Melba shares: Socorro, New Mexico, is Melba and my heart home town. There are a lot of reasons, but one is that Melba “owns” Socorro peak that is marked with her “M” at the top. The Europeans being a part of this town goes back to 1598 when Oñate traveled the Jornada del Muerto and came to the Piro Indian village of Teyana and received food and water, thus the name for the town, Socorro, Spanish for “Help.” In the 1680 Indian revolt a good part of the town moved south to be protected in the El Paso area, that is the reason there is a Socorro there, they never went home. During that battle, for those that believe, an Arch angle came and gave help to the Piro Indians and Spaniards that did not run, and a second reason for calling the place Socorro. To Melba and I, It is home a place that helped a couple of 19-year-olds that were over 500 miles from the nearest kin establish their roots and diagrams for the rest of their life. A city that stood against a national industrial organizations when they sought to attack Herb. Herb and Socorro won. It was in the Park Hotel on the Plaza that there was a doctor’s office where Dale and Lori were born. In that Hotel, Gov. Lew Wallace, seeking relief from the winter cold of Santa Fe, wrote a good portion of his classic, Ben Hur. It was in this city where Herb and Melba learned to serve God, it was here that Herb and Melba changed their dreams from inward focus to outward focus and Herb changed his goal from going to the moon, to going to Heaven and taking as many as possible on the trip. Back to the “M” on the top of Socorro Peak, that rises almost 9,000 feet in elevation above the Rio Grande city of Socorro. Actually the “M” stands for Mines, the School of Mines, New Mexico Tech. As a freshman Herb shouldered a 50 pound sack of lime and share carried a 5 gal jerry can of water to paint the gigantic M that is the size of two foot ball fields, a task the Freshmen do every year under the supervision of upper classmen. It is a tough climb and a big job and that night sitting exhausted at my desk writing my daily letter to Melba, I told her I painted that “M” for Melba on the top of that mountain, and I was giving the mountain to her as a wedding gift, it had her initial at the top so everyone would know it was her mountain. So for 64 years, driving from the south, east or north, the Socorro Peak with Melba’s M is the first land marquee of Socorro that you see. Melba shares her mountain with the world. Perhaps one of the greatest riches of growing up in Christ and gaining a few years; is to realize that your greatest wealth is not locked away in safe deposit boxes, with barb wire fences round them or hidden is secret caves stored against the thieves that break through and steal. The greatest treasures are all out in the open where you can share them with loved ones near and far that are the precious treasures of years of friendships. The more people take a portion of that treasure with them, the more the treasure grows in wealth and memory. Once we quite locking up our treasurers; and the more we freely share them with all, the richer we become. Melba shares her Mountain with the world, however, I still lean toward my windshield as I past the Bosque del Apache heading north longing for the first glance of Socorro Peak and all the memories that flood my mind that we need not lock up. Learn with Melba to share, that you might have more. Love//Herb
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 14:18:58 +0000
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