CORRALES REMEMBERS THE PASSED
Alice Glover of Corrales has found a way to keep her son’s memory alive, following his death last June at 51. Tibi Scheflow will mark her dad’s passing in the same way, in the village he loved until his death in August.
And that’s what the new memorial project at the Corrales courthouse is all about.
It will consist of a 27-foot-long mural that “will be like a visual reference of a lot of the buildings and homes that had historic significance in Corrales,” said local artist Jen Northrup, who has already started sketching the bare bones on the top half of the interior courthouse wall.
The lower half will be covered in 6-by-6-inch tiles that will be designed by residents who have lost loved ones and want to make sure they are remembered.
The impetus for the project was the number of longtime Corrales residents who have died in the past few years, said organizer Gail Horan, who owns the local Just for Looks hair salon.
“The whole thing started because we were losing so many people, and their stories,” Horan said.
In fact, the person who had come up with the idea — longtime farmer and local icon Evelyn Losack — died last January, soon after she and Horan had begun plotting details of how to get the effort going.
“It had started over lunch, although we had been talking and talking about it,” Horan said.
After Losack’s death, Horan drafted Northrup, an artist who created a copper mining mural in Silver City and who did restoration work at the KiMo Theatre in Albuquerque. Northrup, a close friend of Losack’s, said she agreed without hesitation.
“It was really out of my friendship and love for Evelyn,” Northrup said.
Horan said organizers have raised nearly $600 in private donations, but need to raise another $2,500.
Besides creating the mural, Northrup has worked with people at the local senior center to create the tiles. Those who are interested in getting help designing a tile can sign a book near the courthouse wall, leaving their name and phone number.
Also, there is a box nearby that will contain individual folders, into which people can leave stories and photos.
“I’m determined to have a book made,” Horan says.
The memorial tile Glover created carries the name of her son, Tommy Lynn Glover, with his birth and death dates and an image of Indian corn.
“He was raised in Corrales, so it’s a satisfying way to memorialize him,” she said. “Other people can remember him the way I remember him.”
Tibi Scheflow and her mother, Mary Alice, were at the senior center recently creating a tile for Oliver Scheflow.
“He was a true gentleman,” his daughter said. “Someone like that who lived a good life should have something to remember him.”
As for the mural, Northrup said she is following the tradition of art created during the Works Progress Administration, which hired artists to create public works during the Great Depression.
Many of those showed historic scenes in a style that Northrup is emulating. For example, prominent in her mural will be the old Rancho de Corrales building, which burned down in 2012, the old San Ysidro church and the Wagner family farm, she said.
“This is not about me or my artwork,” she said. “It’s really just wanting to be mindful and give reference to the historic nature of Corrales.”