CBS crew separated the Navajos

from the rest of the scouts to conduct the interview,

and McNamee accompanied them. When one crew

member urged the boys to speak in Navajo, they

didn’t want to. But instead of refusing, one scout,

from Dzilth-Na-O-Dith-Hle, said in Navajo exactly

what he thought about the request.

After the crew left, the scout turned to Mc-

Namee. “Are they going to show that on TV?” Mc-

Namee replied, “That was the idea behind it.” With

a gulp, the scout said, “I sure hope my parents

don’t hear what I said.” McNamee recalled, “I knew

what he said, and it wasn’t pretty.”

McNamee went on to attend three more national

jamborees in 1981, 1985 and 1989 and an interna-

tional jamboree in Canada in 1983, taking many

scouts with him from this area.

Son brags on dad’s record

McNamee’s scout experiences made a big impres-

sion on his son, Ed. “When I think of Boy Scouts, I

always think of my dad,” he said. “He committed an

enormous amount of time and energy to the troop

and all other aspects of scouting. To this day I still

brag on his record for nights camping, attendance at

summer camp and the number of Eagles that his

troop has produced. Scout Vespers says, in part:

Silently each Scout should ask, have I done my daily

task? Have I kept my honor bright? Can I guiltless

sleep tonight? The answer to each of those for Dad

is a resounding, ‘Yes!’”

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302 W. Main St., Farmington, NM


Louise Miller sat comfortably in the

kitchen of her home, surrounded by

memories and the things she loves.

Dressed in a mint green dress, her hair

and makeup carefully done, Miller shared

stories of the more than 40 years she’s

been helping others. She had just re-

turned home after facilitating a grief sup-

port group she and her friend, Jeanne

Berhost, started three years ago.

That support group came after Miller

suffered the devastating loss of her

beloved husband, Max, on Oct. 14,

2010.

The day had been a good one, Miller

remembered. “We had a wonderful day,”

she said, her eyes misting with tears.

“Every night, we said the rosary together

before bed. That night (after preying the

rosary), he walked around the bed and

told me how much he loved me.”

Max got into bed, but had a difficult

time getting comfortable. Miller was ad-

justing the blankets for him, when he

gasped for breath. Thinking he was having

a stroke, Miller called a friend, who

called 911. With Max in the care of para-

medics in the ambulance, Miller went to

the hospital with her friend.

“A feeling came over me,” she said.

“An awesome, beautiful feeling came over

me.”

The beautiful feeling turned to anger

when the nurses at the hospital wouldn’t

let her into the room to see her husband.

Not long after, the doctor came out of

the room, knelt down beside her and

said they couldn’t save Max.

Her husband, her best friend, and the

love of her life was gone. What remained,

however, was her faith

“That was a very difficult time in my

life,” Miller said quietly. “I thank God for

my faith. That helped me get through it.”

Support groupThe first year after Max’s death was ex-

tremely difficult, she said. “but the sec-

ond year was much harder. The realization

(that Max was gone) finally hit. There was

no one to help me get through it.”

Jeanne Berhost suggested to Miller that

they start a grief support group. After re-

searching the idea and recognizing the

need, Berhest and Miller got the word

out and the group began to meet. Peo-

ple who were struggling to get through

the death of a spouse, a child, or a fam-

ily member came to St. Mary’s Catholic

Church hoping for help from the support

group. While many came because of the

death of a loved one, it’s not just death

that causes grief to people, Miller said.

“Broken relationships can make us feel

like we’ve lost our identity,” she said.

“And society today doesn’t really allow us

to grieve. Whether it’s a family member, a

job, a relationship or the death of a pet,

losing someone or something you love

hurts.”

By turning her attention to helping

others through their grieving process,

Miller said she has healed herself. Talking

about the loss, sharing the multitude of

emotions that go with it and praying for

Story by Dorothy Nobis | Photos by Josh Bishop

NO SIGNSof slowing down

At 75 Louise Miller teaches computer classes with kindness, patience


emotions that go with it and praying for ac-

ceptance, the members of the group begin

to heal. Miller is glad to be part of that

group.

Grief causes people to build walls to pro-

tect themselves from further pain and to

close doors, because opening them and

dealing with what’s on the other side is

frightening, Miller said. “It’s painful to share

your hurt with others,” she said, “but its all

part of the healing process.”

Opening doors

Miller said she continues to benefit from

the group. “I have doors I still don’t want to

open either,” she said, adding that people

can’t fully move on from grief until they re-

cover from it. Opening those doors, as diffi-

cult as it might be – even for her – is the

answer to moving on.

Miller’s love of helping others extends be-

yond the grief support group, however.

Miller has been a teacher for more than

40 years. She has taught Confraternity of

Christian Doctrine classes for more than 40

years – and has been teaching CCD at St.

Mary’s since the mid-’80s. In addition, she

has taught ENCORE classes at San Juan Col-

lege since 2008 and a computer basic class

for the Center for Workforce Training for

several years as well.

Miller retired from San Juan College in

2007, after serving as an instructional asso-

ciate for business and computers in the sci-

ence department.

Teaching computers at 75

“I think God gave me a special gift as a

teacher and I have a lot of knowledge to

share,” she said. “I love the ENCORE classes.

Senior (citizens) have to know how to oper-

ate computers today.”

While all teachers prepare lesson plans for

their students, Miller goes a step further. “I

write my own handbook,” she said, adding

the books she had been given to use were

difficult to understand. “Every year, I update

the handbook, because every year technol-

ogy changes.”

At almost 75 years of age, Miller is older

than most of her students. The average age

of her ENCORE students is between 60 and

65, and her Center for Workforce Training

students are slightly younger.

Brenda Blevins was one of Miller’s stu-

dents. “At the age of 42, I enrolled in San

Juan College to learn the basics of using a

computer,” Blevins said. “Since I wasn’t fa-

miliar or comfortable with the computer and

the classes moved very fast, I was totally

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overwhelmed. So I began to stay after classes to

work in the computer labs and that is when I met

Louise Miller.”

“The day I met Louise changed my attitude on

whether I was capable of going back to school.

She was there to tutor me for all of my computer

classes and with her help, I not only passed the

classes with an A but I learned so much more. My

self-confidence improved so much that I applied

to San Juan College for an administrative assistant

position,” Blevins added. “I have had a successful

career for 13 years at San Juan College and I

consider myself very fortunate for having a

chance to be taught by Louise.”

Nancy Sisson is the director for the Center for

Workforce Training and has worked with Miller

for many years. “Louise has been invaluable with

editing the MS Office Excel and Word curriculum

at the Center for Workforce Training,” Sisson

said.

“She knows what is important for our students

to learn, that is applicable to their specific work

needs. She makes the students feel at ease in her

classroom and encourages them with her patient,

considerate manner.”

“We are so blessed to have her,” Sisson added

of Miller. “She is priceless to us.”

Keeping up with the latest technology for her

classes is demanding, but fun, Miller said, and she

loves her students. “I was going to quit in January

of 2010, and stay home, but Max talked me out

of it,” she said. “He passed later that year and it

(teaching) was a blessing for me. I needed to be

with people and I thank God for putting me

there. I enjoy helping people live better lives.”

Miller’s enjoyment of helping others extends

to the children in her CCD classes. The children

are fourth graders and “They love me!” Miller

said with pride.

Making a difference

“I want to make a difference in their lives,”

she said, explaining why she continues to teach

the classes after more than 40 years. “In this

troubled world we live in, children need to have

positive role models. I teach them the ‘number

one’ rule – respect. Kids are just wonderful little

people.”

