The New Mexico Water Dialogue’s
13th Annual Statewide Meeting
January 12, 2006
Water Planning – So What?
Awards & In Memoriam: Chris Nunn Garcia
Conci Bokum: I want to start by saying to those of you who have been coming to Dialogue meetings all these years, you’re used to seeing Lucy Moore up here. She’s one of our founders and is very special to the Dialogue. She wanted me to let you know that only a family medical emergency kept her away. She’s fine, she’s in New York, and she wanted me to let you know that’s why she’s not here. This will be the first meeting she’s ever missed, and a hard one for her to have missed. She especially wanted to be here to honor Chris, and she sends her warm wishes to everybody, and hopes everyone has a wet and wonderful New Year.
Now, I’d like to thank John Brown who has been our executive director for years, and who has been the person who held the Dialogue together all this time. He has actively worked to develop and articulate both the processes and strategies to improve water planning and water management in New Mexico, on behalf of the Dialogue. He’s developed and implemented many new programs, some of which are described in the latest issue of the Dialogue. Unfortunately, he has sort of ‘retired’ and moved to California, although we seem not to have our claws totally out of him; he’s here now. I hope he’ll help with some of the Dialogue’s projects in the future, although it’s hard from California. I wish he were still here full time. I ask you all to join me in celebrating John’s contribution to the Dialogue and to New Mexico.
John Brown: At the statewide meeting in 2004, we gave awards to several people. Being the Dialogue and not very highly staffed, we never got around to handing them the actual gift that we wanted to give. So I’m going to start this process by making up for one of these. I’d like Elaine Hebard to come up here. Back in 2004, Janet Jarratt presented the Dialogue Volunteer of the Year Award to Elaine, noting that, in the case of Elaine, ‘Volunteer of the Year’ might be better said to be ‘Volunteer of the Decade.’ I’d like to amend that further and suggest that Elaine ought to be named ‘Volunteer of the Century.’ So Elaine, on behalf of the Water Dialogue and every other cause that you’ve ever championed, here finally is your award.
Elaine Hebard: Volunteers don’t come separate, so I asked my husband to come today. It’s because of him that I’m able to volunteer my time. Also, I’ve been very fortunate to be able to work with Janet, Lisa, the Dialogue, the [MRG Water] Assembly, and the sub-regions. I also do work on the border, so I’ve had the opportunity to meet with many of you and others who aren’t here, and you’ve all given me wisdom. Thank you.
Conci Bokum: Now I get the pleasure of making someone in this room very uncomfortable. The Board of Directors has decided to give this year’s annual award to Lisa Robert. This is a very special organization—we’ll celebrate that in just a few minutes, since Chris (Nunn Garcia) was one of its founders, along with Lucy, who couldn’t be here today. It took some very special vision and thought and caring—a lot of things—to make the Dialogue what it is. Lisa did our newsletter, along with Chris, and Charlie whom you’ll meet later. The Dialogue newsletter is just amazing. I wish I were Lisa because she performs magic. She takes things that happen, she takes reality, she takes people, and just does something that is magical. The Dialogue’s first layer is its board, and then there are those who get together, listen to each other, and talk things out at these statewide meetings. But there are a whole lot of other people out there who don’t come to either the board or the statewide meetings, and Lisa was the Dialogue for them. We owe Lisa so much because what she does really is magic.
Lisa Robert: I don’t know what to say. Conci’s right: I’m not comfortable in front of a group. I’m a writer, and writers like to sit safe in their own world and tell you what they think from there. I appreciate the opportunity to have written for you all these years. The only reason I kept at it is because I fell in love with you—every single one of you. I also love this state, and Water got me by the ankle and dragged me here: I didn’t choose this subject to write about; it sort of chose me. I don’t think I can ever quit, and things like this [award] keep me wanting to do it. Thank you guys, very, very much.
In Memoriam: Chris Nunn Garcia
Conci Bokum: I guess I’ll start by saying there’s a whole thing about family. Chris certainly made a lot of us feel like her family. We’re the outer layer. I’m so thrilled that her inner family could be here today for this next award. I’d like to introduce them: Albert Garcia, her husband; Charlie Kennison, her daughter; and Ben Jones, her son. I’m so glad you guys came.
There are people in this room who were around when the Dialogue started and who understand just what a special thing happened. They’re going to be represented by Rob and Michael.
Rob Leutheuser: It is an incredible—incredible—honor to be here. There’s a short version: Chris is irrepressibly and genuinely Chris. Not much more has to be said, but of course, I will say more. To be here with you—I’ve been out of this circle for a while—and to be with her family, gosh, it’s great to see you guys again. It’s humbling and I accept it with great pleasure.
