Saturday, May 17, 2008

BoBo Sedillo, political activist, cowboy dies

Julia M. Dendinger News-Bulletin Staff Writer; jdendinger@news-bulletin.com

Belen There is a fresh fire laid in the fireplace at the house. Over the mantle, a cow skull hangs. Four cowboy hats hang two and two in perfect alignment to make a square. On a wall in the back office are signed pictures of prominent Democrats - John F. Kennedy, the Clintons and Al Gore, to name a few. There is even one of Richard Nixon, the token Republican.

Looking at this neat as a pin house, filled with cowboy memorabilia and seven decades of pictures featuring some of the most well known politicians of several generations, one might wonder just what kind of person lived such an eclectic life.

The answer to that question would be Filo M. "BoBo" Sedillo II. Born in Belen in 1935, BoBo passed away Monday after a battle with cancer. Recently, his wife, Corrine, and sons, Filo III and Antonio, gathered around the dining room table with coffee to remember the husband and father who had moved between diverse social circles with grace, ease and respect for all people.

He met and married Corrine Gabaldon in Belen in 1958. It was a "whirlwind romance," son Filo, says with a smile. As a high school senior, Corrine attended a local Rotary Club meeting with a friend.

"There was a club of all the pretty girls in town. I wasn't one of them," she said with a dry smile. "My friend asked me to go with her to help serve dinner to the Rotarians. After the meeting, my friend said she wanted to introduce me to someone. I assumed she had a crush on him."

They drove to a nearby house, honked the horn and out came BoBo. "There he was, fresh out of the Navy with that head of hair," Corrine said. "I didn't really think much of it, so we all went driving around like we did back then."

While out cruising, a second car came up behind them and blew its horn. When they stopped, a girl in the second car invited BoBo to the prom the next month.

Both Corrine and BoBo attended the formal with their respective dates. "I went with a friend, and it wasn't anything serious," she said. "BoBo asked me to dance, and while we were dancing he kissed me. Well, the chaperones saw and that was the end of that."

By the end of the week, Corrine had accepted a marriage proposal. The couple met on April 7, were formally engaged in June on her birthday and married on Dec. 27. "I remember the date we met," she said. "I have it on a charm on a bracelet."

After the whirlwind of courtship, BoBo and Corrine set off for Washington, D.C. BoBo worked there as a Capitol policeman and in the office of the late Sen. Clinton P. Anderson for five years.

During that time, Corrine said, she could remember attending many galas and parties for politicians from New Mexico and other states. "We met so many people," she said. "It was a wonderful experience, such an education. He showed me so much."

While in Washington, BoBo graduated from Southeastern University with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

After five years in the capitol, the Sedillos returned to Belen. "I think he came back partially out of loyalty to my grandfather," Filo said. "But he also loved Belen and wanted to be a part of the community and be involved."

Back in Belen, BoBo took on many different responsibilities - he was the interim postmaster, the Valencia County Undersheriff for the late Bill Holliday, and he served as the state representative for the late Congressman Harold Runnels in Valencia County.

He also helped his father, the late District Court Judge Filo M. Sedillo I, realize some of his political aspirations. "He was a very loyal son to his father," Filo said. "He was always there to support my grandfather in his political career and in his private life."

After the time in the nation's capitol, BoBo had acquired many political connections that could be beneficial to his father, but he also had another circle of friends that was rather different from the guys in suits in D.C.

"He was a typical, rebellious teenager," Filo said. "He was a saddle bronc rider for some time, so he became friends with the cowboys. And they knew him just as another cowboy."

His ability to move between such different social circles is what made him a much-respected person and very respectful of others, his family says. "He was a very kind person. He never looked down on anybody," Filo said. "I think, because of his time in the Navy and in Washington, he was just exposed to so many different people and just learned to take it all in stride."

BoBo's time in the military also left an indelible impression on his personal habits. "He was meticulous about his grooming habits," Filo said. Younger son Antonio remembers his father taking up hours of bathroom time in the mornings getting ready for his day.

