Taos, New Mexico in my heart

In 1975, Art and Betty Armantrout left Vail, Colorado to discover the next place they wanted to live. They traveled a large loop through the Southwest in their Ford station wagon pulling a pop-up camper. For six weeks, they camped near Tucson and studied silversmithing with a teacher. (Navajo and Zuni styles). Wrapping back up to Taos, New Mexico, they found the enchanting place that they wanted to settle. They bought a Yarn Store that was located on Bent Street where Lambert’s is now.  

Art built display cases for beautiful woolen yarns and for the jewelry. They made friends with the Goldsmith across the hall, Julian, and his then partner, Jo Carey. Ann and Boyd, the tatoo artist upstairs, and other locals. Eight weeks after they arrived, Art died unexpectedly from an abdominal aneurysm.

My valiant, creative mother, stayed in Taos and made a life for herself. Taos in the 70’s and early 80’s was the wild west and home to famous artists, and, not as famous, hippies. She ran the Yarn Store for a year and Julian, Jo, Ann, and Boyd and other friends made sure she didn’t stay home and feel desperate. She made friends with R.C. Gorman, Jim Wagner, and other artists. For awhile there was jazz at a club down Kit Carson Road. There was always a party at El Patio. She moved to town from Flo Zeigfeld’s dirt floor home off Ranchitos. Her apartment is now Inger Jirby’s east Casita, on Ledoux, a block from the Plaza and across from R.C. Gorman’s Navajo Gallery. Listen for the bells from Guadalupe Church.

I made many trips to Taos from Denver. On the second trip, I took mom’s cocker puppy, Tag, down. Betty made friends with many people in tri-cultural Taos. Some friends’ families spent generations in Taos. Barbara and Anne Brenner were especially good friends to her. After selling the Yarn Store, Betty became Director of the Taos Chamber of Commerce. That put her talents right to work. She was in the thick of it, as the Taos Fall Arts Festival began and flourished. I have many wonderful wild west stories and memories from those years, 1975-1981.

In 2013,  Cynthia and I reunited Betty and Art. We took Betty’s ashes back to Taos. As we sat having lunch on Bent Street, looking across at what had been their shop window, I became aware of time as an illusion, and knew their adventure would pick up where they left off. I am so grateful for a deep connection to Taos, New Mexico and it’s people.

 

Betty and Jim Wagner.