FACES & PLACES
New Mexico State Parks Deputy Director Toby Velasquez received a second U.S. Coast Guard Public Service Commendation for outstanding contributions to recreational boating safety as a member of the National Boating Safety Advisory Council and its Prevention Through People Subcommittee. Velasquez was appointed to serve on the council by Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson in 2015. The council advises the Coast Guard on boating safety regulations and a broad range of boating safety matters.
Velasquez started his career with State Parks as a ranger in 1999.
Over the last 12 years, he has worked toward increasing public perception and awareness regarding the seriousness of boating safety through education, outreach, community involvement, partnerships and law enforcement.
A native of the Mora Valley, and resident of the Pojoaque Valley, he is active within his community and serves on the Pojoaque school board. Velasquez also coaches and mentors youth through nonprofit organizations and promotes outdoor recreation, sportsmanship and teamwork.
Velasquez is a graduate of Mora High School and an alumnus of New Mexico Highlands University.
The University of Denver has named retired New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Patricio Serna of Santa Fe as one of its Distinguished Alumni for 2018, along with Olympic ice skater and U.S. diplomat Michelle Kwan and former Visa Chairman and CEO Joseph Saunders.
Serna received his Juris Doctorate from the school in 1970, according to the University of Denver Magazine.
The university honored Serna, who retired from the state Supreme Court in 2012, not only for his service on the bench but also for his work in pioneering the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Hispanic National Bar Association, and his volunteer work with a nonprofit that college student mentors with thirdgraders to help improve the children’s reading and math proficiency.
Serna, who has been named a Santa Fe Living Treasure, also has volunteered at the Food Depot and other local organizations.
He was born in Reserve, N.M., in Catron County, one of eight children of Pablo Fajardo Serna. His mother died before he was 2 years old.
Patricio Serna was the first member of his family to graduate from high school. He attended the old College of St. Joseph on the Rio Grande in Albuquerque and was then drafted into the U.S. Army, according to a report in The New Mexican. Serna then got law degree at the University of Denver and a master’s in law at Harvard.
He worked at the Equal Opportunity Commission in Washington, D.C., then returned to New Mexico in the 1970s to work for then Attorney General Toney Anaya.
He was elected as a state District Court judge in Santa Fe in 1984. In 1996, he successfully ran for Supreme Court.