Special People known as ANGELS

Since I started this group in 2001, there have been about 40 people come into the group. And probably 35 of them over time have left. But the average 'angel' comes into this group and stays about 3 years. Then there are those who have been with me since 2001. Doggedly faithful and very dedicated. Perhaps you would like to meet some of these people who give up several mornings each month to come and honor those who have died.

This wonderful lady is Betty Lamberti. She was born in Albuquerque and has lived almost all of her life here. She joined my group with the very first training session which was September 12, 2001 (what a day to begin!). She has stuck with us through all kinds of weather and has never complained. She is also the consumate 'volunteer' as she helps several different groups. Very unselfish with her time. Her parents were Oreste and Minnie Marteno (buried at Fairview) and she had one sister (just passed away June 2010). Betty has a daughter (Monica) and a son (Robert) that live in Albuquerque. Betty retired from U.S. West (formerly AT&T) after working for them 30 years. Some places she has always wanted to visit are Rome, Egypt and Alaska. And Switzerland is her favorite place to go back and visit!

Her favorite book (and movie) is To Kill a Mockingbird and she loves Mexican and seafood. When asked why she has kept going with the Tombstone group all these years, she said it is always interesting work and she enjoys working with the people in this group. Her favorite time with the group is when we go back outside and walk the cemeteries.

Thank you Betty for all you have added to this group, all your work on San Juan county (you've almost single handedly written that one!) and your support!

Back to work

It has been a very long six weeks with no work being done for or with Tombstone Transcription Project. At the beginning of May I had emergency surgery for a large abdominal tumor. The group was willing to go on without me, but at the same time the temperatures soared. No one was willing to get out in 100 degree weather so no actual cemetery work was done.
We had just started work on the Atrisco land grant cemetery, San Jose de Armijo. This cemetery has never had a census of tombstones done and we were thrilled to be asked to do this historic cemetery. But we only got three visits in before illness or the heat stopped us.
The Special Collections library closed its doors mid-May and it wasn't until this week (June 16) that the New Mexico collection was once again available to the public. Our group will now have to go to the Main library to access the books for our work. At least we have some place to go since it is so hot. And we are all anxious to get back to work.
We are scheduled to return to work next Friday, June 25 on the second floor of Main. The only downside of the move is the parking. There is a 2 hour limit on free parking (of course you can pay for longer at $1 per hour) but that isn't fair to my volunteers. So we will shorten our work time from two hours to 1 1/2 hours.

Out in the cold (or heat)

I just found out that the Special Collections Library WILL close at the end of May. All of us are sad. The library will move some of the New Mexico collection of special books to the Main library, but not all.
My group works within the New Mexican collection of over 300 books (not all death records). They cover almost all the counties in New Mexico (33 counties), but particularly Bernalillo County. Years ago I spent time making a list of all the records and books that needed to be transcribed that pertained to cemeteries, deaths, funerals, mortuaries, etc. The list was originally about 90books. Over the years the library has added to my list with "could your group please extract this book too?" So my list at times was over 100 books or records. We had whittled that list down to about 40 books left to work in.
With the library closing, our work will come to a snails pace based on what books are available when and where. Special Collections is expected to be closed for over one year for complete renovations.
And unfortunately it is happening at this time of year. Typically we walk cemeteries doing updates from April through mid-June. After that it is too warm (unless we start working at 7 a.m. and no one is willing to do that!). We then go to the library and enjoy the cool inside and visiting with each other, catching up with each other, all the while writing furiously and extracting data from our assigned books. So with mid-June rapidly approaching, what shall we do? Continue outside and sweat? Stop for the summer? Don't know yet. So far everyone is willing to do whatever is necessary.

Library concerns

My group works in the Special Collections library about six months out of the year. We head to the cool air conditioned library when it gets too hot or when it is too cold. This averages out to about seven months at the library and five months on cemetery grounds. I wish it was the other way around. However I cannot ask my wonderful volunteers to walk cemeteries when it is 80+ degrees, nor when it gets below 45 degrees. All of them are so gracious and never complain about heat or cold, but it isn't fair to them.