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In addition to her classes, her support group,

her constant research of computer technology

and maintaining the home she and Max bought

years ago, Miller also sews and is a painter. She’s

been sewing since she was in the fifth grade and

taught adult sewing classes for years. She and Max

were painters, and she still enjoys it. “I like to

paint, but I don’t have time,” she said.

Her hobby room is filled with fabric, patterns,

paints, brushes – and an ironing board. “God has

given me talented hands,” she said.

With little time to “spare,” Miller is content

with her life. “I’m almost 75 and I’m having so

much fun,” she said. “I love my life. I love my

children and my grandchildren. I’m a senior (citi-

zen) and I hurt (physically) too, but I still keep

going and growing as much as I can.”

Patient and kind

With a mother who is 95 years old and still

lives alone and takes care of herself, Miller is

confident she’ll be teaching and changing lives for

years to come. “I’ve got at least 20 more years

left and I’ll continue to teach until I decide it’s

time to quit.”

“I’m a blessed person,” Miller added. “And I

want to give back to God’s world what He’s given

to me.”

Miller’s students have high praise for their

teacher, said Liesl Dees, director of the San Juan

College Learning Center that offers the ENCORE

program. “The two words that appear over and

over on Louise’s evaluations from students are

‘patience’ and ‘kindness,’” Dees said. “She meets

student’s right at their current skill level without

any judgment and walks them through computer

processes until the light bulb clicks and they’ve

mastered new tasks.”

“For our Encore students, this lack of judgment

puts them at ease and opens up new worlds on

the computer,” Dees added. “Louise is also an

inspiration to our Encore students. As someone in

their chronological peer group, they see the pos-

sibilities of being at ease with technology.

Whether learning to communicate with grandchil-

dren, developing the skills to fill out online appli-

cations or creating personal documents, Louise

has helped students fulfill dreams—all the time

with a smile on her face.”

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Aerial Liese is an adjunct English professor

and writing tutor at San Juan College, happily

married, the mother of three children, and the

author of five books, the latest one coming

out this summer.

Her success is a tribute to her choice to sur-

vive in spite of a traumatic childhood that left

many scars. They didn’t begin healing until she

sought help from a local psychotherapist and

took advice from her dying sister, Jane, to for-

give quickly, love deeply, and live thankfully

with purpose.

Her newest book, Three Promises for Jane,

is being published by Tate Publishing of Mus-

tang, Okla. It tells the story of her life, from

staring at the brink of madness to finding

wholeness.

Mind in deep, dark pit

Jane died of AIDS at the age of 33, the gift

of a lover who abandoned her and left her

pregnant with twin boys born with HIV. Sexu-

ally and physically abused as a child, Jane

found meaning by protecting Aerial, who was a

year younger. As Jane lay dying, she gave Aer-

ial wise council after Aerial confided that her

body felt in one place and her mind in a

deep, dark pit.

“You are angry and have every right to be,”

Jane said, “but the longer you hold onto the

anger, the longer you’ll be stuck in the pit. No-

body can pull you out but you. You have al-

ways been God’s idea, meant for a purpose,

just like me and my children, but you won’t ful-

fill it (the purpose) if you can’t let go of the

past.”

However, Aerial wasn’t ready to let go. The

memories were too vivid, the anger, the sense

of guilt and worthlessness, too strong.

Born with many problems

Aerial came into the world in Oakley,

Kansas, on March 4, 1973, with many chal-

lenges. A colicky infant, she was born cross-

eyed, to a mother who did drugs when she was

pregnant with Aerial. She never knew her fa-

ther but heard he spent time in prison for

armed robbery.

Uncertain what to do with her difficult child

amid her own challenging circumstances, Aer-

ial’s mother gave the baby to Aerial’s aunt and

uncle. They already had seven children, five

boys and two girls, all ages 10 and under. Aer-

ial called them her brothers and sisters and ad-

dressed her new parents as Mother and Pops.

She knew her real mother only as Aunt Bubby,

who visited her several times and showered her

with love but never stayed long.

Mother was emotionally and physically ab-

sent, and Pops drank heavily. The children

were often neglected and physically and ver-

bally abused. Aerial bonded with her two sis-

ters, Jane and Lee. They became inseparable

and promised to always be there for each

other, often telling each other, “I promise with

your promise.”


FaithForgiveness

and

Letting go of the past forges bright future for Aerial LieseStory by Margaret Cheasebro | Photos by Josh Bishop

Brothers ridicule her

When Aerial learned to talk it became apparent

that she had a stuttering problem, and she strug-

gled to make the correct sounds for certain letter

combinations. Her brothers ridiculed her and

chanted, “Mickey Mouse! Mickey Mouse! Who’s the

dummy of the house?” In school a learning disabil-

ity and emotional instability at home made it hard

for her to sit still, focus and retain information. She

repeated kindergarten twice.

Aerial had no idea she’d been given away by her

mother until she was 4, when one of her brothers

told her the truth.

“You don’t belong here,” he concluded. “You’re

not one of us.”

There was little supervision in the large family,

and Mother often left them alone during the day.

When Pops came home from work at the slaughter

house and found the house in a mess, kids unsuper-

vised, and no meal prepared, he screamed at his

wife and kids, sometimes swiping them across the

face with his huge hands.

Many moves

In her book, Aerial recounts many different

moves, some of them traumatic, as she had to leave

friends and school programs she loved. When

Mother ran off with another man and left Pops

with all the children, he never recovered, and the

household descended into even greater chaos. A

series of different living arrangements followed,

with Pops, with Grandma, or with Mother and her

new husband.

Men were attracted to Jane, and early on they

looked at her in ways that disturbed Aerial. On

many occasions, Jane’s uncles sexually molested

Jane, who locked Aerial in a closet to keep her

safe. Aerial wanted to rescue her sister, and for

many years she carried deep guilt, shame and a

sense of unworthiness because she failed to protect

her beloved sister.

Keeps a journal

As a child, she began journaling her experiences

and thoughts. Getting the feelings onto paper

helped her cope. As the journals multiplied, she

had to throw some away for lack of space. Later

she threw away more for fear that people would

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Today, she encourages everyone to journal.

“You’re getting things out, and you see patterns

of thought,” she said. “If I see patterns in my be-

havior or my thinking, it helps me. ‘Maybe I need

to stop doing this.’”

Develops suicidal symptoms

Over the years, Aerial developed suicidal

symptoms, hallucinated, was bulimic and anorexic

and developed unhealthy perfectionistic tenden-

cies. Her first suicide attempt at age 14 left her

throwing up after taking Pepto-Bismol and pills.

No one knew what she’d done. Four months later

she began cutting herself with broken glass to

provide short-term relief from deep emotional

pain. No one seemed to suspect she had an eat-

ing disorder or suicidal thoughts. She felt unwor-

thy of love, guilty and full of shame.

As a freshman in high school in Oklahoma, she

ran seven or eight miles in the morning

before breakfast to stay thin. Sometimes she

blacked out from hunger and mental anguish. By

then she had become a model student and ex-

celled in school. Her second suicide attempt oc-

curred at age 16 when she jogged one morning

and decided to throw herself into traffic. Before

she could do it, she heard Jane’s voice in her

head as clearly as though her sister ran beside

her. “You can’t leave me! We promised with a

promise, no matter what.” It convinced her to

fight to stay alive.

Seeks help from counselor

She sought help from a high school counselor,

who reported to Mother that she was suicidal.

Mother chastised her for revealing family secrets

and sent Aerial to live with Pops in a tiny trailer

in Spencerville between Aztec and Flora Vista.

