80-year-old publishes first book
80-year-old writes book about family, history of northern New Mexico
It was 20 years ago that Rose Spader began to write down the family stories that she finally wove into the book she published with her daughter’s help late last year.
The book “Overturned Bucket: Love, Loss and Redemption” is a richly detailed portrait of life in northern New Mexico and Albuquerque from the late 19th century through to the 1960s as lived by the many colorful members of Spader’s extended family.
It also covers the time when New Mexico shifted from Territory to statehood — grandfather Manuel Conrado Martinez was among the first state representatives — the confluence of Indian, Hispanic and Anglo cultures, and the influence of famous characters such as art patron Mabel Dodge Luhan.
“This book has energized me,” said Spader, a spry 80-year-old, who smiles broadly as she serves up an empanada made to one of her mother’s recipes.
Harsh life
Spader said she had three motivations to write the book: to understand her heritage, connect with her relatives and the desire to keep her beloved mother’s memory alive.
“I started writing about my mother because I felt her family didn’t do her justice. She was a godsend to us and always willing to help, dropping her goals to serve our needs and we took it for granted,” she said.
Spader mulled several possibilities before settling on the title. The overturned bucket is an image that occurs throughout the book.
“It seemed symbolic to life,” she said.
The book pulls no punches as Spader recounts the harshness of rural life with its unrelenting and brutally hard work in the logging, mining and ranching communities. Life was especially tough for women like her grandmother Gertrudes Cortez Martinez, who married at 13 and bore 20 children whom she ruled with an iron hand.
Spader’s mother, Lenore, was the second eldest and she learned hard work at an early age, taking care of her younger siblings. The fortitude Lenore acquired from growing up in a home where their mother did not tolerate weakness, stood by her during her own marriage to an alcoholic husband who gave her 12 children, of whom only half survived to adulthood.
Spader, the second youngest, was born in 1935 in Taos. When she was 5 the family moved to Corrales where her father worked. When Spader’s father was drinking he stopped working, often leaving the family in poverty. At one point her mother had to give up an ill child to an uncle when she could no longer take care of him.
Collaboration
Spader herself married at 16 and had five children by her mid-20s. Her 17-year marriage to her ex-husband was unstable and the family moved frequently. While her children were young, Spader worked night-shifts as a waitress and after divorcing she found employment as a secretary at Sears. Eventually she ran her own drapery shop for a decade before the business went under.
“I loved it too,” Spader said, “But a one-person big operation generally can’t make it. I was happy to keep it going for 10 years.”
She halted work on the book when she married a second time in her early 60s to former federal judge Stewart Rose, who was then a widower. The couple were married for 13 years during which they traveled extensively, including a lengthy stay in Venice, Italy.
“He opened up so many new things for me,” Spader said.
Rose died in 2012 after a long illness and she turned back to her writing, helped by her daughter Debra Speck. The two collaborated by phone, typically working from 6 to 8 each morning. Speck handled the legal aspects of the project, securing permission for the many historic photos and creating a limited liability publishing company.
“The legality of producing a book is nearly as hard as the writing,” Spader said.
They also traveled together to interview relatives to gather stories and confirm Spader’s memories of her early life. Her son, artist Michael Spader, produced the cover illustrations for the book.
“I think everybody should write a book, especially about the past and the duress,” Spader said.
She is now working on a children’s book, which will also be illustrated by her son.