Autumn colors, smells, memories and my introduction to Cooperatives
By Vince Martinez, NMRECA CEO
The crisp fall air and the smell of green chile roasting always remind me of walking home from school, where—about three streets from where I grew up in Santa Fe—I could smell the chile roasting in our backyard. When I got home, I would find my two grandmothers, Grama Rosie and Grama Mona, roasting chile on several charcoal grills and going about it with such ease, enjoying each other’s company, playing canasta, eating sardines and sharing a beer. Life was good when you were the favorite of two Gramas.
The indescribable colors of the aspens and scrub oak mean it’s time for elk season (if you can draw a license), grouse season and fall fishing. My father always joked that during elk season, you couldn’t get married, fall in love, have a baby, get engaged, get sick or even die. We all tried to comply.
Fall fishing in the high country of the Brazos River meant hungry native trout that would destroy a fly in no time and the smell of a driftwood fire burning on the bank of Brushy Point at Heron Dam. We would fish for trout and kokanee salmon under the watchful eye of the resident bald eagle.
The start of the grouse season also meant wood season. Every year near Encino Lookout or Barillas Peak, we would spend the day hunting grouse early and late, gathering wood throughout the day. My father and his axe would start down an old logging road, tearing into dry pines and leaving piles for me to load as I followed him in a Jeep he taught me to drive.
On one of those grouse hunts near Encino Lookout, we ran into a friend of my father’s, Fred Abousleman. Fred was not only the manager of Jemez Mountain Electric Cooperative but a founding member of the co-op. Throughout the day, my father explained what a cooperative was and the enormous impact co-ops had on the lives of people in rural New Mexico—not only for the electricity they provide, but also for economic development, employment and community partnerships. He mentioned some of the people we knew who worked for Jemez, like Jona Daggett from Chama and our beloved family friend Mella Garcia from Española.
So here we are, 50 years later, and I have the honor and privilege of representing New Mexico’s Rural Electric Cooperatives and their member-owners through NMRECA. Although fall is my favorite, I can assure you my staff and I will continue to work hard through all seasons to ensure the continued success of our rural electric cooperatives. Best wishes for a great fall.