Jane had been living with Pops for some time,

but not long after Aerial arrived, Jane moved to

Virginia.

Aerial attended Aztec High School during her

junior and senior years. Pops’ deteriorating alco-

holism and his unwillingness to change led Aerial

to leave home. She stayed with a friend for

awhile, then slept and showered in the school

gym until she reached out to high school coun-

selor Jerry Parker for help. He bent over back-

ward to help her find a home, job, and treat-

ment program for her anorexia, but she wasn’t

ready to change. She graduated from high school

in 1992.

Problems continue in college

Her mental anguish and feelings of guilt over

leaving Pops continued when she attended San

Juan College. Through the college’s cooperative

arrangement with other universities, Aerial earned

her bachelor’s degree in education and her mas-

ter’s degree in special education while dealing

with an on-again off-again relationship with the

man she met when she was 19.

In Sept. 1994, she married him. He was a heavy

drinker like Pops. She divorced him seven years

later, then remarried him three more times before

she divorced him for the last time in 2012. She

kept trying to make it work because she believed

God could do anything, including change her mar-

riage. She finally recognized that the relationship

was doomed because during a period of mania

during her first marriage, she’d had an affair, and

her husband could never forgive her. She began to

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heal, thanks to help from a local psychotherapist

and her own determination to get well.

Decides to be a teacher

She chose to become a teacher so she could

help students with challenging lives. “When I see a

student who’s struggling, I can relate to that,” she

said. “I tell them, ‘I know this is frustrating right

now and you feel like you’re never going to get

it, but you will. You just have to practice, and you

have to keep at it. Don’t give up.’” She gives her

students a lot of the strategies that worked for

her.

She became a kindergarten teacher in 1999

but morphed into a college professor. “Teaching

wasn’t fun anymore in the public schools,” she

said. “It felt scripted, like you need to do this,

this and this. The paperwork was unbelievable.”

So she took a leap of faith in 2007 and quit

her teaching job to write. From 2009 through

2015 she penned five books, four of them in-

volving learning strategies, and her latest one, the

story of her life. Besides writing, she began

teaching part time at San Juan College.

Likes teaching adults

“I really like teaching adults,” she said. “It’s the

best of both worlds. A lot of the writing I do is

for children, and I get to help adults.”

She sympathizes with those who struggle, be-

cause she’s been there. It was in August 1999 that

she experienced her first period of mania. She’d

just taken her daughter to daycare after running

seven miles. Then she went to her teaching job.

Things seemed normal until she experienced

intense thirst after lunch, felt flushed, and per-

spired profusely. “My heart began pounding, and

I was overwhelmed by an intense ringing in my

ears,” she wrote in Three Promises for Jane. “I

distinctly recall my energy levels shooting through

the roof. It was as if strong, cold coffee coursed

through my veins. My senses amplified. Everything

turned neon and full volume. Colors jumped out

at me. Every shade signaled an overwhelming

emotion. Red was loud and terribly aggressive.

Purple – dreadfully forlorn.”

Can’t stop talking

Sounds became piercing and painful, and

smells overwhelmed her. She had no idea what

ailed her, but she felt invincible and alive in a way

she’d never felt before. She stormed through the

mall one weekend in skimpy shorts and a filmy T-

shirt. She spoke non-stop at full speed. “I never

knew what was going to fly out of my mouth,”

she said. “I literally couldn’t stop talking.” She

scarcely could keep up with her racing thoughts.

“Days would elapse before I realized I’d slept

only a few hours, but the more feverishly I

worked, skipped meals and avoided sleep, the

more manic I became.”

Her sex drive heightened, and she flirted with

every attractive man she saw. She had an affair

with an older colleague at work. Almost 13

months later, suicidal lows assaulted her after she

confronted what she’d done during that period of

mania. “I felt as if I had been sleepwalking through

a bad nightmare,” she said. Screaming matches


with her husband followed, and her first marriage

ended in 2001.

Medicine masks her symptoms

She tried medication for her condition, but it

left her an insomniac. Medication masks the

symptoms and don’t help you get to the root

cause of the illness, she said. Today she uses

three strategies to stay mentally and physically

healthy.

“I try to eat healthy,” she said, “I exercise al-

most every day. I also have a relationship with

Christ. I pray. Those times when I feel over-

whelmed, I instantly go to prayer. I try to refocus

myself. When I get anxious, apprehensive or fear-

ful, or I get this thought that I’m a worthless

mom, that’s stinkin’ thinkin’. So I go to the Lord

and talk to him. The more my relationship with

Christ developed, I was in his Word and reading

all these things like ‘I am fearfully (awesomely)

and wonderfully made.’ (Psalm 139:14) The more

I was getting healthy, the more I was coming

through the fog of all that crap that I grew up

with. You are not your past. You are not what

the world says you have to be.”

Makes choice to stay healthy

When she feels herself moving toward mania

or depression, she makes a choice not to go

there. She calls two supportive girlfriends, who

keep her accountable and talk her through chal-

lenging moments. Her husband of two-and-a-half

years, Bill Liese, also helps.

“He’s so gentle with me,” she said. “God gave

him to me as a gift. When I had a rough night, I

sat on the bed and told Bill what I was thinking.

He said, ‘When you get anxious, what are you

supposed to do? Did you do that?’ I make a

choice to kick it and say, ‘Get away from me. I’m

not going to listen to that. I know the truth. I am

beautifully and wonderfully made.’ I can control

it now because I know what the signs are. I have

my days, but I’d rather deal with that than with

the side effects of medication.”

Passion to help others

Her husband, Bill, said, “Aerial has such a pas-

sion to stay well and to be what she calls normal.

When I see her in some of her less optimum

times, I just remind her that she’s a glorious cre-

ation, and she was created to help others

through their situation. When you get to know

Aerial, you realize how extremely bright she is

and how much vision she has for individuals and

what they’re going through. That’s her passion in

life, to help others.”

She is working on her PhD in education with a

specialization in mental health issues.

Notes for her doctoral dissertation spill over

her kitchen table. She’s writing it about the rela-

tively new Potocki-Lupski Syndrome.

“It’s a syndrome that’s a duplication of a

gene, and 80 percent of children diagnosed with

it have features of autism,” she said. “It’s like

they’re autistic, but they’re not. They’re usually

small for their age and can’t seem to get going.

They have feeding problems and other issues.”

The syndrome was first diagnosed in 1995,

and the first case study was written on it in

2000. Her grandson, Brody, has it. “There’s not

a lot of research out about it,” she said. “I want

to add to the literature.”

City Counselor Dan Darnell, a friend of Aer-

ial’s, called her a wonderful person. “She goes

out on a limb to help people as much as she

can,” he said. “I have a tremendous amount of

respect for her.”

Promotes her book

When she’s not teaching, tutoring, being a

wife and mother or writing her dissertation, Aer-

ial is busy promoting her soon-to-be-published

book. Several people have endorsed it, among

them New Mexico Attorney General Hector

Balderas, New York Times best-selling author

Lawrence Fisher, Kim and Cricket Carpenter, and

San Juan College President Toni Pendergrass.

What she wants readers to take away from the

book “is that if you’re not a forgiving person,

you’re cheating yourself, and you’re cheating

others out of who you really are,” she said.

“Hate and unforgiveness are such horrible things,

because you’re literally locked in this prison. To-

morrow isn’t a guarantee, and allowing yourself

to be a prisoner of past pain is futile. Today I am

a fighter. Today I am forgiven. Today I know I am

not my past.”


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When Brenda Shepherd left Dallas for

Farmington she expected a great adventure.

