Life's work pulled them away, but
home tugged at their hearts
By Kathy Cordova, For The
Taos News
Like many Taoseños, Tina and
Amarante Trujillo, left their hometown. But they could never stay away for long -- the lure of
family and tradition was too strong.
From the 1930s until the
1950s, many Taos-area residents were forced to leave their homes for extended periods of time in
order to seek employment. Some of them returned and left again. Others stayed away until
it became time to retire. Some never returned, settling in Colorado, California,
Wyoming and other areas of the country.
Amarante, born June 28,
1919, to Maria de la Luz (Ortiz) and Encarnacion Trujillo, was
the seventh of 12 children.
At the time, home births prevailed, so Amarante was brought into the world in his parents' home in
Talpa.
The family's roots extend
back to great-grandfather Pedro Trujillo in Quemado near Chimayo, but subsequent generations
moved nearer to Taos. Maria de la Luz and Encarnacion's children thrived in the
Talpa area. They played, attended school and milked cows -- activities of many children
their age. When asked about his most memorable playtime activity, Trujillo is quick to
reply: "basketball." But in his time, the game was played on outdoor, not indoor, courts.
The Trujillo youngsters in
birth order were: Pablita (Felipe) Martínez, (the late) Felipe
(Fortunate) Trujillo, Felix
Trujillo, Facundo (Clorinda) Trujillo, Max (Juanita) Trujillo,
Amarante (Augustine)
Trujillo, (the late) Guillermo (Matilde) Trujillo, and Alfred
(Pauline) Trujillo.
During this time, the
infant-mortality rate was high, so tragedy stuck the Trujillo
family as it did many
others. Four little ones in the household died in their early
years -- Daniel, Benito,
Eleuto and Telesfor.
In Amarante's youth,
schooling opportunities differed from those of today. He
attended school at Talpa
Elementary until the eighth grade, as was the norm of the day.
Tina Trujillo's birthplace of
Llano Quemado, April 14, 1924, remained her home until her marriage to Amarante. Her mother,
Sylveria Romero, gave birth to five children. Tina was the third of that group. Her childhood
included schooling until the eighth grade at St. Francis Catholic School.
"We didn't work outside like
some of our classmates," she said. "But there was housework. We didn't have mops. We
scrubbed the floors on our knees."
She also watched her mother
cook, although the kitchen clearly remained the matriarch's domain. Tina remembers her childhood
toys of balls made from rags. All the children took turns kicking these homemade creations.
Both Tina and Amarante recall
a favorite children's game -- "Pon." It served as the original
game of chance. A six-sided
wooden spinning top with specific commands serves as the game piece. Each of the sides states a
specific message -- "pon uno, pon dos, todos ponen, saca uno, saca dos, saca todo."
Translated, this means: "Put one, put two, everyone puts, take one, take two, take
all." Players follow the command on which the top lands. Each set of players used
different items as rewards -- money, marbles, etc.
Tina's brothers and sisters
include: (the late) Bersabe (Epifanio) Garcia; (the late) Margarita (Benito) Garcia; Augustina
(Amarante) Trujillo; (the late) Alberto Romero; and Matilde (Guillermo) Trujillo.
Marriage in her family
remains unique as two sets of sisters (set one, Bersabe and Margarita; set two, Augustina and
Matilde) married two sets of brothers (set one, Epifanio and Benito; set two, Amarante and
Guillermo).
In order to find employment,
young Amarante left town to seek work. For 13 months he lived in Deming as an employee of the
WPA's Work Conservation Corps. This project sought to help the country recover from
the negative economic effects of the Great Depression by providing employment.
Young Amarante helped build dikes to protect the area from erosion. His return home held
a pleasant surprise for him.
One of the great
entertainments of the day centered on church celebrations.
Both Tina and Amarante
attended the función (festival) dance at the chapel in Talpa,
which they both say "was
the place where everyone would go to meet." They shared
something in common even
before they met -- a cousin named Julia Romero from Capulin,
Colo. They laugh about
this link today, for the couple is not blood related.
"Thank God," Amarante said.
He adds that he's grateful that the mutual cousin introduced them. "For me, it was love at
first sight."
Tina knew that there were
many Trujillo brothers. Also, she was only 14 years old and wasn't allowed to date. That didn't stop
the couple from dancing, though.
Nineteen-year-old Amarante
was smitten and wanted to see this young woman again. On horseback, he rode to the Ranchos de
Taos Post Office as often as possible to meet Tina.
"That was our date," said
his wife, laughing.
This informal meeting
continued for a couple of years. Tina professed a fear of
horses and refused to ride
with Amarante, so sometimes he walked to meet her. He would
part company near her
Llano Quemado home.
Eventually, they decided to
become more public about their wish to date. Tina broached the subject with her mother, who
replied, "He must come here to the house to ask permission," the typical rule of the day
for young courting couples. Amarante complied and they were allowed to go to the movies.