"He would be in there so long; he'd go through three cups of coffee," Antonio says with a laugh. "We were talking the other day, as a kid I never remember seeing a dirty sock on the floor, a pair of boots left out, muddy boots on the floor. I don't think his boots got muddy."

A meticulous military man with political connections all the way up to Washington could have been all there was to BoBo, but his sons and wife remember yet another part of his tremendous personality.

"I will always remember Dad as a cowboy," Filo said. "I never saw him smile bigger than when he was on a horse." His sons and Corrine have many happy memories of summers at The Cabin.

Before BoBo and Corrine returned to Valencia County, his father had purchased a ranch in the Jemez Mountains and an Albuquerque newspaper from the Grottenthaler family.

For a time, he ran the paper for his father and was the one trusted to work on making the ranch into a place for the family to rest and relax. "He was the only person my grandfather could rely on to get things done up there," Filo said. "Dad spent a lot of time up there in the mountains; he loved it. It was a family cabin; it was my grandfather's wish for it to be a family place."

Not only was BoBo dedicated to serving his family, he also served his community and his party. He proudly served in the State Legislature as the sergeant-at-arms for the New Mexico Senate and was the chairman of the Valencia County Democratic Party for eight years.

His love for democracy and the two-party system has even made its way to his grandchildren. "Juan, Antonio's son, has decided that his sister Emily is going to be the first woman president. He told me I can't vote for Hillary because Emily is going to be first," Corrine said, laughing.

But no matter how dedicated BoBo was to politics, his pride and joy were his sons and their families. "He loved us. He loved our wives. He always told us how lucky we were and warned them about the challenges to come. He loved our children. He made sure we knew that," Filo said. "I will always treasure and remember the time he spent with me and my daughter."

Because he was often geographically distant from his father, Filo has fond memories of BoBo's visits to his homes around the world, with the most recent one being in Australia.

"He love the lifestyle and the people," he said. "I remember when he was sick, he was always so hopeful, so positive he would get better. He told me he was looking forward to visiting us again soon."

During frequent visits during the last eight months of his life, Filo said he and his father reaffirmed their relationship and mutual love and respect for each other.

"He was very proud of both of us," Filo said. "He was very open in communicating that love and pride. We talked like we never had before. He was just so open. In the last month, I think he accepted what was happening. He had a lot of faith at the end. He came to his own understanding of his God."

The relationship BoBo developed with his older son was something Antonio says he was lucky enough to have his entire life. "I never left," he chuckles. "I went to college, but then I came back to Belen. And I spent a lot of time with him in the emergency room, so we talked about a lot of things. We said everything we needed to."

Antonio says he will always remember the time his father spent with his son Juan and daughter Emily. "They would go off riding together. Dad came to every soccer game, basketball game, ballet recital," he said.

While he is missed, Antonio says, in a way his father's passing has brought the family closer. "We are looking at things more positively and trying not to worry about controlling things that we can't," he said. "On one hand, my father lived a good, long life. He was 73. Did I want him to live forever? Yes. But then you see a 12-year-old next to him also hooked up to chemo and you realize there are just some things you can't control."

In the living room, Antonio goes from item to item remembering his father. "Everything in this room is him," he said. "It's all cowboy. And the fireplace ... that's the one thing I miss from the house we grew up in that I don't have in my house. Every night during the winter he would lay and light a fire. It wasn't really for warmth. It was for family."

Juan comes in to get a hug from his father, his sadness obvious. "He was a great grandfather and I miss him a lot," he says, before turning has face into his dad's chest.

Corrine points at the neatly laid kindling in the fireplace. "He laid that this winter, but we never lit it," she said. "We weren't sure the smoke would be good for him. We would have been married for 50 years in December, but I feel like we celebrated that.

"As you get older, you get closer. It was hard to let him go, but it was time. He was a good husband and a good father. He was a very strong man."

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