Weltreisender!!

This wunderbar gentleman is Marion Miller, better known to us as Lee.  He came to us last year sort of out of the blue.  He saw one of my 'pleas' for help in the Albuquerque Journal and decided to jump in!  He has added so much to our little group.

Lee was a German professor at Miami University of Ohio for 30 years.  Miami University is in a small town about 35 miles NW of Cincinnati almost on the border between Ohio and Indiana.  But not too small - on 11/22/2009 the UNM Lobo Basketball team played Miami U. [we beat them].  Lee taught courses in German language and literature.  And he retired in 1992.

He has lived in Albuquerque 16 years, at least while he isn't travelling.  He and his wife Jan travel ALL OVER THE WORLD!  I wish I had asked him to list all the places he has been, but he says they have been to over 100 countries and been on all seven continents.  Just since joining Tombstone last year he has been to Morocco, Africa, Iceland, Glacier National Park and Vancouver.  And I'm sure other places in-between.  His favorite travel spot has been Kenya in Tanzania where he took fantastic pictures of animals so close you could touch them.  He and his wife visited several tribes in the area and I was amazed at the beautiful colors of cloth the natives wear.  One place Lee and Jan would like to go (there is someplace they haven't been??) is Papua, New Guinea.

He loves to read and his favorite book is "Come Spring" and, like others in our group, his favorite movie is "Gone With the Wind".  His food of choice is Chinese.  His parents were Margaret Brant Miller (1900-1960) and Harvey Franklin Miller (1898-1967).  They are both buried in Lebanon Ohio.  He has three brothers.  His mother's brother, Marion for whom he is named, will be 104 years old this November!!

Lee is a great at extracting the data we need.  His penmanship is impeccable and he is very accurate.  He says he enjoys the people who are in the group as well as the cataloging of names.  Lucky for us!  So, Lee, I am so glad you 'registriert' and 'sie trat glucklich'.

(My apologies to Lee and anyone else if the German is not exactly correct - Ich entschuldige mich!)

Lightning fingers from Heaven

Yes, these fingers came down to grace our books with wonderful FAST FAST typing.  This is Jackie Rhodes who answered my desperate plea last September 2009 for help.  She didn't know what she was getting in to!  She learned the system very quickly and has done an awesome job in working through notebooks.  Not only has she done cemetery transcription, but she has tackled obituary logging, mortuary transcription, death records, and census records.  All of these require a different template and looking at records differently.  She never complains but just jumps in where needed.  And did I say FAST?  She has completed 197 different records in less than a year.  That translates into about 20 notebooks varying in length from 40 pages to over 150 pages. 

Jackie has been married to Bob for 42 years.  Her father is Frank Vrba who died in 1992 and is buried in the small community of Tours, TX (St. Martin's Cemetery).  Her mother, Marie Vrba, lives in Waco, TX.  She has three sisters:  Darlene, Sherry and Carla all living in Waco, TX.  She has one brother, Jeff who died unexpectedly in 2005. 

Her favorite book is Gone With the Wind and she enjoys reading Jane Austen.  Her favorite movie is Twelve Angry Men.  She and her husband have travelled to 48 of the 50 states only missing Michigan and Alaska.  She and her sister toured Europe and it was one of her best experiences.  She would like to take a WALKING(!) tour of Switzerland in the future.

Jackie has photographed the St. Martin Cemetery in Tours, TX and in doing so she learned the importance and value of having accurate and accessible records relating to families.  When she heard of the Tombstone Transcription Project, was very interested in helping.  She says, "the records developed and placed on the internet as a result of our volunteer efforts will help people for years iinto the future who are doing ancestral research."  She also finds it fascinating to learn a little bit of New Mexico history when inputting the death information.  For example, a group of men died in a mining accident in the late 1800's; families lost many children due to a diptheria outbreak; and many mothers and babies died during childbirth long ago.  She feels she owes it to the past lives by inputting accurate information for future generations.

Thank you Jackie for fast fingers, wonderful insight and a willingness to take on almost any task!!

God sent her!

This beautiful lady is Barbara Jean Borowy also known as Barb.  Barb came to this group out of the sky - sent from God I think.  It has been many years and she has stuck with the work despite many obstacles put in her way.  I am so glad she is here!

Barb was born in Kansas City, KS and has lived in New Mexico 36 years (24 in Albuquerque).  Her parents were Velma Clydene Donovan and Willard Okal Bowlin (buried in the Santa Fe National Cemetery).  She worked for the Department of Defense with the Air Force as a Quality Assurance Specialist.  Her favorite 'programs' she worked on were the B-2 Bomber and GPS Satellite.  How appropriate that she worked on GPS, as that is one of our main concerns in locating cemeteries.  We always track the GPS!

She has three children:  Robin and Diane in Albuquerque, and David in Phoenix.  She also has four grandchildren:  Michele, Charlotte, Danielle and Delaney.  Two additional reasons Barb is special to me is that she lives in Corrales (as I do), and we both go to weekly Bible Study Fellowship.  This past year we studied the gospel of John.  For 2010-2011 we are both excited to start the brand new BSF study of the book of Isaiah.  Her favorite book is the Bible, and her favorite movies are Braveheart and Pretty Woman.  Her favorite country is Ireland and she has always wanted to visit Alaska.

Barb says that she has stuck with the Tombstone group because she loves the people associated with it.  She has a fascination for cemeteries.  She says, "Each name I read in the library books and on the headstones was a real person and I always wonder what their lives were like.  I've shed tears over the babies, and feel sadness for those who died too soon."  And she never tires of writing down names, dates or histories.  What a gal!

She is a wonderful lady that adds grace and beauty to our group.  Thank you Barb!!  Please don't ever leave!

A visit around the state

Just a sampling of what everyone is working on this month at Special Collections library.