Over the fifteen years or so that I have known Chris, she’s become the truest and certainly the most remarkable friend that I’ve ever had, and unseemingly, one of the more important people in my life. I offer to you that over the same amount of time, Chris has become a true and remarkable friend to the New Mexico water community, a rare jewel of understated importance.
I want to share a couple of vignettes of the public Chris that I knew, that I know. You have to understand that I was one of the feral cats—like you all are feral cats—that Chris and the Dialogue tried to herd, and of course, it doesn’t work very well. But by golly, you’all [the Dialogue] have done it and continue to.
It was back in 1992, and we were sitting in a small, unsquare, barely-comfortable meeting room at the Corps of Engineers’ office in downtown Albuquerque, on Gold Street. And this was the early days of, oh, “collaboration,” unmandated collaboration. So we were in this small room, and we were talking about the Rio Grande Initiatives, again an early version of this, and I was in the back row, sitting on a chair not as comfortable as what we have today, and next to me on my right was this woman. I didn’t know her, nor did she know me. We whispered comments as the conversation went on, much as we do here, and at the end, there were introductions and further conversation and Chris—you could hear, literally hear, the whirr of the wheels just spinning. She was in this information-gathering mode, all ears, all eyes, and that remarkable smile. I was just about a year into working with the water issues down here as a planner, and that was the beginning of Chris’ involvement in the public interface, in the application of things she had been more academic about. So it was the perfect set-up for both of us to enter into this era of…endless meetings. So we did, together and apart, and over the years, we found ourselves rubbing shoulders more often, to my delight, and I expect, to Chris’ delight.
The next year, early in the Dialogue process, where Western Network had started to bring this together, there was a meeting, I think it was at TVI, another meeting hall, not near as nice as what the Pueblo Cultural Center provides, and it was the Lucy & Chris Show. Lucy was up front with the flip chart, doing what she does, writing, and Chris was sitting over here with the rest of us, listening, observing as we talked about what is a water plan, what are we doing, what’s the future, and it was an unfocused, rolling thing. About midway in the afternoon session, (and you may pine for Chris this afternoon to come up and do the same thing,) there was a pause and she stood up, and kind of within three minutes said, “Well, this is what I’ve heard,” and outlined this notion of a template for water plans. Not only that, outlined a process to get there. Then she sat back down. And all of us, after gabbing all day, thought we were quite brilliant for doing such wonderful work. We threw out the raw material and Chris did the work of processing it. This was classic Chris, understated and sublime in the back, bringing out, synthesizing—or hell, I don’t know, maybe she walked into the meeting with all this already in her head and just kind of waited for the fluff pass, but I doubt it. This is who she is to us. It’s a miracle that Charlie back there is talking about implementation of regional water plans where fifteen years ago we were still having a conversation about what is a water plan.
As years went on, we got into that Thunderdome of collaboration, the ESA Workgroup. Certainly within the recent [issue of the] Dialogue, both Lucy and Conci speak about that. it was there that Chris uttered, repeatedly, the absolute Felliniesque statement, “I’m just a notetaker.” This wasn’t self-effacement or anything. That’s who she was. She’d sit at the end of that long, u-shaped table at the Corps of Engineers again, and she’d be following the conversation with fingertips and eyes the whole time. Every now and again, she’d pop in, as the notetaker, with, “For clarification, what was that you just said? Could you tell me a little more so I get it right?” Yeah, as if she needed clarification! What she was doing was, at the critical moment, opening up a side door that miraculously led to a better conclusion in a water conversation. Uncanny, loving, just incredible on all counts.
Of course, all of us have our personal stories, non-water community stories. Some are shared; some are not. The accolades to Chris have been many, today being another very, very important one, I think, because this being the water community. They [the accolades] will continue through your work, whether you know it or not, because what you’re doing is Chris. Through embellished stories—and we can always make them better, sometimes even at Chris’ expense and she’d get a big kick out of that—her legacy is in our hearts. Thank you.
Michael Benson: Good morning. My name is Michael Benson. I’m the Vice President of the New Mexico Water Dialogue board, and I’ve been with the Dialogue since it was founded. We’re going to have to call on Lisa to do a history so that we can have the facts straight. I had written a fuzzy history here, too… I remember meetings in 1992, but the Dialogue had its seeds planted before that, perhaps in 1990 or ‘91, when an organization called Western Network decided to hold meetings on issues related to the Pecos River, which came to the fore because of the water dispute with the State of Texas. Wisely, Lucy Moore and Chris Nunn realized that the way to face these issues is through communication and collaboration, and I think we’re going to see more people coming to that conclusion. We already see it. People are trying to negotiate their water disputes instead of going to court, where a judge in abstract might make a decision that doesn’t fit at all. There was a Ford grant given to Western Network, so when Lucy and Chris brought us together, it was comfortable. We leisurely planned meetings. There was money there. Then all of a sudden, Western Network decided to push us out of the house. I guess you might say the Dialogue board turned eighteen, and daddy was saying, “Get out of here. Get on your own.” Maybe it’s just being Navajo, but I sort of think of the Dialogue as a matriarchy. Navajos are matriarchal and matrilineal. We take our mother’s clan. Chris Nunn Garcia and Lucy Moore, our moms, didn’t push us out the door: they came with us. In 1996, when the Dialogue became incorporated, there was Chris and Lucy guiding us and helping us along. There have been ups and downs, and at times it seemed that the Dialogue would stop existing. But Chris and Lucy were always there. The attracted people with strong personalities, people like themselves, and so the Dialogue continues to this day.
