HOUSE MEMORIAL 81

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

William J. Gray

A MEMORIAL

LAUDING ESTELLE HEFLER YATES FOR HER PHILANTHROPIC COMMITMENT TO NEW MEXICO AND RECOGNIZING AND ACKNOWLEDGING HER AS A NEW MEXICO TREASURE.

     WHEREAS, Estelle Hefler Yates, age ninety-four, met her husband, St. Clair Peyton "S.P." Yates, in Massachusetts in the late 1930s when he was a graduate student at the Massachusetts institute of technology; and

     WHEREAS, Estelle married S.P. in 1940 and moved to Artesia, where S.P. had grown up and where he joined the oil business founded by his father, Martin Yates; and

     WHEREAS, in 1959, S.P. founded Yates drilling company, and, later, he and his brothers founded Yates petroleum corporation, and Estelle supported S.P. as he worked to develop two successful family businesses; and

     WHEREAS, Estelle has always been very active in her community and her church, helping with many community projects such as the Artesia public library, Ocotillo performing arts center, and Habitat for Humanity, including donating building sites for habitat homes; and

     WHEREAS, Estelle and S.P. Yates, generous and active members of the Artesia community, supported many local organizations, especially those serving young people, such as the boy scouts and girl scouts, including serving on the national board of the girl scouts; and

     WHEREAS, Estelle has been extremely supportive of the arts in the Artesia schools and her community, one example being that she annually brings the national dance institute to Artesia for one week to teach dance and singing to students at all of the elementary schools in the school district. At the end of the week, the dance group and the students perform for the whole community, with the entire effort made possible by the generosity of Estelle; and

     WHEREAS, as the Yates family companies grew and their operations expanded to other states, Estelle encouraged S.P. to provide charitable support to those locales as well; and

     WHEREAS, in 1955, they established the S.P. and Estelle Yates family foundation to support the arts and human services, and the foundation has been a strong supporter, in particular, of the Artesia arts council, the national dance institute of New Mexico and assurance home in Roswell, which cares for homeless and at-risk youth; and

     WHEREAS, sadly, S.P. passed away in 2008, but Estelle has continued the couple's tradition of philanthropy, with generous gifts to the university of New Mexico and the university of Texas at Austin, which was her husband's alma mater, as well as to the recently created New Mexico school for the arts; and

     WHEREAS, Estelle established her own foundation, the Estelle H. Yates foundation, in 2009 to focus her philanthropic giving on education, arts and health services, providing enhanced funding for the mathematics and science departments of the Artesia public schools and providing significant funding for the new Artesia public library; and

     WHEREAS, for most of her gifts, donations and contributions, Estelle has been acknowledged only as "private donor", reflecting the true spirit of giving; and

     WHEREAS, a great many of the "private donations" made to the Artesia public schools and the community have come from Estelle through the S.P. and Estelle Yates family foundation and her own foundation;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that it laud Estelle Hefler Yates for her many years of philanthropic commitment to New Mexico, particularly to its youth, through her unstinting generosity; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Estelle Hefler Yates be recognized and acknowledged as a New Mexico treasure; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to Estelle Hefler Yates and her children.

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