Ex-Mescalero Apache leader dies

A. Paul Ortega, former Mescalero Apache president, died May 17 in Albuquerque.

Ortega was vice president and stepped into the role of president in 1998 when long-time tribal leader Wendell Chino died. Besides holding the two top positions in the tribe, he is remembered as a Mescalero medicine man, tribal council member, elder, mentor and musician.

According to information released by the family, Ortega was born Aug. 26, 1937, in Mescalero to Toney Ortega and Ruth Marden.

He was known as a musician who paved the way for many Native American performing artists. He recorded two solo album, Two Worlds and Three Worlds and a third album called Loving Ways, with Native American recording artist Joanne Shenandoah.

He was an ambassador for the Inn of the Mountain Gods and later served as an adviser with the Indian Health Services in the Traditional Cultural Advocacy Program.