Hemmingway: The Old Man and the Desert

I recently watched the movie, Hemmingway & Gellhorn, which had been on my to-do list since its debut in 2012. I was reminded of the movie after writing a blog post about my 2009 trip to Cuba where I was fortunate to get a private tour of Ernest Hemmingway’s home in Havana.

I enjoyed the movie and, no surprise, I particularly appreciated the scenes of Hemmingway and Martha Gellhorn at the Havana home they shared.

 

Ernest Hemmingway's home in Havana 2009

The movie also renewed my curiosity about a rumor I encountered while researching my family history. I never took the rumor seriously because it seemed so incredulous. As the story goes, Ernest Hemmingway once stayed for a period of time in the tiny western New Mexico village of Cubero. Of course, Cubero means something to me because my Grandpa Louie was born and raised in the village near Grants. Generations of my maternal Chavez ancestors were among the original settlers of Cubero.

I figured it was possible that Hemmingway could have stopped over in Cubero in the early 1950s. But I can’t bring myself to believe the claim that Hemmingway wrote his famous short novel, The Old Man and the Sea, from the desert Southwest. When I was in Cuba, it was a thrill to see a copy of the classic book on the shelves of Hemmingway’s bedroom in Havana. I can’t imagine he would have written The Old Man and the Sea any place other than Havana.

Cubero, NM 2011

Over the years, others have explored the rumor about Hemmingway and Cubero. A local blogger went to Cubero on a fact-finding mission in 2009. A resident of Clovis wrote about the rumor in a 1996 edition of the Hemingway Newsletter, a publication of the Hemingway Society. In the footnotes, Kathy Willingham says he couldn’t find any evidence that Hemmingway visited New Mexico, much less stayed in Cubero. “Either the biographers have missed something or New Mexico has some of the best liars,” she wrote.

While I don't claim to have done extensive research on a visit to Cubero, I can say with certainty that he did, indeed, visit New Mexico, thanks to a friend at the New Mexico State Records Center and Archives. After a quick search of newspapers, she discovered that Hemmingway visited Santa Fe from Sun Valley, Idaho in February 1948 – four years before he published The Old Man and the Sea, most likely in Havana. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953.

Old School Wrestling

One of the great memories I had of my Grandpa Carlos was of him inviting my brother and me to sit with him on his couch and watching wrestling on TV. My memory is fuzzy, but I believe we watched the big names of the time, like Andre the Giant and possibly Hulk Hogan, although that might have been after my grandpa died in 1980.

When I mentioned that memory to my Dad recently, he laughed and said that he had just talked with his cousin, Peggy, about his own memories of his father – my Grandpa Carlos – some 25 years earlier as THE wrestling fan in Los Alamos, where they lived at the time, in the 1950s.

Apparently, my Grandpa had the only TV, a black and white, in the neighborhood. My Dad remembers many of his neighbors gathering at the Gallegos home in Los Alamos to watch the professional wrestling matches televised from Albuquerque’s Civic Auditorium. His memory isn’t as fuzzy as mine. He remembers wrestling greats of the time like Bulldog Plechas and Ricky Romero. What he didn’t know at the time, just like I didn’t know in the late 1970s and early 1980s, was that “professional” wrestling was fake. I guess each generation eventually learns that lesson sooner or later.

Newspaper Ad - July 13, 1957

The reason my Dad mentioned the wrestling memory to his cousin is because her father, Ernie, used to fix TV’s back then. My Dad laughed as he thought about how his father helped and his Uncle Ernie C’ de Baca replace old tubes on the black and white TV. As the two men worked behind the TV, my Dad, probably a teen-ager at the time, stood in front of the TV holding a mirror so my Grandpa could see the screen. Uncle Ernie would say, “Carlos, is it working?”

As we talked about those memories, my Mom reminded us how her father, my Grandpa Louie, used to take her to the old Civic Auditorium to watch Bulldog Plechas wrestle. I bet he enjoyed taking his little Beatrice to those matches. Grandpa Louie was just as much as an introvert as I am, and he never cared to go to live sporting events because of the large crowds. But thinking back, he never hesitated to take us to Lobo football games or Connie Mack baseball games in Farmington.

I remember the Civic Auditorium that used to sit off I-25. I vaguely remember going to see the circus there. What great fun it would have been to go with Grandpa Louie to see a wrestling match, or to watch those matches with Grandpa Carlos on his popular TV.

