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Saturday, March 21, 2009 Lost on Belen's West Mesa, the state's next First Lady kept her wits about her one cold nightLa Historia del Rio Abajo is a monthly column about Valencia County history written by members of the Valencia County Historical Society. This month's article is based on information gathered from contemporary newspaper articles and from interviews with Ida Jo Anaya's friends and relatives, including S. Pauline Anaya, María Anaya Rutkowsky, Ana Anaya, Dennis Robson and David Cargo.
Opinions expressed in this and all columns of La Historia del Rio Abajo are the author's alone and not necessarily those of the Valencia County Historical Society or any other group or individual. Ida Jo Cargo shivered in the crisp night air on Sunday, March 19, 1966. The frightened young mother clutched her two small children to give them warmth and reassure them that they were safe. But Ida Jo was justifiably concerned. She and her children, 3-year-old Veronica Ann and 1-year-old David Anthony, had been out on the desolate mesa west of Belen since before sunset. They had not eaten for hours and were hardly dressed for the cold night temperature. But at least Ida Jo could see the lights of Belen in the distant Rio Grande Valley. Belen was Ida Jo's hometown. Born to Trinidad and Margarita Anaya in 1941, she was the fourth of eight children in her large family. Christened Adelida (after her maternal grandmother) Josephine (after St. Joseph because she was born on his feast day), she was always known simply as Ida Jo. As children, Ida Jo and her siblings had learned to work hard and take responsibility without complaint. They took turns working in their grandfather's grocery store on the corner of Aragon and North Main streets in Belen. The children did everything from running the cash register to pumping gas for customers at the gasoline pumps out front. The children also helped on the Anaya family farm on Mesa Road. Trinidad Anaya worked for the Santa Fe Railroad, but always grew crops and raised livestock to help feed his large family. When not working, Ida Jo enjoyed many pastimes, including going to the Oñate Theatre to see her favorite actress, the beautiful and talented Carmen Miranda. More seriously, as a deeply spiritual person, Ida Jo prayed often and looked forward to events at Our Lady of Belen Catholic Church. She felt a special devotion to St. Anthony, ironically the patron saint of travelers, lost items and seemingly lost causes. But most of all, Ida Jo enjoyed her family. Her siblings remember that family members did everything together, especially eating dinner at their kitchen table each evening. Trinidad and Margarita Anaya encouraged their children to express their opinions, think independently and be resourceful, no matter what circumstances they faced. Ida Jo had gone to school in Belen, graduating from Belen High School in 1959. She'd been a popular student with an early interest in politics and her Spanish heritage. El Aguila, Belen's high school annual, listed her membership in the school's government and Spanish clubs. In addition, she played the clarinet in the school's marching band. Ida Jo's family had deep roots in Spanish history. Her sister, Pauline, has traced the family's genealogy to Christopher Columbus himself. Family ancestors arrived with Don Juan de Oñate and the original Spanish settlers of New Mexico in 1598. Other ancestors returned with Don Diego de Vargas in the resettlement of 1693. More recently, Ida Jo's grandfathers were both heavily involved in politics. Her maternal grandfather, Ignacio Aragon y Garcia, had been elected as Valencia County's sheriff (1929-31) and had served on the Belen school board for 25 years. Both sides of Ida Jo's family had been active in the Democratic Party since the 1930s. But politics were the last thing on Ida Jo's mind on that cold Sunday night in March 1966. She had driven with Veronica and David to meet her family for a picnic to be held at a favorite family spot near the Rio Puerco. Pauline, who had originally planned to go on the picnic with Ida Jo, had had to change her plans, so Ida Jo had gone ahead with her two children, driving Pauline's yellow convertible Volkswagen "bug." Ida Jo's dad, Trinidad, liked the picnic spot near the Rio Puerco because he had worked there as a sheepherder in his youth. He liked showing his children and grandchildren the area's abundant Indian artifacts, especially pottery shards and arrowheads. Ida Jo knew the way, but had taken a wrong turn on an unmarked, unpaved road. To make matters worse, her car had gotten stuck in the sandy bottom of a box canyon. Finding no shovel in the VW's trunk, she tried to dig out with only her hands. Despite her best efforts, the tires only spun deeper in the sand. After two hours, Ida Jo realized it was no use. Searchers could not see her if she stayed with the car at the bottom of a canyon. She and the children would have to start walking before it grew any later. Ida Jo wondered how long it would be until her family came looking for her on the mesa. They might have assumed that she had had to skip the picnic because something had come up regarding her husband's political campaign. Ida Jo had met her