“I thoroughly expected to see a fort with

teepees – because that’s all I’d seen on tele-

vision,” Shepherd said with a laugh.

The big-city 16-year-old moved to Farming-

ton with her mother, who married Jack Drake,

and they were to make their home at Navajo

Missions (now Navajo Ministries), which Drake

had founded in 1953 to care for disadvan-

taged Navajo children

Moving from a big city home to a “lovely

big home at the Mission” was an adjustment

for the teenaged Shepherd, but the work

done at the Mission would become part of

Shepherd’s heart and soul.

“I lived at the Mission for two and a half

years, until I graduated from high school. I

had been an only child, but at the Mission

home there were 15 of us in the same house,

all 16 years of age and younger,” Shepherd

said. “At one time we had five babies under

1-year-old living with us – and that was be-

fore disposable diapers! I did a lot of

babysitting.”

After graduation

After graduating from high school, Shep-

herd enrolled at Calvary Bible College in

Kansas City, Mo. She came home in 1974 with

a bachelor’s degree and became a dorm

mother at Navajo Methodist Mission School

(now Navajo Prep), where “I had a great

time,” Shepherd said.

In 1975, Shepherd got married and moved

away, but in 1984, when her mother was di-

agnosed with Alzheimer’s, she came home

again to be close to her mother.

By then, caring for others was part of who

and what Shepherd was all about. In 1990,

Shepherd visited a friend who was in San Juan

Regional Medical Center and stopped in the

administration offices to say hello to a church

friend, Karen Broten.

“Karen asked if I wanted a job – it would

be a full time job, working as administrative

secretary,” Shepherd remembered. “I still had

kids at home and I didn’t know if I wanted to

work full time. Karen told me to go home and

pray about it. That night, about 8, she called

and asked if I’d prayed about it yet.”

Compassion

Story by Dorothy Nobis | Photos by Whitney Howle

Brenda Shepherd is heading up the foundation she loves

& A SENSE OF HUMOR


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San Juan Regional Medical Center

Shepherd met with Don Carlson, the CEO of

San Juan Regional Medical Center, who explained

the position. “It was office work, and I’d never

done office work,” Shepherd said. “But when

Don asked if I thought I could do the job, I had

no doubt that I could. I got the job.”

That job was Shepherd’s first introduction to

the San Juan Medical Foundation. “There was a

drawer in a file cabinet and a box in the closet in

administration (devoted to the Foundation),” she

said with a laugh. “Karen did the secretarial work

during (Foundation) board meetings.”

Making receipts for financial contributions to

the Foundation, getting to know the members of

the board and working with them had a big im-

pact on Shepherd. “I fell in love with the Foun-

dation,” she said. “I got to work with and get to

know (Foundation board members) Dennis Peter-

son, Barbara Schwab, Mary Lou Jacobs, Althea

Greer, Herb Cox, Myron Taylor, Blanche Wag-

oner and Daphne Morrison.“

Shepherd embraced the mission of the Foun-

dation. Her first major event was the 1991 Can-

cer Walk-a-thon. “It was the 10th anniversary of

the walk-a-thon and US WEST was our sponsor,”

she recalled. “I remember being so excited be-

cause we had a record 100 walkers and raised

$13,000. I loved it.”

Another sweet memory of that first event

came in the form of YNS Twizzlers. “YNS (which

had a plant west of town) donated a box of indi-

vidually wrapped Twizzlers – and they were fresh.

You couldn’t get them that fresh anywhere.”

San Juan Medical Foundation

In 2001, Shepherd left San Juan Regional

Medical Center to become a full-time employee

of the San Juan Medical Foundation, which had

grown substantially from the one drawer in the

file cabinet and one box in the closet. “The

Foundation had an office on West Maple and

they were moving to the Umbach Building (be-

hind the hospital),” Shepherd explained. “Karen

(Broten) was the executive director of the Foun-

dation and she posted a position for an execu-

tive assistant. The Foundation was growing and I

had that spot in my heart for it. I applied for the

position, got it and started working in June of

2001.”

In addition to her new responsibilities with the

Foundation, Brenda volunteered two weekends

each month at the Connelly House, which

opened its doors in February of 2000. Since

then the hospitality house has served more than

1,200 families. Over half of the families staying

at Connelly House are dealing with cancer.

Other families are dealing with traumatic injuries.

“I went over (to the Connelly House) on Fri-

day after work and stayed until Sunday after-

noon,” Shepherd said, adding she did that for

several years. “It was a wonderful experience for

me to be there, to share in the lives of the can-

cer patients.”

When Broten left the Foundation in July of

2004, Shepherd said, “It was kind of scary. It

was six months before a new director came, and

Leslie Fitz and I were in that (executive director’s)

position (during that time). I had two people

who shared a secretarial position and we kept

going and pulled off a (Cancer) Walk-a-thon that

raised more money that year than it ever had.”


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Shepherd enjoyed working for the new director –

and the two directors that followed. Even though

Shepherd had done the job of the executive direc-

tor and knew all about the Foundation, she contin-

ued staying in the background.

Always the dedicated worker, always the team

player, Shepherd was content to “let them knit and

I’d purl,” she said.

Shepherd becomes executive director

All of that changed, however, in November of

2014. Her passion for the Medical Foundation was

at its peak, and Shepherd decided it was her time to

be the executive director.

“I knew it was my time to make it or break it,”

she said about the position. “I had a strong feeling

that if I didn’t speak up and tell the board of direc-

tors what I wanted (the position), it would never

happen.”

If Shepherd was waiting for the “right time” to

apply for the executive director’s position at the

Foundation, her friends realized long before she did

that she could not only do the job, but be success-

ful and happy in it

“She’s always had the ability,” said Vicki Thille,

who has been friends with Shepherd for almost 30

years, “and finally, she had the self-confidence.”

“Brenda’s been through a lot,” said Randy Thille,

Vicki’s husband and equally good friend of Shep-

herd, “and she has a good faith. She’s a good lis-

tener and she’s fun to be around. I love her sense

of humor and we always laugh.”

The Thille’s believe that a sense of humor, along

with her experience, loyalty and willingness to give

the Foundation her best, make her a perfect fit for

the Foundation’s director position.

Shepherd was named interim executive director in

November of 2014. “God prepared me for this

time,” she said.

Shepherd has a vision for how she wants to lead

the Foundation into the future. Having grown with

the Foundation, she realizes that the path the organ-

ization has taken in the past must change if it is to

move forward.

The Cathy Lincoln Memorial Cancer Fund

“The Foundation had been a ‘brick and mortar’

organization for years,” she said. “It owned the Can-

cer Center and raised money to purchase equipment


and enhance the center. When Cathy Lincoln, a

nurse at San Juan Regional, passed away from

breast cancer, her family and friends established

a fund to help women with the mammograms

they needed if they couldn’t afford to pay for

them.”

The Cathy Lincoln Memorial Cancer Fund was

a catalyst for the Foundation, adding a new di-

mension to its vision, Shepherd said. “George

and Sonny Riley of Riley Industrial had a golf

tournament to help with men’s health issues,” she

said. “The Riley Men’s Health Fund’s golf tourna-

ment has become an annual event and those two

programs have helped the Foundation expand to

include more than just the Cancer Center.”

Another major factor has helped the Founda-

tion financially. “In 1999, a personal representa-

tive of Robert W. Umbach walked into the

hospital administration office and said that Mr.

Umbach had left his entire estate to the Cancer

Center.”

With the funding for the Cancer Center en-

sured, the Foundation has changed its focus to

other health issues and concerns that need help.

