Yellen, Arthur
Irwin
Arthur Irwin Yellen passed
away suddenly and unexpectedly of pneumonia on January 7, 2006. But those who knew him well know
that he lived a good and full life, and was glad for every moment. He is survived by
his loving children Wendy Yellen (Michael Rogers) of Ribera, NM, Pamela Yellen (Larry
Hayward) of Lamy, NM, Kenneth (Linda) Yellen of Montpelier, ID, and 6 grandchildren –
Heather, Kenny, Cameron and Kristie Yellen and Darren and Bryce Dayton. Arthur was
born in Buffalo, NY, and married to the late Carole S. Yellen. Before his death, he asked
his children to use this story as his obituary. Several years ago, it was a contest entry for
the topic "Outrageous Grandparent". There will be a public memorial service in Taos, NM
later this year. Should you feel moved to honor him in some way, Habitat for Humanity was
very close to his heart. We miss him already. Here's how he wanted to be remembered…
Outrageous Grandparent – Outrageous: "extravagant, immoderate". What defines
"extravagant, immoderate" in a grandparent? A grandparent is, by definition, "old".
They are expected to be slowing down, saying no to the excesses of youth, to have learned
to be moderate, not to take extreme chances, to leave the excitement to the younger
folks. Risk is a big part of what grandparents need to let go of - grandparents are supposed
to be so close to the end of life that risk is no longer wise. "Play it safe, relax, you've
earned it."This grandfather has never heard of these ideas. He doesn't act his age. It
wouldn't occur to him. That's why, when he retired at 65 and moved to a new state, a new part
of the country, he looked around and thought, "What we need here is affordable
housing." He personally met with most of the movers and shakers in town, took them all to
lunch, individually, on his own dime. He convinced them of the need to bring Habitat for
Humanity to Taos. After a year of lunches and persuasion, Habitat was brought to
Taos, a prominent lawyer helped to organize it and volunteer a huge percentage of his
services and houses were begun. Now, years later, it is a thriving, integral part of the
Taos landscape – beautiful adobe houses that families have built with their own hands and
hours of help from the community – with a monthly bill that anyone can afford. But no, that
wasn't enough. This grandfather looked around and saw the poor quality of education in
the schools, understaffed and overworked, and so he volunteered in the elementary school
every day, reading stories and tutoring kids and being a good listener to the kids who
cried when he walked in the door, "Here's grandpa!" But no, that wasn't enough. This
grandfather looked around and thought, "This county needs a watchdog, someone to keep it
honest. There is corruption, nepotism, and funds are disappearing without
accountability while roads are desperately in need of repair
and the people need
services." So, he took it upon himself to attend biweekly
county commissioner
meetings, often being the only citizen who would attend the
entire session. He spoke
countless times during the meetings, trying to get the
community to wake up to the
graft and misappropriation of funds. People began to come to
him, to tell him things, privately,
because they knew he would try to bring dishonesty to light,
to bring justice. Drivers
of pickup trucks would stop on the road to talk to him
during his daily walks, giving him the details to power his watch-dog efforts.
The Taos News would quote him. Men would whisper things to him, things they were
afraid to say publicly, knowing he could take the ammunition and use it to protect
Taos. The County Commissioners all know him, with a mixture of dread and respect. They
wonder, "What's Arthur Yellen going to say today?" But no, that wasn't enough. He joined
neighborhood associations, served as a board member, even joined the associations
of his children's neighborhood when they wouldn't find the time. And he also became the
watchdog for these neighborhood associations when he attended the county
commissioner's meeting. Others were supposed to go with him, but week after week, only Arthur
would make it there. Well, you might be thinking, that's because he had all this time,
after all, he's retired. But there is one more piece. When Arthur arrived in New Mexico, he
looked around the area, an economically depressed area where schools are some
of the worst in the country and one of the few places where it is still almost
impossible to get a good job, and said to himself, "This
place needs help. I can
help the economy here and in nearby states. I know how to do
it." Which is why, at
73, he came out of retirement and began, from scratch, a
newspaper about RVing.
It started small, in the southwest, and grew to national
distribution. And he is meeting
his goal. In Colorado, for example, a festival that had
never been large drew record
numbers when Arthur's paper printed an article. The chamber
said "We had more people
than we ever had before, and the RV parks were all full –
for the very first time." And while publishing this newspaper, RVing
America, though he is now almost 75, he still has time to pet 9 cats, water the
neighbors' evergreens and hollyhocks, stop to help strangers, and admire beauty
everywhere. When is the last time that someone stopped you and told you that you have a
terrific smile? (Without an ulterior motive?) Arthur does it
almost every day. Don't you
think that's outrageous for a silver-haired grandfather?
Young, Henry J.
Henry J. Young well known
merchant of Cerro and Questa, NM. died 19 Oct 1909 of heart problems. La Revista De Taos
newspaper. Contributed by Alberto Vidaurre.
Zamora, Christobal B.
Christobal B. Zamora, age
82, a resident of Belen, NM, passed away on Friday, March 4,
2005. He was a member of
San Clemente Catholic Church in Los Lunas, NM and Our Lady of Purification in Dona Ana, NM.
Chris was born in Lincoln, NM on October 25, 1922 to Fulgencia and Christobal Zamora. He
was the eldest of twelve children. He was a graduate of Capitan High School Class
of 1941. Christobal married his high school sweetheart, Dora Chavez, in 1941. He
then joined the U.S. Marine Corps that same year. He fought in the South Pacific
participating in six island campaigns until the end of the
war in 1945. After he
was discharged, he was accepted at NMSU where he obtained
his B.S. in Range
Management in 1950. Chris was one of the first Hispanic U.S.