So off to the ever-so-gracious library we go when the going gets tough. The staff provides us with a room to work in that has tables, chair, heat and air conditining! Since 2004 we have worked as a group in this room and transcribed roughly 96 notebooks full of old death records. I tried to figure out how many pages we've written but lost count long ago. But it is roughly 470 cemeteries worth of records! That is a lot!



The records at this special library are the history of New Mexico, as well as other states but mainly New Mexico. There are records from about 1735 to about 1980. It is these old death records from mortuaries, Archdiocesan records, church and tribal records that we painstakingly write down. Month after month, year after year, we have transcribed these records which are eventually given back to the library as well as uploaded to the internet.



While Rich and I were on a month-long cruise to South America, I was notified that this special place would be closing down, perhaps for up to a year. It seems it must be renovated - you know, asbestos, lead and other disagreeable things removed from walls. But instead of shutting the library for a month or so, the head honchos have decided to CLOSE! There is a small chance they would move some of the New Mexicana book collection to the main library. My group does not want to go to Main. There is no parking and the homeless sleep in that library!



I wrote a letter along with a petition to sign to send to Mayor Berry. The rumors are that there isn't much that can be done - it is a given that it will close?!

I didn't go away!

It would seem that once I created this blog - with worldly intentions - I couldn't figure out how to get back into it! I tried everything I could think of, but it stubbornly eluded my fingers. It took my daughter awhile to back track and give me - actually WRITE them down - the instructions how to get back into this thing! It better be worth the trouble.

Well, the Tombstone Transcription group continues and is stronger today. There have been some new additions and a few drops. But the most exciting thing since the last post (!) is that I now have a 'transcribing' group too.

I was SO VERY far behind in entering data that I knew I'd never catch up. I would die before those notebooks would get into my computer and uploaded to the internet. When I started this project it was my goal that as many cemeteries as possible would be transcribed, put into a database, entered on the internet and the Special Collections library would have copies. When I am no longer here, these records will stand.

So, I advertised for people that would be willing to work in their home, at their leisure, and enter the data from the notebooks that the Tombstone group had collected. I was overwhelmed by people volunteering! I had two training sessions and initially had 13 people working on them. Now, six months later - told you I didn't know how to access this blog - I have a solid six working almost constantly. The stars are Jackie R., Maggy W., Janice C., Mary K., Teri W., and Barbara B. These wonderful ladies have worked consistently in their homes and have transcribed an amazing 289 cemeteries!! WAY TO GO LADIES! We are down to about 50 notebooks to go and I think these ladies will do just that.

The Tombstone Transcription group continues strong with my core group of Wink, Betty, Gloria, Barbara and Lee as well as my precious husband. He is so game! We all enjoy our time during the winter and summer at Special Collections library. It is almost a 'social' time as well as working. We are comfortable in a room at the library with table and heat or air conditioning. We scribble away, whittling down the books that need to be entered. Even though we enjoy it at the library, we are always looking forward to getting back out on cemetery grounds.

This year (2010) we have been asked to walk and transcribe three Hispanic cemeteries that previously had been off limits to us. They are part of the Atrisco Land Grant and considered privileged property - that is, only heirs to the land grant could access the information. God smiled on us in 2009 when they contacted me and asked if we would consider doing them! Would we? Just wait for warmer weather and we'll be there. Everyone in the group is excited about this as these three have never been written down. No one knows exactly who is buried in them nor how many are buried. Two of the cemeteries are small (less than 200 burials) but one is huge, probably over 5000. It will be challenging.

I worry about what will happen with this project if something happens to me. I think if I was not here/there to drive and guide everyone, everyone would quit. No one is interested in taking a leadership role or interested in how this works. I know Rich wouldn't take it on, and my family has no interest in what I do. So I am sad that this will all come to a screeching halt someday. It will be a tremendous loss of what we have gathered if I don't get it into a format that will last for many years.