It really is a special honor to speak to you today about Chris Nunn Garcia. It’s a happy time to honor Chris. A strong belief has washed over me in recent months that the Dialogue has new energy, that there’s a burst of energy. The board is rejuvenated and there’s been an influx of strong, new people. Chris would be proud. In my mind I remember a stately woman, strong, smart, serious, sweet, steady as a rock. Chris.
In preparing for today, I spoke with my director, Dr. John W. Leeper, who is somewhat like the Navajo Nation’s state engineer. I told him I would speak of the wonderful things that have happened to the Navajo people because of the Dialogue. First, I said I would mention that we met Tom Turney, the former State Engineer, through Dialogue activities, and this led to the negotiations between the Navajo Nation and the state on San Juan River water rights. Number two, we found our facilitator through the Dialogue; we found the person who would facilitate the negotiations, the discussions between the Navajo Nation and the State of New Mexico. We found that person through the Dialogue. Third, we found a young engineer who was introduced to us at a Dialogue meeting, and over the years, even a few months ago, he’s been bringing money to isolated Navajo communities. He’s brought us over five million dollars to build water lines to these isolated communities. Number four, I told John Leeper, the Navajo Nation participated in the Regional Water Planning Program because the Dialogue made us feel welcome. Perhaps the Regional Water Planning Program wouldn’t be what it is now if the Dialogue wasn’t there, being the cheerleader. As I was rattling off this list, John Leeper stopped me. He said, “It’s beyond that. The Dialogue created an atmosphere for collaboration.”
I don’t think the Dialogue would be what it is if Chris Nunn Garcia was not involved. Of course, Lucy Moore and western Network deserve credit, but Lucy and Chris worked at a team. Chris was one of those rare and precious people who make things happen. Most, maybe all, of our religions teach that good people do not end when they die. People like Chris go to a happy place, and they continue.
Chris’ family, we thank you for sharing Chris with us and the world. I’m proud to present this award to you today on behalf of the New Mexico Water Dialogue. Thank you very much. Receiving the award will be Albert Garcia, Chris’ husband.
Albert Garcia: When I met Chris, I thought water was just for drinking. Boy was I surprised. Over the years, I’ve met a lot of you people here, and I thank you for sharing her with me. She was always happy to go to the water meetings, to see familiar faces, a lot of them here in this room. Chris had a gift of understanding people. You could talk to her for about fifteen minutes and she could turn around and write a story about you, and it’d actually come out who you were. Now I’ll let my daughter and my son talk.
Charlie Kennison: If I can… The Dialogue was one of the first projects that Chris and I worked on together. I would do the layout of the newsletter, and we did hundreds of projects after that. It was the first in a long line of work we did together, and I think that’s what I’m going to miss the most. She was my biggest fan. We just worked so well together it was a blast. The Dialogue was the beginning of that, and I appreciate it. Thank you.
Ben Jones: To stretch this just a little, I did spend a lot of time with Mama when she was starting up the Dialogue, and I just wanted to share a couple of things that I was thinking about since I talked to Conci earlier this week.
Mama did not teach me a lot about economics or water, unfortunately, but she taught me a lot about how things get done. I remember one of the things she told me when I was a teenager. A friend of hers had expressed her admiration to Mama about how much faith she had in something. Mama said, “I don’t think I have a lot of faith, really. I don’t think this is gonna work out. If you thought it was gonna work out you wouldn’t need faith; you’d have confidence. That’s different.” That’s one of the things she said that really stuck with me, and I definitely saw that in action. I’d have to hold the microphone away to do a true impression of Chris’ mannerisms. I’d be sitting, reading in the living room of this house where she worked on the porch—this dusty, old front porch where she worked her computer to death, half the time on the Dialogue, and half the time on Minesweeper, to avoid the stress of the Dialogue—and I would hear, “Aaarrrgh!” When I’d ask her how things were going, she’d say, “I hope they can take a joke!” She was terrified and she was very nervous and she was very flustered, and everything she touched and everything she worked with turned to gold instantly, because all the time she was being frustrated and flustered and terrified, she was really preparing, and she was really throwing her heart into it.