Fray Angelico

My uncle, Jaime Baca, called me Friday and asked if I could drive him to Santa Fe for a symposium on New Mexico's prolific author and artist Fray Angelico Chavez.  My uncle knew him and I met him on several occasions.  He spent a lot of time in our family's home town of Pena Blanca where he painted he stations of the cross on the walls of the church using the villagers as models.

He is also well known for his 26 books and 600 short pieces of literature and history.

He was quite a man who left his Franciscan priesthood for a short time and became a full time Santa Fe bohemian until he returned to the church shortly before his death in 1996.

My sister Carlota met us at the event and gave us a tour of the new State History Museum.  I had not been there since it opened on the plaza a year ago. It is truly a world class facility and I urge everyone to visit for a day.