husband, David Cargo, after she had attended the Western Schools for Secretaries in Albuquerque and had been hired as a legal secretary in Cargo's law firm, located in the Sunshine Building in downtown Albuquerque. Cargo was rather new to New Mexico, having arrived in the state in 1957, shortly after graduating from law school at the University of Michigan. Ten years Ida Jo's senior, Cargo had been taken by Ida Jo's striking beauty, good heart and clear intelligence. The couple fell in love and were married in Albuquerque on Sept. 2, 1960, just six months after they first met. Although a relative unknown in New Mexico state politics, Dave Cargo had great political ambitions. A Republican in a heavily Democratic state, he had already served two terms in the New Mexico State Legislature when he announced his candidacy for governor in 1966. Cargo ran a strong campaign for the highest political office in the state. He became well known and admired for his independent, low-key populist style. Traveling throughout New Mexico in his old green Ford, Cargo was soon called — and is forever remembered as --"Lonesome Dave." Ida Jo did her share of traveling during her husband's unorthodox campaign for governor. She supported David's political ambitions and often walked door-to-door, meeting people, distributing campaign literature and soliciting votes. Ida Jo's sister, Pauline, remembers one such walking tour in Las Cruces. Going from one neighborhood to the next, Pauline wore out the only pair of shoes she had brought along on the three-day trip. By all accounts, Ida Jo proved to be one of Dave Cargo's main political assets. Young, personable, graceful and beautiful, she reminded many New Mexicans of an Hispanic Jacqueline Kennedy. According to one newspaper report, a woman at a political rally in Lovington told Ida Jo, "I'm going to vote for your husband because you are so pretty." Ida Jo's fluent Spanish made her especially appealing to her Hispanic admirers. David Cargo remembers large crowds of up to 8,000 in Las Vegas and 12,000 in Tierra Amarilla. Ida Jo frequently spoke at these political rallies, making brief remarks in both Spanish and English. With her family's interest in the Atrisco land grant, there were even rumors that she was a "card carrying" member of La Alianza, the radical land grants organization led by Reis López Tijerina. David Cargo recently confirmed these rumors, adding that Ida Jo sympathized with La Alianza's goals, but could hardly be counted as a militant member of the group. Ida Jo was expected to help Cargo carry several counties with large Hispanic populations, including Valencia. According to Cargo, when a political rival declared that the only voters supporting Cargo in Valencia County were railroad workers and Ida Jo's family, Democratic leader Filo Sedillo declared, "That's the whole county!" But Ida Jo's trek on that cold March night in 1966 was far more difficult than any campaign trip she had ever taken, no matter how long and strenuous those trips had seemed at the time. As time passed, it was apparent that Ida Jo lacked the strength to carry both Veronica and David. Rather than simply wait for help, which may or may not arrive soon, she had to do something to ensure her children's safety. As resourceful as ever, Ida Jo devised a logical plan of action. She would leave one child along the road and carry the other a short distance. She would then place the second child beside the road and back track to retrieve the first. She hated to leave either child alone, but there had been no traffic and she hoped that there were no rattlesnakes or other dangerous animals in the vicinity. The going was exceedingly slow. With no moonlight, it was pitch dark. Her only hope was to keep moving and remain optimistic that she and her children would persevere. She undoubtedly prayed, especially to St. Anthony. It seemed that Ida Jo's prayers had been answered when she came across a corral. If there was a horse in the corral she could ride it to Belen and get help. But the corral was empty. She had to continue on foot. Fortunately, Ida Jo was optimistic and determined by nature. Once, when she lived with her sister María in an apartment near Central Avenue in Albuquerque and briefly worked at Bataan Memorial Hospital (later the Lovelace Medical Center), she was about to board a city bus when she realized that she lacked the change for bus fare. Never considering giving up and turning back, Ida Jo simply walked the entire distance to work--in high heel shoes. Pauline remembers another occasion when two friends from Las Cruces were staying with Ida Jo and Dave on the night before the friends were scheduled to run a marathon race in Albuquerque. The pair talked about the upcoming race and where they hoped to finish the next day. Ida Jo enjoyed the conversation, but could not understand why the runners were planning to finish anywhere other than first place. Their "defeatism" made no sense in her way of thinking about a race or any other challenge in life. And so Ida Jo remained optimistic that she and her children would survive and eventually be rescued. They had to be. It was, after all, Ida Jo's 25th birthday, and she was, after all, pregnant with her third child. Meanwhile, Dave