-= NMSU PANORAMA - Summer 2005 =- Aggie Whirl: Labor of Love: Alumni Recognized for Preservation Work

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Alumni Recognized for Preservation Work

Mary Jane Garcia

Two NMSU alumni were recognized in May for their work in preserving historic buildings, neighborhoods and communities in New Mexico.

State Sen. Mary Jane Garcia '81 '83 '86 received the 2005 New Mexico Heritage Preservation Lifetime Achievement Award.

In 1986, Garcia published a history of her hometown of Doña Ana which led to a state and national register nomination for the historic village. Her research led to the restoration of the Nuestra Señora de Candelaria Church - a project that not only preserved the village's historic center, but also gave a sense of pride to the community and provided direction and job skills to a group of some 40 at-risk youth who learned how to re-plaster the adobe building.

Garcia has helped secure funding for several other preservation projects, including the Rio Grande Theater in Las Cruces, the Tularosa Red Brick schoolhouse in Otero County, and the Mesquite neighborhood in Las Cruces.

"Senator Garcia is a visionary who sees that historic preservation can help strengthen communities by providing new sources of economic activity through heritage tourism and the development of cottage industries," says Katherine Slick, state historic preservation officer. "Such projects are integral to her dual roles of legislator and citizen, but they also are a labor of love for Senator Garcia."

Clarence Fielder

Clarence Fielder '50 '54 received the Individual Achievement Award for his work in preserving the Phillips Chapel C.M.E. Church in Las Cruces, which his grandparents helped build in 1911.

His care of the one-room chapel has preserved the integrity of the adobe building and kept the church alive for the small congregation that continues to worship there. His work also led to listing of the church on the State and National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

Fielder has been an instructor of African-American history in the NMSU History Department since 1970. In 1992, he played a major role in the production of the NAACP film, "Buffalo Soldiers of New Mexico," and in 1995 he wrote "Blacks in New Mexico" for the Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History.

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