Forest Rangers and the
first Hispanic Forest Supervisor assigned to the Santa Fe
National Forest. He retired
from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture at the age of 55 after 24
years of outstanding service.
Chris worked as a State Forester for the Capitan District
where he enjoyed working
in the forest of his childhood. Chris touched the lives of
many people while he traveled
the mountains of New Mexico working in Taos, Espanola,
Albuquerque, and Santa
Fe. His greatest love was the time he spent working with the
St. Vincent de Paul Society
in the churches where he was a member in Santa Rosa, Ranchos
de Taos, Taos, Espanola,
Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and San Patricio. He was especially
active while a member of
Our Lady of Purification in Dona Ana, where he enjoyed
assisting at daily Mass.
He was preceded in death by his parents, an infant daughter,
and two grandchildren.
Chris is survived by his loving and devoted wife of 64
years, Dora; his 16 loving
children, Patsy, Connie, Jerry, Christine, Toby, Jacque,
Marcelle, Becky, Debbie, Terri,
Carmel, Lulu, Lorenzo, Lourdez, Mario, and Kino; 31
grandchildren; and ten great-grandchildren.
With the utmost respect for Chris's wishes, cremation has
taken place. In lieu of
flowers the family requests donations be made to Our Lady of
Purification for a
special project in memory of Chris Zamora. A Memorial Mass
will be celebrated on Friday,
March 11, 2005 at 10:00 a.m. at Our Lady of Purification in
Dona Ana, NM. Urn bearer
will be his son, Jeronimo, escorted by the rest of Chris's
sons. Romero Funeral Home,
609 N. Main St., Belen, NM. ABQ Journal March 10, 2005
Zannes, Tommy
Tommy Zannes, 56, a
resident of Albuquerque, passed away on Sunday, June 4,
2006. He was preceded in
death by his mother, Estelle Zannes and his father, Tommie
Zannes. Tom is survived
by his loving family: wife, Madeleine Zannes; son, Alexander
Zannes (who told his Dad
that HE was his inspiration); sister, Maria Zannes and her
son, Peter (who told his
Uncle Tom that HE was his hero); and brother, Timothy Zannes
(wife, Lucy and son,
Shamus). He will be greatly missed by many others, including
his Uncle Louie and Aunt
Gwen; Aunt Joan; his cousins; nieces and nephews; his loving
in-laws; and many, many
dear friends. Tom was a ski racing coach in Taos in the
early '70s; Chief Photographer
for KOB-TV '76 to '78, a cameraman for WNBC news in New York
and President of
Electronic Films, Inc. He won multiple awards, including
three Emmys, for cinematography.
Tom Zannes was an inspiration to all who knew him. A Life
Celebration for Tom will
be held at the Ladera Golf Course on Monday evening, June
26, 2006 at 6:00 p.m.
Please RSVP through Reflections. Donations can be sent to
the American Cancer Society
(brain cancer research), 10501 Montgomery NE, 87111.
REFLECTIONS Funerals
Life Celebrations 2400 Washington Street NE 884-5777 ABQ
Journal Sun June 11,
2006
Zapolski, Milton P.
Milton P. Zapolski age 58
of Eagle Nest passed away Tuesday May 13, 2003 in Eagle Nest, NM. He was born December 19,
1944 in Schenectady, NY the son of Milton and Anne Proskow, Zapolski. He married
Sandra Zink in 1982 in Los Alamos. Milton was well known to the New Mexico radio audience
in the late 1970's as the morning personality on Albuquerque KHFM's Breakfast with
Milton. Harold Geller, longtime friend and Taos gallery owner, said He was an amazing
guy. He could make the average person appreciate classical music. Milt was a special
person and a great partner for the many concert recordings we did together.
It's a great loss. Milton was the recording engineer for Music From Angel Fire since 1955. In
addition to Music From Angel Fire, Milton recorded live concerts of small chamber groups,
Taos School of Music, Santa Fe Symphony and the Berkshire Choral Festival. Milton
was a music teacher for the Moreno Valley High School in Angel Fire. Michael Strong,
MVHS Director, said Milton was a wonderful character. He was enthusiastic,
original, brilliant, funny, irascible, self-deprecating, authentic, honest, honorable, sweet,
peculiar, insightful, full of integrity, goodness and Milton-ness. Milton was a veteran of
the US Army. He is survived by his wife, Sandra Zink of the home; his mother, Ann Zapolski
of Albany, NY: two brothers, Robert Zapolski and wife, Judy of Boston, MA; Donald
Zapolski and wife, Connie of Albany, NY; maternal aunt, Nadja Lapan of Kearny, NJ; two
step-sons, Allen Moody and wife, Jean Stramel of La Farge, WI, and Wade Moody of Eagle
Nest; and four step-grandchildren, Amber, Anastasia and Sara Moody and Silas
Ebbert of La Farge. His surviving natural children are Adam Lansing of Allentown, PA and
Elizabeth Lansing of Schenectady, NY. Funeral services were Sunday, May 18th and he
was buried in the Elizabethtown Cemetery at Eagle Nest. Memorials can be made to
the Moreno Valley High School, PO Box 1037, Angel Fire, NM 87710. Arrangements for
Milton P. Zapolski are under the direction of the Yaksich-Long Funeral Home in Raton.
ABQ Journal May 23, 2003