“My vision for the Foundation is to make it

fully endowed, so when I’m long gone the Foun-

dation can carry on in the community. I want to

seek grants and funding to help San Juan Re-

gional Medical Center with needs it has and to

help with the county’s indigent funding,” Shep-

herd said.

Accomplishing her vision

Knowing she can’t accomplish her visions

alone, Shepherd said she enjoys working with

the Foundation’s board of directors. “It’s

more fun than I thought it would be,” she said

of the position. “I see the board getting in-

volved and it’s important that I provide the

information they need to make the best deci-

sions for the Foundation and the community.

When I share my vision with them, I get ex-

cited and that excitement spills over to the

staff and the board.”

“I’m very passionate about the Founda-

tion,” she continued. “I’ve been in the

trenches as a (Foundation) volunteer and I’ve

done everything in the Foundation at some

time. The Foundation is in a position and with

a good plan to grow. There are still people in

our community who don’t know who we are


or what we do – and we’ve been here, doing it

for more than 30 years.”

Karen Broten, Shepherd’s longtime friend and

co-worker, said her friend brings many strengths

to the Foundation.

“Brenda loves people and our community,”

Broten said. “She cares deeply about the Medical

Foundation, its history and its future. She brings a

wealth of knowledge to her new position.”

“Brenda is the most caring and compassionate

person I know,” Broten added. “Plus, she knows

a lot. She has had the most amazing life and

work experience. And if she doesn’t know some-

thing, she’s eager to learn.”

Broten appreciates the friendship and the fun

she has shared with Shepherd over the years.

“Brenda and I have shared a million laughs –

some during church services when, as ‘mature’

Christian women, we developed an uncontrol-

lable case of the giggles,” Broten said. “This hap-

pened at least twice. We were so embarrassed

that we made a pact not to sit together at

church!”

There’s always time for family

While she’s busy with the Foundation, Shep-

herd is never too busy for her family. She has

three children – Chris, who is married to Kristy,

Danna and Autumn. Chris and Kristy live in Aztec,

and Danna and Autumn live in Tempe, Ariz. She

dotes on her two grandchildren, Emerald and

London. Shepherd also has a dog, Gracie, who

rules not just at home, but at the Foundation of-

fices.

Heading up the Foundation she loves, working

with people she enjoys and respects, and giving

back to the community that has embraced her

makes life not just good for Shepherd, but very

good. But she’s determined not to just make her

life better, but also the lives of the people she

serves.

“There’s always more you can do,” she said.

“And always more you can learn. I’m just getting

started.”

“There’s always more you can do.And always more you can learn.

I’m just getting started.”— Brenda Shepherd


the40 YEARS

Dave Shaefer’s smooth voice the heart of local radio

in Farmington

Story by Dorothy Nobis

Photos by Whitney Howle


Dave Schaefer’s golden voice and on air

personality have been making friends through

the radio for almost 40 years.

Country music has been Schaefer’s chosen

genre, but not his first choice when he went

on the air in 1976.

“I intended to go into sports broadcasting

because I thought that felt like an exciting

thing to do,” Schaefer said. “But my first op-

portunity and my first full time job in Farming-

ton was for (radio stations) KRZE-AM and

KRAZ-FM. KRAZ was the second FM station in

Farmington – KWYK was the first. I was a disc

jockey (that’s what they called us back then!)

and I was on the air for eight hours a day,

four hours back to back on each station.”

“That was tough,” Schaefer said of that

eight-hour shift. “It was a strain on the voice

and back then, everything (on radio) was live.

You had to be on your toes all the time.”

Technology: No more vinyl or CDs

Technology has changed all of that, Schae-

fer said. “People under 40 don’t know what a

‘record’ is. They don’t know about 45s, LP

(long playing) or 33 rpms (rotations per

minute). In the 1980s, we moved to magnetic

tape and we used big reel-to-reel cassettes.

We stopped using records that skipped or had

scratches. That music format evolved into the

digital world of CD’s, which really changed

things. There weren’t any mistakes and the

quality (of the music) was so much better.”

From spinning records with a live microphone

on an eight hour shift to today – the world of

radio has changed dramatically. “Now, we don’t

even touch the music,” Schaefer said, with a

slight shake of his head. “At KRZE in the mid-

‘70s, we had more than 10,000 45s on a wall

in the studio. It was the largest library of coun-

try music in New Mexico.”

Schaefer moved easily from 45s to the digi-

tal music – all on computer hard drives – we

hear on the radio today. And if he still loves

radio, he especially loves local radio.

“I’ve always felt that people will listen to

their local stations. Most people don’t just lis-

ten to the music, but they connect with some-

one on the other end and they consider that

someone a friend,” Schaefer said. “I think

that’s how we’ve (local radio stations) with-

stood satellite radio. People still want to hear

a local voice and they want to know what’s

going on in their community, what’s happen-

ing, and what the weather’s going to be like.

Local radio still works.”

Johnnie Walker has been listening to Schae-

fer for years. Walker’s daughter, Crystal, and

Schaefer’s son, Riley, went to kindergarten to-

gether. Walker and Schaefer visited during

school functions and while waiting to pick up

their kids.

“It wasn’t long after meeting Dave and his

family that I was told he worked at the radio

station as a DJ,” Walker said. “He has a very

positive personality and was always friendly

and fun to visit with. When he became a day-

time DJ, I had the opportunity to listen to him

and always found him to very knowledgeable

of the artists, the music and the writers behind

the songs.

“I’ve always enjoyed country music and it

has always been a pleasure to listen to Dave

DJ. I still make it a point to listen to his ‘Clas-

sic Country Café.’ Dave’s always been an ad-

vocate on the radio for good happenings in

the community,” Walker added. “He always

shares the good side of what’s happening in

our community and he always encourages peo-

ple to help out and become a part of it. He

has a passion to do the right thing.”

A voice we all recognize

Schaefer’s “radio voice” is slightly different

from the voice he uses when he’s not on air.

“I don’t really think of it as my ‘radio voice,’”

he said. “I enunciate my words more and I

project, which makes my voice sound differ-

ently than when I’m not on the air.”

“I don’t want to be a “mush mouth” and I

want people to understand what I have to

offer,” he added. “And I think the way people

use the English language is very important.”

“I think that’s how we’ve (local radio stations) withstoodsatellite radio. People still want to hear a local voice and theywant to know what’s going on in their community...

— Dave Shaefer

Schaefer is usually at his office with iHeart

Radio at 3 a.m. As the senior vice president

of programming for all of iHeart’s Farmington

stations – KTRA (Number One Country), KAZX

(Star 102.9) KOOL, KKFG (KOOL 104.5)

KDAG (96.9, The Dog Rocks) and KCQL (Fox

Sports New Mexico) – he gets his paperwork

completed and prioritizes his daily “to do”

list. At 6 a.m., Schaefer pre-records most of

his radio show – the midday show on KTRA,

which airs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. – then re-

turns to the managerial duties that are always

waiting. The majority of the staff comes in be-

tween 8 and 9 a.m., and Schafer keeps time

open, to make himself available to those who

need him.

“Since I oversee the programming for all

five of our radio stations, I need to stay well

versed in the products (we provide). I rely on

the people here. They’re really good people

and they’re professionals.”

Schaefer’s staff considers him to be more

than just part of the iHeart’s management.

A great boss

“It’s far more significant than Dave being a

boss for a lot of us,” said Steve Bortstein, the

program director and on-air personality for

Fox Sports New Mexico. “He’s a voice of rea-

son, for me in particular. He sees the third and

fourth step down the road when it comes to

decision making. He’s precise without being im-

pulsive and he makes us all accountable for our

decisions and our actions. At the same time, he

trusts us to make those right decisions, which

makes the team all that much more cohesive.”