Onofre Duran and Ranchos de Atrisco

Since starting my genealogy research, I have been curious about the community of Atrisco, especially since the first Chaves families settled there more than 300 years ago – just before the Villa de Alburquerque was founded. My interest only grew after my Great-Uncle Lalo Chavez told me that his own grandmother, Telesfora Duran, was from Atrisco. Most interesting to me was the name of my great-great-great grandmother; her name was obviously passed on to my Grandpa Louie, whose full name is Louis Telesfor Chavez.

Telesfora was the daughter of Onofre Duran and Placida Sanchez. My Uncle Lalo knew of Onofre Duran, as he was the namesake of Onofre Chavez – one of Telesfora’s many sons, and a favorite uncle of my Uncle Lalo and Grandpa Louie.

For all of those reasons, Onofre Duran and his home in Atrisco were always in the back of my mind. Thanks to a cousin who also descends from Onofre Duran, I got back on the genealogical trail of the Duran family.

The biggest find, thanks to my cousin, Tina Rizkallah, was Onofre’s last will and testament. A friend at the State Archives helped me track down the document, and another friend generously translated the old Spanish of 19^th Century New Mexico into English.

Aside from the intense preamble, which is worth the read on its own, the will affirms that Onofre owned property and a house in Ranchos de Atrisco – a three-bedroom home with a backyard. He mentions real estate “on the paternal line,” which he was leaving to his children. My guess is that is land that he inherited from his father. But thus far, I have not been able to establish that his father, Franciso Duran, lived in Atrisco; nor that Onofre was born there. In fact, I haven’t figured out where Onofre his wife, Placida Sanchez, or his siblings – Maria Valentina, Dolores and Maria Luisa – were born. I’ll keep searching.

The other interesting new information in the will is the fact that Onofre was first married to Lugarda Samora. Together, they had a daughter, Monica, in 1850. She was baptized at San Felipe de Neri church. The 1850 Census listed the young family (Onofre was 26 years old, meaning he was born about 1824; Lugarda was 25; and Monica was a few months old.) Lugarda must have died soon after, because Onofre remarried Placida Sanches in 1856. Their first child, Jose Maximo, was born in 1857. My great-great-great Grandmother Telesfora was born in 1867 in Ranchos de Atrisco.

It appears that Onofre Duran died in December 1880, at the age of 56, and his estate was settled in 1881.

Here is a translation of Onofre Duran’s last will and testament, dated May 5, 1880:

Onofre Duran

In the name of God Almighty and Mary Forever Virgin be it manifested that I, Onofre Duran, being gravely ill but of sound mind thanks to our Revered God, revoking and annulling, as in fact, I revoke and annul all and any wills and codicils made by me before this one, I declare and it to be my disposition that this is my last will of all my property in the following manner.  First, commending my soul to God, its Creator, to whom I humbly beg for His infinite grace and mercy that, by deliverance from my Lord Jesus Christ, my Creator and Savior; by the powerful intercession of the Queen of Angels, Mary the Holiest, True Mother and Lady, Worthy Mother of my Lord Jesus Christ; and by the intercession of all the angels He may place my soul with all the saints in His Glory, amen, and being clear that I was married to Lugarda Samora who died in the year of eighteen hundred and that at the time of her death I was left with an only child, a daughter of lawful wedlock. 

And I declare to have remarried to Placida Sanchez.  And I also declare that in this time in which God has granted us life we have had the following children: Maximo, Clofio, George, Telesfora, Bonifacio, Jose Ynacio, Luis, all of which were born from my wife in lawful wedlock.  And to which, after my death I leave as heirs of my real estate on the paternal line, which I state as follows:

It is clearly known that I own the house of my dwelling which has three bedrooms and a backyard and it is also clear that I own the land stated in the documents issued to me by Law in this location in los Ranchos de Atrisco; and I also state to own a three-oxen wagon; I also state to own two calved cows; and I also state to own the lands recognized and acquired by the documents issued in my favor, which were acquired by means of my work, lawfully in this location by my wife and purchased by both of us; and I also state and direct that after my death that my body be buried in the chapel of los Ranchos de Atrisco at a cost affordable to my wife and children; and I also state and direct that once my funeral and legal debts are paid for that the rest be divided, one half for my wife Placida Sanchez and the other half be divided among all of my aforementioned children in equal shares; and I also declare and direct that my executors and administrators be my wife, Placida Sanchez and Marcos Lovato, who survive me, and who I hope execute this, my last will, and for its due execution I signed this Will in los Ranchos de Atrisco on this day May 5, 1880, aided by my witnesses, Melquiades Carbajal and Manuel Sanchez.