An unusual occurrence forced a change in this routine. On a cold winter night, the
couple went on a date, this time in a pickup truck. "The safety plug froze," explains Amarante,
"only we didn't know what was wrong at the time." The couple stayed in the truck for
several hours until Amarante decided to walk to town for help. Tina walked the rest of the
way home by herself.
"My mom and stepfather
(Marcelino Gonzales) were really teed off," reveals Tina.
Soon after, the couple
decided to follow their hearts, and planned their wedding. The
marriage occurred on Nov. 11,
1938, during the church Advent season. Fr. José Garcia performed the ceremony 63 years ago.
"When I moved to Taos, the
first thing that happened was that everyone started calling me
Tina instead of Augustina,"
she said.
All those years of watching
her mother cook finally paid off, for the new bride delighted
her husband, and later the
family, with her tortillas, bread, beans and other food.
Shortly thereafter, the
couple made their first move in search of job opportunities.
They moved to Sargent,
Colo., for farm work. Amarante drove a tractor in the potato
fields. Tina moved back to
Taos when she became pregnant with her son, Danny.
Other children followed. In
birth order they are: Velva (Maurice) Gonzales, Virginia (Tomás) Salazar, Ernesto, Herman
(Gloria) Trujillo, Alonzo Trujillo, Elaine (Antonio) Trujillo, Michelle Trujillo and Johnny
Trujillo. Most of the time, Tina remained a stay-at-home mom, moving with her
husband whenever feasible.
Over the years, the couple
would move to Garo, Colo., for six months of work in the sheep camps; to Two Bars, a Wyoming
sheep ranch; to sheep yards in California; to Tolan, Colo.; to Rock Springs, Wyo.,
where Amarante worked for almost five years in the coal mines. He also had stints with the
Union Pacific Railroad in Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Nevada and other states as an
"extra," a member of the steel gang. This job consisted of spiking, operating a
machine to pull the spikes, working with ties, laying rails.
The war meant more employment
for Amarante -- and more time away from home. One of Tina's most vivid memories was a bus
trip to Denver with son, Danny, who became sick to his stomach.
"I had Velva in my arms,
Danny was sick and a soldier and his girlfriend helped me,"
she recalls.
Another vivid memory includes
the couple's one-year stint in Leadville, Colo.
"At that time, Danny was the
only grandson in the Trujillo family. He was very spoiled by everyone, but most of all by his Uncle
Felix. He became so homesick that we had to come back to Taos," said Tina.
The career by which Taoseños
knew Amarante best was the partnership creating cabinets and furniture with his brother, Facundo.
The shop located on Pueblo Road also served as the site of the original Vargas Company
and the current Que Pasa Records and The Trader.
The brothers learned the
craft from vocational teacher Max Luna. When Facundo took a teaching job, Amarante couldn't continue
alone, so he closed shop. Both brothers eventually followed a series of teaching jobs,
and Amarante's path led him to Ojo Caliente and Peñasco. Then, he moved to
Albuquerque to study and obtain a contractor's license.
At various times, Tina
returned to work at the hospital and then as a cook at the A
and the Red Arrow.
Then, tragedy struck.
Sylveria Romero Gonzales passed away at the Embudo Hospital.
"I had a very hard time.
That's when Amarante and I decided never to leave home again."
Coming home included exciting
opportunities for both. Amarante built several houses (including FHA), a section of the
Ranchos School, and did roofing projects. Tina found her niche as the bailiff at District Court
for 15 years.
"That job pretty much
disqualifies me as a juror," she said with a laugh.
In 1982, Amarante retired to
the shop at his home to carve the cedar santos of his culture.
Our Lady of Guadalupe and St.
Jude are his favorite subjects. But he stresses that he allows the wood to dictate his subject.
Tina has busied herself crocheting and proudly notes that each grandchild owns one of
her creations.
Travel to Mexico offered the
couple an opportunity to see new places. They had a "good time" in Acapulco, Guadalajara and
Mexico City, and a week-long visit to Ixtapa served as a 40th anniversary gift from a grandson.
Church activities occupy the
couple's time. Tina joined the Guadalupanas 13 years ago. Amarante became a Peregrino six years
ago. Tina serves as a Spanish and English rector in her home parish of Our Lady of
Guadalupe; Amarante serves the parish through activities of the Holy Name Society.
Twenty-one grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren provide much joy for the couple. They
also enjoy frequent visits from their children.
Even though life is still a
joy for them, tragedy marred their idyllic existence with the
death of their first
child, Gregorio Daniel. Sept. 21 of this year marked the first
anniversary of his death.
Retirement activities,
family, church and many friends -- the Trujillos have it all.
The return to their
permanent home has brought the couple to the place of their
heart -- Taos, New Mexico.