“Dave is a genius about music,” Bortstein

continued. “He’s literally forgotten more about

country music – and a lot of other genres –

than most people I’ll ever know. That’s one of

the most fascinating things about him. Spending

an hour with him in his office, listening to ran-

dom songs that he’ll pull from his computer, is

one of those moments I enjoy most with him.”

Sherry Curry worked with Schaefer for

years, as a co-host of the Breakfast Flakes

radio show on KOOL. “Dave is one of the

best bosses I’ve ever had the pleasure of work-

ing for,” Curry said. “He genuinely cares about

his employees and he loves his family deeply

and would do just about anything for any one

of them – and the same can be said for his

close friends.”

“Dave worries too much and he works too

hard, but he also makes time for the things he

enjoys, like gardening and making his infamous

salsa,” Curry continued. “Not to mention (his

love) of the Denver Broncos and the Colorado

Rockies.”

“Dave is a reminder that there are good,

hardworking people in this world who are

more concerned with others than they are con-

cerned with themselves,” she added.

Schaefer’s daily schedule differs greatly from

that of his wife, Rhonda, who is the marketing

director at San Juan College. The couple met

at the radio station, where Rhonda was taping

a series of health related radio features for her

then employer, San Juan Regional Medical Cen-

ter.

“I was impressed with him,” Rhonda said.

“He was not only excellent at his job, but he

was also very kind and thoughtful.”

Still newlyweds after 15 years

The couple was professional friends for “a

long while,” Rhonda said. “Over a period of

time, that friendship just evolved.”

They’ll celebrate 15 years of marriage in July

and still act like newlyweds. A visit to Rhonda’s

office during 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. will find her

radio on and her husband’s voice coming from

it. “Dave really relates to his audience,” she

said with pride. “When we’re out, people will

stop and talk to him. They feel like they have a

relationship with him, and it’s heartwarming to

know that he has connected with them or

touched them in some way.”

With both of them having high pressure jobs,

making time together is a priority. “We balance

between work and home,” said Rhonda. “We

touch base whenever we can throughout the

day. He leaves for work at 2:30 in the morning

and on my way to work, I’ll call him. We talk

and text during the day and try to make eating

dinner together a priority.”56 | MAJESTIC LIVING | SUMMER 2015

The time they have together is always spe-

cial, Rhonda added. “Dave has a wonderful

sense of humor and he can make me laugh – a

real belly laugh,” she said.

“Rhonda is my sunshine and lollipops,”

Schaefer said with a wide grin. “I really think

we balance each other out. While I consider

myself to be pretty conservative and prefer to

live inside the box, she’s one that isn’t afraid

to color outside the lines. She’s very positive,

has an upbeat and optimistic attitude and she

helps me keep things in perspective.”

Balancing two demanding careers and mak-

ing time for each other isn’t always easy. “I

think it’s not the ‘quantity’ of time we spend

together, but the ‘quality’ of time,” Schaefer

said. “We still try to have ‘date nights’ – diner

out and a movie, or just a quiet night at home.

We do things together as much as possible,

whether that means going to the store for gro-

ceries, going to church, walking the dogs, or

just cleaning the house. We try to find the time

to do those little things together.”

“These 15 years (of marriage) have been the

best of my life,” Schaefer said. “Honestly,

they’ve been really great years.”

Those 15 years have included the couple’s

three children – Kelli, Megan and Riley and

two grandchildren, with another one on the

way. A visit with the Schaefer’s is peppered

with stories about their children and their

grandchildren.

Happy Dave Salsa

In what little spare time he has, Schaefer

“grows” the infamous salsa in his garden that

Sherry Curry mentioned.

“I make two kinds of salsa,” Schaefer said

with a laugh. “I make ‘Happy Dave Salsa’ and

‘Grumpy Dave Salsa.’ The ‘Happy Dave Salsa’ is

a little on the hot side.”

While the Schaefers both love their careers,

they do talk about and look forward to a time

when they have less stress and more time to

spend together.

“We’d like to travel – we love going to the

beach. There’s nothing better than not having

cell phones,” Schaefer said. “And I like to play

golf, although it takes me four to five hours to

play one round!”

Schaefer’s loyal following doesn’t need to

worry about him retiring any time soon, how-

ever. “I work a long day, but it’s not about the

time (put in), it’s about the fun we have,” he

said.

Walking away from the microphone and from

his listeners will be hard for Schaefer and those

who listen to him, said Phil Marquez, a long-

time friend.

“When you happen to run into Dave, he al-

ways wants to talk radio – what’s hot and

what’s not hot, how the market is trending and

taking time to visit with his staff,” Marquez

said. “Mostly, Dave is always smiling and cheer-

ful. He projects a positive attitude with every-

one he encounters. Dave does nothing half-way

– he gives every endeavor he undertakes 100

percent.”

“Over the years, his standard of profes-

sional excellence has made its mark,” Marquez

added. “I am extremely honored to have had

the opportunity to work with Dave. He is a

real asset to our industry.”


Dancing runs in this family! The Winers, a

local Farmington family, have danced their

way into the hearts of everyone they know.

Their story began 20 years ago with their

oldest daughter, Venus, who began dancing

as a Kelly Green at Farmington High School

in 1993. Her All-Star team, under the

coaching of Dance Force owner Sheila

Mobley, won the state championship in

1995. After high school, Venus was a Sun

Dancer at New Mexico State University. She

now teaches elementary school in San Anto-

nio.

Older brothers Trevor and Taylor also

danced competitively. Younger brother Tay-

lor still enjoys dance and teaches gymnastics

at Farmington Gymnastics Academy. The

older siblings certainly influenced the

younger siblings to get involved in the danc-

ing world as a jolly way to stay active.

Today the younger three children, daughters

Tiana 15 and Trinity 11, and son Takoda 9,

are following in their older siblings’ foot-

steps and carrying on the dance tradition.

Mother, Shelley Winer, says that while she

and her husband enjoyed country western

dancing together, they are not themselves

dancers. “I don’t dance; I finance,” father

Rick, a local computer programming con-

sultant, likes to joke. While Rick and Shelley

do not have a background in dancing, they

encourage the kids to try dance as a sport

and team-building experience.


Always moveDance is almost a full time job for the Winer family

Story by Elizabeth Broten | Photos by Josh Bishop and Courtesy photos

on the

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Indeed, dance is a full-time job for this unique

and talented family. The three kids are home

schooled and dance six days a week from 3:30 in

the afternoon until nearly 9 p.m. On Saturdays,

they typically practice from 9 to 5. Among the

three kids, they have danced in over 70 dances,

24 of those being formal dance competitions.

“Yes, we live in the car,” admits Shelley, holding

up her Venti Starbucks coffee, smiling.

When asked what dancing means to each of

them, all three kids expressed a deep love for the

art. “We live and breathe dance. Dancing makes

me feel free. Alive,” says Tiana who is an espe-

cially gifted lyrical dancer. Trinity’s favorite form

of dance is jazz, and younger brother Takoda

loves hip hop and breakdancing. “I just love it,”

he shrugs. “Everything else, all life’s problems go

away when I am dancing.”

Watching each of the kids perform their own

routines, their love for this physical form of artis-

tic expression is evident. They are each beautiful

to watch when in their element. With their long

limbs and lean bodies, anyone watching their per-

formances on stage knows that these special kids

were born to be dancers.