Rich is extracting from "Vista Memory Gardens Cemetery in Truth or Consequences [Sierra County]" 978.967

Lee is extracting from "Cemeteries of Lea County, NM Births and Deaths 1919" 978.933

Wink is extracting from "Union County NM Burials Outside of Union Co, Volume 4" 978.923 by Lofgren

Diane is extracting from "Union County NM Burials at Grenville and Willow Springs Volume 1B" 978.923

Sharon is extracting from "Fairmont Cemetery, Raton [Colfax County] as of August 2007" 978.922

Betty is extracting from "Cemeteries of San Juan County" 978.982

Gloria is extracting from "Eddy County Genealogical Society Volume 5-8 1985-1988" 978.942

Cheryl is extracting from "Independent Newspaper [Gallup McKinley County] Deaths 1994" 978.983

Barb is extracting from "Colfax County Roots" 978.922

Too many books!

This is what too many books looks like. These are two banker boxes filled with over 160 spiral notebooks that have cemetery information written in them. The information was gathered from New Mexico genealogy books in the library. The Tombstone Transcription group has written in these notebooks since 2005 and until now, the books have sat.....and sat.....and sat. Just waiting for someone to get the information into the computer.

And someone came!! As I wrote before, last September many 'angels' came to volunteer hours and hours of typing information into the computer. They have entered over 100 notebooks full of 'stuff'. And I mean lots of STUFF. Some of the things they have transcribed are:

*1860 death records of Lincoln county (home of the famous Pat Garrett)

*1890 death records of Carrizozo county
*Over 670 different cemeteries in the state covering 26 of the 33 counties
*Bernalillo county death records from 1900-1940 (over 10,000 names)
*Obituary indexes from 1904-1921
*Archdiocesan records 1860-1890
*Histories of families in seven different county (Historical Records)
*Immigration and death records into the state
*Deaths in five different Union forts in the state
And I could go on and on. So many different records.

But these 'angels' are all troopers. They have kept at this for 11 months and the two boxes of 'have to get done someday' has dwindled down to 1/2 of a box of 'I can see the end!' I am so proud of these dedicated ladies. They have actually almost worked themselves out of a job!

One Great Guy!!

This is Alan Winkeljohn, more fondly known as Wink. He is one dedicated volunteer! Wink joined my group at the very beginning in 2001. Like Betty, he has stuck with this work through thick and thin, cold, snow, heat, up hills and down.


Wink's background is in real estate as he has been a residential broker, a Qualifying broker, and deals in commercial real estate. His son owns a Mixed Arts training center and manages Holly Holmes, the famous female boxer. But most importantly is how Wink approaches any job he takes on. Just as in real estate, he is thoroughly knowledgeable, dedicated and committed to getting a job done. And done the right way!


Since 2006, Wink and I have worked diligently creating a list of all the burial sites in the state of New Mexico. I had been asked by the State of New Mexico to verify the list they had at that time, which only numbered about 300. Since then Wink has sought out and documented over 1200 burial sites. He relentlessly tracks down each cemetery on a topographic map, uses the internet to verify position, logs the GPS as well as directions to each and every cemetery. This has taken hundreds of hours of his precious time. However, due to his diligence, we (and the state) now have a verifiable and accurate list. This never existed before. And he has been known to physically go out somewhere in the state and track down an errant cemetery. Nothing like an 'eyes-on' verification!

Wink is such a blessing to me because I know I can ask him about a cemetery and always get the RIGHT answer, never a guess. And Wink is so kind - he never gets tired of me asking him for help, even if I repeat myself!


Wink has lived in New Mexico about 50 years (born in Ohio) and loves Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas. His parents were Alfred and Mary Winkeljohn (both at Gate of Heaven) and he has four sons: Jeff in Virginia, Mike in Albuquerque, Tim in Colorado, and Andrew in Arizona. He has always wanted to visit North or South Dakota and his favorite state is Idaho. Favorite book is Hunt for Red October and favorite movie is Dirty Dancing. He has five grandchildren which he is very proud of.

He says that he has stayed with the Tombstone group because he likes the challenge as well as the 'live' people in the group! Funny guy! Thank you Wink for years of help, love, support, jokes and your smiles.

We're cool!

As this hot summer progresses, we are thankful for the wonderfully cool and spacious library. Since the Special Collections library moved in early June to the Main library (downtown) we've taken up residence at their tables on the second floor.

We eagerly wait outside, along with lots of other patrons, waiting for the doors to open at 10 (why can't they open earlier!!). Finally we all rush into the cool dim library. We hustle up the elevators to the second floor after all of us get our parking pass validated. David and Gayle (genealogy librarians) always wave, warmly greet us and are glad we are there. Even Mr. Padilla (expert in all things Hispanic and New Mexico) puts up with our conversations. We don't have a special room to meet in here like we did at Special Collections, but the area upstairs is huge and we can spread out. We just can't tell jokes too loud!

Two new ladies have joined us here at Main - Sharon Serrano and Diane Bloom. They have been very faithful and we are glad to have them join our wacky group. I hope they enjoy it and stay for awhile. Our group usually consists of Betty, Gloria, Wink, Lee, Barb, Rich and Cheryl. Sometimes we are blessed with a few 'floaters'.

The only bad part of working at Main is the parking. The library will validate two hours of parking. So if we park in the structure at 9:45, we have to quit by 11:30 in order to get back to our cars and OUT of the structure before 11:45. The parking is $1 for every 30 minute increment over two hours. That means stopping our work at 11:20 in order to put everything away, get downstairs and across the street in time. It feels like we just get started when it's time to stop.

We are all glad and thankful for the nice place we have to work as well as wonderful air conditioning. But in the back of all our minds is the urgency and desire to get back outside as soon as possible.