Louis Huning, former Los Lunas mayor, dies

LOS LUNAS — Louis Huning, the longest serving and most successful mayor in the history of Los Lunas, died Wednesday, June 5. He was 74.

Huning’s family, including his wife, Nancy, and their children, Ruth Ann Gonzales and Louis Huning Jr., described him as a visionary, a man of faith who loved his family above all else.

Huning was elected seven times, serving as mayor of Los Lunas for 27 years from 1982 until 2009. He retired from office as he was suffering from symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

His accomplishments in office were as vast as the growth he helped foster in the years he was in office. While Huning is credited for much of the economic development and growth of his hometown, he would be the first to deflect the praise.

“He was always one who didn’t want to take the credit,” Ruth Ann said. “He always wanted to give credit back to where it was due — the council and village employees.”

Along with being mayor, he also helped run the family’s hardware store and then the cattle ranching and land development business, Huning Limited Partnership. The business, which is now overseen by Ruth Ann, has also played a pivotal part in the economic development of Los Lunas.

“He wasn’t going to bring something in that was going to hurt the community,” Ruth Ann said of her father and the development of Los Lunas. “He wanted people to be able to live, work and play in the village ... He wanted to make sure our children and grandchildren would have good jobs and a place to live.”

Nancy, who met Louie when they were 12 years old when he would visit his grandparents in Belen, said his legacy — outside of his devotion to his family — is preserving the history of Los Lunas and always willing to give back.

“He gave his whole soul to the village, and he just wanted to take care of people,” said Nancy, who remembers being instantly taken with his “beautiful blue eyes.”

“He always took good care of us,” she said.

“This village is his soul,” his daughter said. “He loved the village, he loved the people, he loved the village employees as if they were part of his family.”

Louis Jr. said his father taught him and his sister many life lessons, including the importance of voting, to be involved and to listen.

“He was a firm believer that you would learn more from listening than from talking,” Louis Jr. said. “When my dad spoke, it was because something needed to be said. He would let everyone else talk, and he would take it all in, and then he would say his piece.”

After marrying Nancy in 1987, Louie always made it a point to discuss whether to run for mayor again with his wife and children.

“He would say if anyone would say no, he wouldn’t run,” his daughter remembers. “He would tell people he did it because he was a concerned citizen, and he wanted to make a change.”

“He would always say he enjoyed city politics because the main goal was to work together to make a better community for everyone, and not let politics get in the way,” his son said. “He always felt a responsibility to provide a better place for everyone in Valencia County.”

It was that desire to make a change and have a better community that drove Huning to run for mayor in the first place. Not only did he have a goal, he asked two friends, Robert Vialpando and Charles Griego, to run on a “ticket” with him back in the early 1980s.

“We wanted to modernize the village,” said Vialpando, who grew up with Huning and graduated with him in 1967. “Back when we graduated, the population was about 100 people, and look at it now —it’s near 20,000. Things have changed quite a bit.”

Vialpando was appointed mayor after Louie retired, and was elected two years later for a four-year term. He remembers his friend was “always very calm, and very easy to talk to. He was very down to earth.”

Vialpando said the council and mayor all worked hard to develop the village, and said Louie did a “great job.”

“He was a great leader. He respected all opinions,” Vialpando said. “We were lifelong friends, and I’ll always remember his smile. I will always miss and remember Louie. His legacy is what Los Lunas is today.”

Griego, who was elected mayor after Vialpano and continues to serve today, became very good friends with Louie over the years, and is grateful that he became one of his best friends.

“(I’m going to miss) being able to bounce ideas off each other; asking him what he thinks,” Griego said. “I’m going to miss his friendship and know that I could trust him. That is probably what I’m going to miss the most.

“As I got to know Louie, I realized we had a very common bond,” the mayor said. “He thought about things, he thought rationally. Louie had a great sense of humor. We’d always laughed, and we always dressed alike — either brown or blue and the occasional beige.”

When the three men first were elected, Griego said he and Vialpando became “part of the team, but Louie was the driving force.”

They shared the same vision, Griego said, and were determined to make the village into a place where people could live and work comfortably.

“Employment and the possibility of the extension of utilities in the village was the driving force behind our decision to run for office,” Griego remembers. “He was very good at building consensus. As long as we were moving in a positive manner, he was willing to listen.”

Griego said everything they did for the village was a team effort but, as mayor, Louie set the agenda, and was able to stick to the plan and make sure the right people were in place to make their vision into a reality.

Phillip Jaramillo, who served as the clerk/administrator for 26 years and retired at the same time as Huning, said they worked very hard to transform Los Lunas from a “one-horse buggy town” to what it is today.

“When I came in, the village had entered into an agreement with the state highway department to do Main Street, which was a two-lane road at the time,” Jaramillo remembers. “There was no infrastructure underneath, no utilities, so the village agreed with the state to put in utilities and put in street lighting.”

Huning told Jaramillo it was going to cost $2 million — $1 million more than the village’s entire general fund.

“That was my first challenge, to find the money,” he recalls. “But we did it and it got done, and it took off from there.”

Jaramillo said annexing the Valencia Y, which included Smith’s, was the beginning of the growth and what was to come.

“I didn’t expect this much growth, but I knew we would grow,” he said.

Jaramillo said he and Louie became close friends over the years, saying he will always remember his kindness.

“He was always kindhearted, to a fault almost,” Jaramillo said. “He was always kind and polite. When things got rough, he always found a way to make you feel better.”

Peter Fernandez, who also grew up and graduated high school with Louie, held several positions with the village of Los Lunas, including as the computer technical specialist, the financial planner and was then appointed as village administrator after Jaramillo retired.

Fernandez was amazed at the talent the mayor was able to attract to work in the village, bringing people in who were committed and who were qualified.

“He definitely is due the credit because he brought the people in who he trusted and who were qualified,” Fernandez said. “He had Phillip as his administrator; he had Betty Behrend in public works; he had Art Mondragon in community development. It was these people, through Louie and the council’s guidance, that they managed the village. They did an amazing job of planning the growth the village has experienced over the years.”

PHOTOS: Former Los Lunas Mayor Louis Huning

As village residents and employees, his friends, family and the entire Valencia County prepares to say goodbye to Louis Huning, his life will not be forgotten.

“He was the best dad. I don’t know how he found more hours in the day than everyone else had because he was the busiest man,” Louis Jr. remembers. “For everything he did for the village and the family business, he never missed a single game, a band concert, a play or a club event. He was always there. He loved doing his other duties but his family always came first. That is what is most important to him.”

Ruth Ann is grateful that her son, Samuel, was able to have a loving relationship with his grandfather, who was the light of his life.

“I had brought my son here (to the family house) that morning, and they were always best buddies,” she said. “He would hug my dad’s arm and say, ‘Hi Papa.’ That day, he looked at my son and said, ‘Hey boy.’”

A public viewing for Louis Huning will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday, June 13, in the chapel of Noblin Funeral Service, 418 W. Reinken Ave., Belen.

The Funeral Requiem will be held at 10 a.m., Friday, June 14, at the Cathedral of St. John, 318 Silver Ave., SW, Albuquerque.

Following the service, a procession will carry him through his beloved Los Lunas to Terrace Grove Cemetery in Belen for burial.