The Winers dance at two different local studios,

Mann Dance Academy and The Force. Mann Acad-

emy offers traditional stage forms of dance: ballet,

tap, jazz, hip hop, modern and lyrical dancing. The

Force specializes in competitive drill team dance.

Dancing at the different studios allows the kids to

learn several different types of dance and lets

them develop well-balanced skill sets.

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Both dance studio owners confirm there is

something exceptional about the Winer kids. Judy

Mann, owner of Mann Dance Academy, says the

Winer children brighten any room. “They are a

wonderful and generous family with a positive en-

ergy that is contagious.” Sheila Mobley agrees,

“The Winer kids are the most respectful, dedi-

cated kids I’ve ever worked with. They are all tal-

ented, competitive, elegant dancers but, even

more than that, they all have an incredible work

ethic and are really sweet, respectful kids.” That’s

enough to make any parent proud even without

the hundreds of trophies and ribbons proudly

displayed in their home.

Tiana, who also teaches toddler dance classes

at Mann Academy, won First place at Kathy Roe

this year for her choreography for younger sib-

lings, Trinity and Takoda’s duet. Tiana hopes to

be accepted to a professional dance school such

as Juilliard to study dance and eventually to work

in the industry as a dancer and choreographer.

As crazy and busy as their schedule is, the

Winer family considers themselves very lucky to

have the opportunities that competitive dancing

brings. “It’s fun. We get to travel and meet all

kinds of new people and dancers at competi-

tions. “We make all kinds of good friends who

like to dance as much as we do,” Takooda says.

“This [dance] works for our family. We are to-

gether, which is the most important thing” says

Shelley.

All three of the Winer children will be per-

forming in Mann Dance Academy’s next produc-

tion, “Ella Enchanted,” at San Juan College.

He pointed to a 1974 Bultaco Pursang 360 cc on the top shelf. “One

of the fun things you get to do in this game is meet some of the old pros

who come out,” he said. “A fellow by the name of Jim Pomeroy, who was

the first American to win a world motocross event in

Europe in 1974, started racing with AHRMA. He raced

that bike in the Sandia Classic in 2005. We got to be

pretty good friends.”

Works in family bank

Though Pierce has liked motorcycles ever since he

rode his dad’s trail bike as a teenager, they weren’t a

steady part of his life for a long time. When he left col-

lege, he came home to Farmington to work at Citizens

Bank, which was founded by his great-grandfather,

Thomas Allen Pierce, in 1905. His grandfather, John

Allen, went to work for the bank, and his father, Martin

Allen, followed in his footsteps in 1948. Pierce started

as a teller in the family bank in 1971 and retired in 2003 as chairman of

the board.

“I did quite a lot of recreational trail riding and raced somewhat casu-

ally,” Pierce said. “As time went on, with getting a career started and a

marriage going, it fell by the wayside, but I always had motorcycles right

along. Where racing really took off was in the 1980s, a terrible time in

banking. I was in a position of responsibility and not having a lot of fun.

In 1989, my wife, Maxine, said, ‘You need a hobby.’”

Tries dirt, then pavement racing

About that time, he saw an article in Cycle World

about racing old motorcycles at Steamboat Springs,

Colo. So he prepared one of his old motorcycles and in

September 1989 rode in a motocross race for the first

time in a long time. It was so much fun that he began

racing on dirt tracks more and more. When he discov-

ered pavement racing was available at Steamboat

Springs, he entered his first pavement race there in

1999.

“I had nine kinds of machine trouble,” he said. “It was

a totally unsuccessful outing, but I was off and running.”

Maxine has been an avid supporter of his motorcycle

racing, handing him bottles of water to drink and sand-

wiches to eat when he might not think to eat or drink

during the race. He supports her in similar ways when she shows dogs

during dog agility competitions.

Pierce loves racing and the friends he meets along the way. And he

loves working on his motorcycles. As he pointed to his machines, he said

with a grin, “It’s the toy department of life.”


Motorcycles continued from 20


MLCoolest Things

It seems like by the time we have chosenitems for our popular Coolest Things listmany of the items are already outdated orversion 2.0 has already hit the market. Sothis time a number of our items are still indevelopment but orders are being taken fortheir delivery later this year. It sure seemslike technology is moving faster than everand I don’t know about you but I’d like topush the NOT-SO FAST button sometimes.

Outdated in the blink of an eye!

no more reaSon

to Get jacked up!

meet jaQ

www.myfcpower.com

The search is over – you’ll never have toplug into a power jack again. Ideal foreveryday on-the-go living, JAQ is com-pletely off-the-grid. It’s always readypower, generated from water and salt con-tained in a slim power card. Electricity isself -generated when a fresh power card isinserted into the JAQ charger. The insertedpower card then provides 2400 mAh to en-able a full smart phone charge. Once yourcharge is complete, you remove the sin-gle-use power card and throw it away. It isFAA travel certified. 10 cards should cost around $10, while the pouch will be $99.

1Grizzle adamS

BeSt friend

the kniper

www.urchinsky.com

More than a throwing knife, the Kniperpacks a rangefinder, smoke bowl, and 19other tools. The Kniper has a design andweight that’s optimized for effectivelythrowing at targets in an accurate man-ner. It also functions as a multi-tool with aselection of talents aimed at serving theoutdoor adventurer. It is milled from asingle piece of 420 high-carbon stainlesssteel. It measures 13 x 2.5 inches (lengthx width).

$75.

2drinknado!

Shark Shaker:

create an ocean of killer cocktails

www.potterybarn.com

Do you like to make cocktails while watch-ing show after show on Discovery Channelduring Shark Week? Yes, it’s a cocktailshaker clad in the likeness of the notoriousmarine predator, so you can tell peopleyou mixed that Bloodhound inside thebody of a deadly shark. Yes, you’re lying,but technically you’re, somehow, still tellingthe truth. Somehow. The Shark Shaker ac-tually consists of an erstwhile regular-look-ing stainless steel shaker that’s beenmodified to be encased permanently insidean aluminum shark$79

3Suck it up,

don’t Sweep it out

Bruno trash Bin

www.brunosmartcan.com

This trash bin eliminates the need for adustpan. Cleaning the house is hardenough. Having to sweep the floors overand over because the dustpan won’tscoop all the dirt completely just makes iteven harder. The Bruno, a trash bin withan integrated vacuum, eliminates thatproblem. Instead of scooping the dirt anddumping it into the can, you simply sweepit near the vacuum inlet until the sensorsdetect the presence of the broom and au-tomatically trigger the suction mechanism,which automatically stops when it sensesthe broom has been taken away. Starts at $139

4

1

2

3 4


immortalize your pets

iN plush Form

cuddle clones

www.cuddleclones.com

Cuddle Clones specializes in producingplush versions of your beloved pets.Each plushy is made by hand using pre-mium materials, ensuring each one turnsout soft and cuddly. Pricing will vary, de-pending on the actual size of your animal.To order, upload one or more pictures ofthe pet you want to “clone,” specify anydistinguishing features, and place yourorder. It takes a while to get the doll (fourmonths), but the samples sure do look likethey’re worth the wait. cuddle clones is set at $129 for small

pets (rabbits, hamsters, and the like)

and $199 for all the others.

5Not just tacos

oN tuesdays

taco shell toaster

www.amazon.com

This is perfect for making a crunchy tacoshell from a fresh tortilla. At first glance itlooks like a regular two-slice toaster forbrowning your morning bread, albeit withlarger than usual compartments intowhich to slip the bread. It’s actually de-signed to hold the included taco cages,which will automatically shape the tortillayou place inside. Made by NostalgiaElectric, the dimensions are just slightlylarger than two-slice toasters at 13.25long by 7 wide and 8 inches high.

