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Oct
11

New Mexico Women’s Marker – Anita Scott Coleman (1890 – 1960)

New Mexico Women’s Marker – Anita Scott Coleman (1890 – 1960) When you visit Silver City, be sure to visit the campus of the Western New Mexico University. There you will find the historical marker that celebrates the life and contributions of Anita Scott Coleman. Her mother was a slave and her father was a Buffalo Soldier. They moved from Texas to New Mexico right after her birth. She was raised on a ranch near Silver City. She attended New Mexico Teachers College in Silver City, and taught school for several years. In 1916 she married James Harold Coleman, a printer and photographer born in Virginia. She left teaching and turned her attention to writing at that time. Anita’s award winning essays, stories and poems emphasized racial pride and black women’s issues. She wrote more than thirty short stories as during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s. Much of Coleman’s writing focused on the Southwest. In “The Little Grey House,” Coleman describes the availability of home ownership for southwestern African Americans. Her essay, “Arizona and New Mexico – The Land of Esperanza” speaks of opportunity and hope. Anita Scott Coleman died in Los Angeles in 1960, but her inspiring stories live...
Sep
3

New Women’s Marker – Carlotta Thompkins Thurmond 1844-1934

Kentucky native Carlotta Thurmond was the inspiration for “Miss Kitty” on the television series, Gunsmoke. Her childhood included traveling with her father to gambling houses throughout the United States and Europe. Her father also owned racehorses and would take her to the track.  After her father died in the Civil War, she married a jockey who had worked for him by the name of Johnny Golden.  He encouraged her to gamble and she became known as “Lottie Deno” which referred to “lotta denero.” She became notorious as a woman gambler. Her gambling opponents included Doc Holliday and other well known men from the history of the southwest.  She left Johnny and moved to New Mexico, she left much of what she owned to the poor. She and her new husband Frank Thurmond moved to Kingston, New Mexico, where they opened a gambling establishment behind the Victorio Hotel.  By 1882, Lottie reportedly stopped gambling entirely and she and Frank moved from Silver City to Deming.  Her husband Frank became the vice president of the Deming National Bank.  She owned the Broadway Restaurant and went on to co-founded St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.  She died on February 9, 1934 and is buried along side her husband in Deming. We celebrate and admire Lottie’s ability to reinvent herself during the period of our nation’s history when women didn’t have many options.  She lived a long, colorful life contributing to those less fortunate around her....
Aug
15

Carrie Tingley (1877-1961)

Carrie Wooster was born in 1877 to a wealthy and distinguished family in Ohio. She met Clyde Tingley who had been raised on a farm near London, Ohio. Although they came from two different worlds, they fell in love and were married on April 21, 1911. Carrie was ill and was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Her doctors recommended that she move to a drier climate. Because of her poor health the couple decided to relocate to Albuquerque, New Mexico where she could be treated at the Methodist Sanitarium. Carrie was in recovery and was feeling much better. Her husband became interested in local politics. They had arrived in New Mexico within just a few years of the New Mexico Territory becoming the State of New Mexico. By 1934, he was elected Governor of New Mexico, becoming the first governor to serve two terms. Carrie became the First Lady of the state and began working behind the scenes to make positive changes for the sick and the poor throughout the state. They had access to funds through President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. During this time they built dozens of hospitals throughout the state, including the Carrie Tingley Hospital honoring Carrie. The hospital’s who’s focus was on children with tuberculosis was moved from Truth or Consequences to Albuquerque in 1981. Today it serves children with Orthopedic conditions. Even after her husband was no longer in office, she worked tirelessly on projects to ease the suffering of children. Through her fundraising activities, she ensured that all children confined to hospitals during Christmas would receive a present. We are inspired by Carrie’s life! Her contributions to the poor and the sick are still felt in New Mexico...
Jul
26

New Women’s Marker – Ida O. Jackson (1890-1960)

Ida O. Jackson was born in Texas and came to a segregated New Mexico to teach African-American youth in the town of Clovis, New Mexico in 1926. She began by teaching the youth at the Bethlehem Baptist Church. By 1935 she was teaching 35 students in a one-room schoolhouse. The school became known as the Lincoln-Jackson School to honor her and the nation’s sixteenth president. Today Lincoln -Jackson is the name of a special education program that is part of the Clovis Municipal School District designed to help educate preschool children who have developmental disabilities before they reach school age. Her selfless contributions are inspiring! Throughout her career Ida continued to teach Sunday school. When the need arose, she graciously opened her home to those needing housing. Then in 1944 Ida used her home as a meeting place for the newly formed Federated Progressive Club for black women working to improve the community. She is given credit for being part of the initial group responsible for the writing of the the constitution and the by-laws for the organization. Ida made a tremendous difference to the people of Clovis and the surrounding areas. We are inspired by her passion for education and her willingness to devote herself and her resources to improving the lives of the people in her...
Jul
2

New Women’s Marker – Elizabeth Gutierrez Garrett 1885-1947

Elizabeth Gutierrez Garrett wrote the words and music to “O, Fair New Mexico” which was adopted as the New Mexico State song in 1917. She was born in 1885 and is the daughter of the infamous 19th century Sheriff, Pat Garrett and Apolinaria Gutierrez Garrett. She was one of seven children.  Although Elizabeth was blind since childhood, she traveled around the country using her talents as a gifted soprano and composer. She was also a teacher and served on the Board of Regents of the New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. After her death she was honored with a residence hall bearing her name at the New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. In Roswell, the Elizabeth Garrett Memorial Music Library was created to involve young people in music.  Phil and I have personally been inspired by this beautiful woman! She took her God-given talents – music, teaching and leadership and made a dramatic impact on her community, the state and our country.  She focused on the gifts she did have, not the ones she...

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