Onofre Duran, Testator

Melquiades Carbajal

Manuel Sanchez y Tapia, witnesses

Approved today, July 1^st, 1880

J.R. Armijo

Probate Judge

Registered today December 1, 1880

Scribe

The Pit

 The University of New Mexico basketball arena, better known as “The Pit,” will be on national display again today when the first round of the NCAA tournament starts. The Pit is one of the host sites for March Madness.

I have been to some great Lobo games over the years with vivid childhood memories of Kenny Page and Michael Cooper (before the three-point line), to my college days when Luc Longley showed spurts of greatness, but also frustrated fans with his easy-going ways; and Kelvin Scarborough and Darrell McGee who spent as much time playing pick-up games at Johnson Gym, where I worked as a student, as they did at The Pit, battling Tim Hardaway of UTEP. I also remember the epic battles between Kenny Thomas and Utah’s Keith Van Horn. I’ve seen a handful of NCAA tourney games featuring the likes of Bob Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers and a game between UCLA and the New Mexico State Aggies. One of my favorite memories was the McDonald’s All -American Game at The Pit, which featured the best high school stars in 1988. That team included Alonzo Mourning, Christian Laettner and Billy Owens. I got to meet legendary UCLA Coach John Wooden as he watched the teams practice at Johnson Gym. I even got to see my basketball hero, Michael Jordan, play in an exhibition game at The Pit. Unfortunately, I did not get to attend the most famous game ever played at The Pit – the national championship in 1983 when North Carolina State upset Houston. But I do remember flying back from Washington D.C., where I traveled for an 8^th-grade trip, and sitting next to an NBA scout who was on his way to Albuquerque for the Final Four.

So, what does this have to do with my family history? My maternal Grandfather, Louis Chavez, worked on the original construction of The Pit as an ironworker in 1966. I was always fascinated by that, but for some reason, I never asked him much about it. I thought it was ironic that he played a role in building the famous arena, but he never wanted to go to see live games. He didn’t like crowds and preferred to watch from the comfort of his home.

“The Pit was built in a 37-foot hole on Albuquerque’s Southeast Mesa,” according to a historical account of the arena that is featured alongside the photos on the concourse. “First the roof was constructed, then the hole was dug, and the arena built. The unique Behlen roof (338 by 300 feet) was set up by contractors and then 55,000 cubic yards of earth were removed. About 28,000 yards of concrete were poured in the initial construction, which allowed a seating capacity of 14,831. The cost – an incredibly economical $1.4 million.”

The Pit was expanded in 1975, at a cost of $2.2 million, and allowed for 18,018.

Over the course of more than four decades, The Pit became dated and not suited for big-time college tournaments. In 2009, UNM started a major overhaul of The Pit, which cost $60 million and actually reduced the number of seats to accommodate 40 suites. I was all in favor of a new arena, but skeptical about whether a modern version could hold on to the mystique and charm of the old arena that my Grandpa Louie helped build. In the end, I think the architects did a great job. The first game I attended in the new Pit, I was pleasantly surprised when I took a seat and still felt like I was in the old Pit, where there were no bad seats in the arena.

Sadly, I don’t get to too many games any more. I’m more likely to shuttling my daughters to soccer practice or gymnastics, than grabbing a Lobo Dog. But my wife, Yvette, and I go once or twice a season, usually with friends. And, of course we have to meet for a pre-game dinner at The Quarters on Yale Blvd., just east of The Pit.

Earlier this season, I caught a game on ESPN in which the TV personalities were showering praise on the renovated arena. They also showed some black-and-white photos on display on the concourse that chronicled the history of The Pit. I had seen some of the photos before, but a few caught my eye. Each one showed an ironworker doing some welding work on beams. I immediately thought of my grandpa.

University of Wisconsin practicing Thursday at The Pit

On Wednesday, I went to The Pit during lunch after I learned that the arena was open to the public for tournament practice sessions. I took my camera, found the photos of the ironworkers, and shot a few pics. Then I sat in Row 3 (if you’ve been to the Pit, you’ll know that the first row, which is at ground level, is actually the furthest distance from the floor, which is 45 rows below...thus, the name, “The Pit.”) I watched the University of Wisconsin practice for a while and the memories of years past came rushing in.