I'll be sure to try posting again soon - after all I should know how to get into this thing now!??

Terrific people

We have met today (August 28) for the fourth time this month. We are currently working at the New Mexico Special Collections library for the past 3 months. It is way too hot to be out working on the cemetery grounds, so we are transcribing data from old, old records at this special library. Now this may sound boring, writing about all these deceased people, but the group of people that work with me make it exciting. And we make those deceased people come alive!

First of all, I want to thank my patient husband Rich who has worked with us since his retirement in late 2007. He doesn't like writing ad nauseum in notebooks or reading about all these 'old' folks that died, but he hangs in there. His hand may cramp, his rear get tired of sitting on the hard chairs, or get just bored, but he never complains - or quits! The fact that chocolates and candy are used for bribery each time help some too.

Another wonderful worker is Wink. He has been with my group since 2001! Yes, from day one he has stuck with me. He is pretty awesome too. Although he has another life (unlike me) he shows up all the time. He, too, writes tirelessly and puts up with our silly jokes and comments. But he enjoys the chocolates too. And he is a rare breed (kind of like me) in that he loves searching out new cemeteries. He and I have the National Geographic Topo maps on our computers and we are always emailing back and forth that we found a new one! He even gets in his car and goes and finds some!

Betty came to me at the very beginning of 2001 also. What a faithful friend she has been. She is a wonderful volunteer all over this city. She is very busy with volunteering at the State Fair, any election in the city, the Balloon Fiesta and even the theater. But she has always found time for Tombstone. And she always has a smile and great encouraging words for me. She is a good friend.

Gloria came to me about 3 years ago. She has never balked at any assignment given to her. She quietly sits (or walks) and gets everything done. And she is a wonderful source of translating Spanish for us. None of us speaks Spanish and at times the inscriptions and names get too much. You would think by now we would remember that enero means died....or is it born!?

Barb has been with me so long that I don't remember when she started. She drives a long ways to come to our meetings whether it is the library or cemeteries. Such a happy lady that her smile always gives me a lift. And she never complains about the length of the book she needs to transcribe. She enjoys history of our state and loves to find strange deaths!

And my most recent victim, eh, volunteer, is Lee. He is an amazing man. He and his wife travel all around the world! He has just come back from Kenya and stunned us all with his pictures and tales of the trip. We are all living/traveling vicariously through him. A retired German professor, he is a joy to have in our group - and I know Wink and Rich welcome another male!

To everyone who has ever volunteered with this group, you have my eternal thanks. I know you have all put up with cold feet, freezing fingers, sun scorched necks, wet feet, sprinklers that suddenly come to life as well as holes that open up into the earth to trip you. I give you all a huge HUG and my love! God Bless you!!

Getting the work done

I have finally found some wonderful people to help me with Tombstone Transcription data entry. Over the eight years that we have been collecting data, I have been the only one to enter data into the computer.

About six months ago, a wonderful lady by the name of Rachel Rumschlag was introduced to me and she worked long and hard to create a database for Tombstone. We have so many names that we were running out of space on Excel spreadsheets. Now we have a wonderful database that I can get all our cemeteries merged into. It takes a bit of work to move them from a spreadsheet into the database, but will be worth it in the end. We will now be able to search for names alphabetically and not search through 100's of cemeteries one at a time.

I have also met a fantastic group of people who are offering to help enter this data. One of them is Shirley Ash. At this point (August 2009) we have over 100 notebooks full of information that need to be added. I did a mass training Saturday (August 15) and 8 people signed up and attended. I also trained 3 additional ladies that want to help. Hopefully, these 11 people will take notebooks home and enter the data. We should be able to get through all the notebooks in about 6 months.

After they send the information to me it still takes awhile to get it ready to upload to the internet and merge into the database. But this has to be alot quicker than me entering all the data myself.