Taos County needs $1M to finish vet cemetery

TAOS — Veterans from Taos County are one step closer to having a final resting place nearer to home, in a field near the gorge of the Rio Pueblo de Taos.

A black steel fence wraps around the 10-acre cemetery site at the end of Taos County Road 110, which has been cleared of sage and planted with grass.

Taos County, which is developing the new veterans cemetery, began the effort in 2014 because, as state Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, put it earlier this week, “Our national veteran cemetery in Santa Fe is filling up.”

Gov. Susana Martinez initiated a veterans cemetery program under the New Mexico Department of Veterans’ Services in 2013 to serve as a complement to larger national cemeteries. Her plan called for the construction of four veterans cemeteries over five years.

After touring 10 sites, including Taos, the Martinez administration chose Fort Stanton, Gallup, Carlsbad and Angel Fire.

After Taos learned it did not secure one of the governor’s first designations — and the funding that would follow it — the county pursued the project under the guidance of of local veteran Francis Cordova.

The cemetery received $200,000 from the Legislature, but so far, nearly $385,000 has been spent on the project, according to Taos County Commissioner Jim Fambro. At least another $1 million is needed to install crypts — a prerequisite to interring veterans.

Fambro said the county will continue searching for money to complete the cemetery, which sits on property that was once considered for the Taos County Administrative/Judicial Complex.

The county hosted a celebration at the cemetery site Monday, which drew more than 200 people. Dignitaries at the event included U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján; Taos Pueblo War Chief Curtis Sandoval; and elected officials, managers, and employees of both Taos County and the town of Taos.

Veterans representing several conflicts and branches of armed forces stood at the back of the crowd, holding flags that flapped in the mesa wind.

“Taos and the surrounding communities have contributed so much to our armed forces,” said Luján, a four-term congressman who represents 15 counties in Northern New Mexico. “This is an example of what’s great in our country.” Luján called Cordova a “bright star and humble leader.”

A version of this story first appeared in The Taos News ,a sister publication of The Santa Fe New Mexican.