Posts published in “Veltri’s Vault”

Anyone who reads or researches the history of New Mexico can’t help but chance on the bright sunflower yellow booklets imprinted with a red zia symbol and typeface – the simple cover design that characterized the works of F. Stanley, a Catholic priest, teacher, author and historian. Around 1960 he…

So, What’s the Big Deal…About the New Deal? By Pat Veltri     The Great Depression HUNGER… UNEMPLOYMENT… HOMELESSNESS… POVERTY… were the bleak realities permeating the stark merciless existence of those living during the era of the Great Depression. The Great Depression, a devastating and prolonged economic recession that followed…

  The Raton Hunger Pantry has been around forty plus years, providing a service for vulnerable families, children, seniors and individuals who do not have enough food in their homes. With the recent appointment of Daniel Griego, Jr. as director, the Hunger Pantry is embarking on the start of a…

The Swastika Symbol: An Integral Part of Raton’s Past By Pat Veltri THE SWASTIKA: GENERAL INFORMATION Stalwartly unfurling around the crown of the tallest building in Raton, embellishing the outer brick surface, is the swastika motif, a reminder of a bygone era from the heyday of the ritzy Hotel Swastika.…

A Sweet 100 Years: Raton’s Pappas Family Celebrates a Century of “Going Forward”in the Food Service Industry By Pat Veltri One hundred years of anything is a remarkable accomplishment. Despite seeming like it’s been around forever, any business that makes it to that illustrious benchmark had to start somewhere and…

      It was business as usual on a Thursday evening at the Arthur Johnson Memorial Library, the one night of the week that the library extends its hours to 9:00 p.m. Library director, Thayla Wright, now retired, was working the late shift, along with a co-worker, who was…

Ruth Brown Saunders: Colfax County Educator By Pat Veltri Wilson School, the First Year Wilson School, courtesy of Bill Littrell’s book, Forgotten Schools of Colfax County, New Mexico, page 174 Depression era winters on the prairie land surrounding the tiny village of Maxwell were typically brutal. On one memorable winter day in…

Raton’s Kearny Entrada: A History Lesson Packed with Fun By Pat Veltri Saturday, May 27, 1954…It was a beautiful Spring day, bright and crisp. Hear Ye! Hear Ye! The call of the bailiff reverberated in the air, summoning Ratonians to the first session of the Kearny Entrada Kangaroo Court. Ladies…

Readers, take a moment and skip backward in time to nineteenth century Colorado Territory, circa 1870. Put yourself in a top of the line Barlow and Sanderson stagecoach coated in red with colorful yellow wheels, and packed at full capacity with riders. The resplendent coach, drawn by six large mules,…