Cargo had spent the weekend on the campaign trail. He'd been glad that Ida Jo and their children had plans for an outing with her parents, leaving him to focus on pressing political matters in northern New Mexico. Cargo had not heard from Ida Jo, but had had no reason to be alarmed. His wife was undoubtedly having a wonderful time, as she always did when the Anayas gathered as a family. But the Anayas became worried when they returned from their picnic and discovered that Ida Jo and her children had left for the gathering but had never returned. The family alerted the sheriff's office, starting a search that lasted well into the night. As many as 70 volunteers and police officers joined the search party. Learning that his family was missing, Dave Cargo joined the group about 10 p.m. But no one found Ida Jo and her kids on the mesa that night. Instead, Ida Jo, carrying little David, finally came across an isolated radio command station manned by Sandia Army Base soldiers on the west mesa. Soldiers at the outpost listened in amazement as she told them of her experience and asked them to call for assistance. The police arrived in moments. Ida Jo and David were safe, but they still needed to find Veronica, hopefully at the spot where Ida Jo had last left her. Anxiously retracing Ida Jo's route, undersheriff Frank Sedillo and Ida Jo finally found the girl, safely awakening from a peaceful sleep on the side of the dirt road. Taken to her parents' home in Belen, Ida Jo, Veronica and David rested the best they could while reporters gathered to learn the details of their long ordeal. When asked how she felt, Ida Jo said she was fine, except for soreness in her legs, understandable after her estimated 17-mile, 10-hour trek. The story of Ida Jo and her children's journey made front page news on Monday morning, March 20, although some political opponents suggested that the whole drama had been staged by the Cargos to gain publicity and political support. David Cargo still laughs at the thought. Cargo went on to win his race for the governor's office, beating Democrat T.E. Lusk with 52 percent of the vote. Election results show that "Lonesome Dave" easily carried Valencia County and other largely Hispanic counties, thanks in part to Ida Jo's campaign work, popularity and valuable genealogical ties. By all reports, Ida Jo made a fine First Lady. At 26, she was New Mexico's youngest First Lady. She was also the state's first Hispanic First Lady since Maria Garcia Larrazolo, Governor Octaviano A. Larrazolo's wife, in 1920. While her husband served as the state's chief executive for two terms (1967-69 and 1969-71), Ida Jo promoted the arts, encouraging Hispanic and Native American artists in particular. She opened the Governor's Mansion to the public every Friday afternoon from May to September, with Spanish food and entertainment provided. Still close to her family and friends in Belen, she hosted her Belen High School class reunion at the Governor's Mansion in 1969. Fifty-three couples attended, with four couples coming from as far away as California and one couple from as far as Illinois. Accompanying her husband to meetings and conventions across the country and into Mexico, Ida Jo was enormously popular among the national and international leaders she met. Dining at the White House three times, she was especially admired by President Lyndon B. Johnson, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York and Henry Kissinger, secretary of state during much of the Richard Nixon administration. Ida Jo counted LBJ's wife, Lady Bird, as a personal friend. Despite all this attention and activity, Ida Jo managed to raise her growing family. She gave birth to her son, Patrick Michael, on Sept. 20, 1966. A healthy infant, Patrick was no worse for his mother's traumatic experience six months prior to his birth. A year later, on Sept. 11, Ida Jo gave birth to Maria Elena Christina, the first baby born to a New Mexico state governor and his wife while in office. A fifth child, Eamon Francis, was born in 1973. Dave Cargo left office in 1971 and decided to move his family to Oregon, where they remained from 1974 to 1985. Returning to New Mexico, the Cargos divorced in 1985. Ida Jo remarried in August 1990. Always creative, Ida Jo studied art, painted and wrote poetry, including poems about her family, their farm, the railroad and Belen. Tragically, she died of cancer while living with her second husband, Dennis Robson, in Midland, Texas. She was only 55. Ida Jo experienced many adventures in her short life. Her natural beauty, charm and intelligence made her the center of attention wherever she traveled and whatever she did. But if a person's character is best measured in adversity, then the truest test of Ida Jo's character occurred in March 1966. No one could have demonstrated more strength, courage or persistence in such dire straits. In short, Ida Jo's finest moment was not on a political stage at a campaign rally, in the Governor's Mansion in Santa Fe or even in the White House in Washington, D.C. Her finest moment was protecting her children on the lonely mesa west of the place she loved the most and where she had been most happy, her hometown of Belen.
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