$29.99

6Virtually real

First stab at Vr: the innovator edition

www.samsung.com

The headset can be purchased for $200through Samsung or AT&T. Well, we sayit’s $200, but because the headset onlyworks when a Galaxy Note 4 is plugged in,you’ll need one of the $800 smartphonestoo. Otherwise, it’s a useless vision-ob-scuring facemask. The smartphone slotsinto the visor, where it becomes the heartof the Gear VR — offering up its Quad HD,5.7-inch screen Snapdragon 805 proces-sor and many different sensors to bring a360-degree, virtual reality entertainmentworld to life.$200 – but can only be used with a

galaxy Note 4s to 6s – $800

7No magic, just magNets

air2 Floating Bluetooth speaker

www.amazon.com

It’s weird we know, but yes, the speaker isfloating. The Air2 is made up of a metallicbase and a speaker unit with like magneticcharges, making the speaker unit levitatethanks to the power of magnetic repulsion.It even spins around! A built-in microphoneallows you to use the Air2 as a speaker-phone, too. Battery life is so-so at fivehours, but chances are you’ll just be leav-ing the Air2 on your desk, in which casethe easily accessible Micro USB port willdo just fine for power.Air2 comes in black, pink, teal, and red.$200

8

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87


ADVERTISERS DIRECTORyAnimas Credit Union..................................30

2101 E. 20th St., 3850 E. Main St.

Farmington, N.M.

505-326-7701

405 W. Broadway

Inside Farmer’s Market

Bloomfield, N.M.

www.animascu.com

The Barnyard............................................15

550 County Rd. 350

Farmington, NM

505-632-8988

Basin Electrical Contractors .......................20

3005 Northridge Dr., Suite K

Farmington, NM

505-327-7525

www.basinelectricnm.com

Beehive Homes.........................................61

400 N. Locke, 508 N. Airport

Farmington, N.M.

505-427-3794

The Bridge ...............................................40

1091 West Murray Dr.

Farmington, NM

505-324-6200

Budget Blinds.............................................2

825 N. Sullivan, Farmington, N.M.

505-324-2008

City of Farmington....................................35

505-599-1144

DeNae’s Boutique.....................................12

3030 E. Main

Farmington, N.M.

505-326-6025

Dentless Image LLC...................................32

1509 Schofield Lane, Suite C

Farmington, NM

505-592-2603

Deser t Hills Dental Care ..............................5

2525 E. 30th St.

Farmington, N.M.

505-327-4863

866-327-4863

www.deserthillsdental.com

The Dusty Attic .........................................35

111 W. Main

Farmington, NM

505-327-7696

Edward Jones ...........................................26

4801 N. Butler, Suite 7101

Farmington, NM

505-326-7200

www.edwardjones.com

Farmington CVB..........................................7

Lions Wilderness Amphitheater

1-877-599-3331

fmtn.org/sandstone

Farmington Family Dentistry......................38

703 N. Dustin Ave.

Farmington, NM

505-564-9700

www.myfarmingtondentist.com

Four Corners Community Bank...................32Six Convenient Locations

Farmington • Aztec • Cortez

NM 505-327-3222

CO 970-564-8421

www.TheBankForMe.com

Golden Door Realty/Treva Fox-Christy ........144022 E. Main St.

Farmington, NM

505-325-4153 - office

505-330-0584 - cell

Highlands University.................................53

505-566-3552

nmhu.edu/farmington

Jae-Geo’s Bridal and Tuxedo......................35302 W. Main St.

Farmington, NM

505-326-5240

www.jaegeosformalwear.com

Kitchen and Bath Artworks ........................46

7525 E. Main St.

Farmington, NM

505-860-8166

Le Petit Salon ...........................................47

406 Broadway, 5150 College Blvd.

Farmington, N.M.

505-325-1214

Aeriel Liese ..............................................41

www.tatepublishing.com

Lujan Quality Carpet Cleaning ....................60

215-2188

Magic Roofing ..........................................18

1206 E. Murray

Farmington, NM

505-324-1094

www.magicroofing.com

Morgan Stanley/Adam Hewett ...................194801 N. Butler

Farmington, N.M.

505-326-9323

www.morganstanleyfa.com/hewettloleitpalmer

Millennium Insurance ................................44

2700 Farmington Ave., Building A

Farmington, NM

505-325-1849

www.millnm.com

Naked Mobile ...........................................331-844-BE NAKED (236-2533)

www.mynakedmobile.com

Next Level Home Audio & Video ................63

1510 E. 20th St., Suite A

Farmington, N.M.

505-327-NEXT

www.327NEXT.com

Orthopedic Associates PA .........................13

2300 E. 30th St., D-10

Farmington, NM

505-327-1400

www.oa-pa.com

Parker’s Inc. Office Products .....................51714-C W. Main St.

Farmington, N.M.

505-325-8852

www.parkersinc.com

Partners Assisted Living ...........................45

313 N. Locke Ave.

Farmington, N.M.

505-325-9600

www.partnerassistedliving.com

Pinon Hills Community Church ...................68505-325-4541

www.pinonhillschurch.com

Presbyterian Medical Services ...................39

520 Dekalb Rd.

Farmington, NM

505-327-7220

www.pmsnm.org

Quality Appliance......................................40522 E. Broadway

Farmington, N.M.

505-327-6271

R.A. Biel Plumbing & Heating ....................34Farmington, N.M.

505-327-7755

www.rabielplumbing.com

Reliance Medical Group .............................563451 N. Butler Avenue

Farmington, N.M.

505-566-1915

1409 West Aztec Blvd.

Aztec, N.M.

505-334-1772

www.reliancemedicalgroup.com

ReMax of Farmington..................................3

108 N. Orchard

Farmington, N.M.

505-327-4777

www.remax.com

Rugs Galore & More ..................................313030 E. Main St.

Farmington, N.M.

505-326-1662

www.RugsGaloreAndMore.com

San Juan College ......................................67

505-326-3311

www.sanjuancollege.edu

San Juan County Fair .................................27

Sanchez and Sanchez Real Estate................4

4301 Largo St. Suite F

Farmington, NM 87402

505-327-9039

Sewing Studio & Vacuum Shoppe...............34

407 W. Broadway

Farmington, NM

505-325-2688

www.sewingstudio.net

www.vacuumshoppe.com

Smiles 4 Kids............................................52

Farmington, N.M.

505-592-0226

Southwest Concrete Supply .......................602420 E. Main

Farmington, N.M.

505-325-2333

www.swconcretesupply.com

Southwest Obstetrics and Gynecology........25

634 West Pinon

Farmington, NM

505-325-4898

www.Southwest-OBGYN.net

State Farm Insurance ................................21Ginny D Gil

3060 E 20th St., Suite D

Farmington, N.M.

505-327-3771

Sun Glass .................................................24

602 West Main Street

Farmington, N.M.

505-327-9677

www.sunglassfarmington.com

408 E. 8th Ave.

Durango, CO

970-247-5112

www.durangoglass.net

Sunray Gaming .........................................57

On Hwy 64.

Farmington, N.M.

505-566-1200

Tafoya Realty............................................39

5600 Mickey Dr. B&C

Farmington, NM

505-599-0000

www.tafoyarealty.com

Treadworks .............................................50

4227 E. Main St.

Farmington, N.M.

505-327-0286

4215 Hwy. 64

Kirtland, N.M.

505-598-1055

www.treadworks.com

Ziems Ford ...............................................51

5700 E. Main

Farmington, N.M.

505-325-8826

majestic living magazine summer 2015

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