HOUSE MEMORIAL 79

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

INTRODUCED BY

Mary Helen Garcia

A MEMORIAL

CELEBRATING THE ADVENTUROUS LIFE OF FORMER STATE REPRESENTATIVE J. PAUL TAYLOR AND GRATEFULLY RECOGNIZING HIS DEVOTION TO THE PEOPLE OF NEW MEXICO; CONGRATULATING J. PAUL TAYLOR AND HIS BIOGRAPHER, ANA PACHECO, ON THE PUBLICATION OF J. PAUL TAYLOR, THE MAN FROM MESILLA.

     WHEREAS, John Paul Taylor y Romero, affectionately known as "J. Paul Taylor", is a New Mexican whose continuing contributions to New Mexico have made a broad and profound impact on the state; and

     WHEREAS, J. Paul Taylor has lived most of his life in Doña Ana county, having been born in the town of Chamberino and, since 1947, with his late wife Mary, has lived and raised their children in the town of Mesilla; and

     WHEREAS, for eighteen years, J. Paul Taylor served as a member of the New Mexico house of representatives, from 1986 until his retirement in 2004; and

     WHEREAS, during his legislative career, J. Paul Taylor passionately advocated for social justice and the health and well-being of New Mexicans through legislation, and his biographer, Ana Pacheco, says that J. Paul Taylor was called the "conscience of the legislature"; and

     WHEREAS, before serving as a state legislator, J. Paul Taylor made a lasting contribution to the field of primary education during his thirty-four years as an educator and administrator and as associate superintendent of the Las Cruces public schools; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico state university has honored J. Paul Taylor for his significant contributions to the welfare of young people, to education and to social justice in the state by creating, among other honors, the J. Paul Taylor center for social justice; the J. Paul Taylor endowed professorship in education; and the J. Paul Taylor symposium for social justice; and

     WHEREAS, in honor of J. Paul Taylor's significant contributions to education in the state, the J. Paul Taylor academy and related J. Paul Taylor academy foundation were founded in his name to offer a well-rounded, dual-language, project-based instructional program in smaller schools to promote academic excellence for Las Cruces area students; and

     WHEREAS, J. Paul Taylor's contributions to juvenile justice have led to the naming of a juvenile justice center in Doña Ana county for him; and

     WHEREAS, in 2010, the office of child development of the children, youth and families department instituted the J. Paul Taylor early childhood development fund; and

     WHEREAS, since 1947, J. Paul Taylor and his family have lived at their beautiful and historic Barela-Reynolds homestead, now the J. Paul and Mary Taylor property, on the plaza of Mesilla, New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, in 2004, the J. Paul and Mary Taylor property was dedicated as the seventh New Mexico state monument, the Taylor-Barela-Reynolds-Mesilla state monument; and

     WHEREAS, in 2008, the J. Paul Taylor visitor's center opened in Mesilla; and

     WHEREAS, the town of Mesilla honored J. Paul Taylor for his ninetieth birthday in 2010; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico author and journalist Ana Pacheco calls J. Paul Taylor a "fascinating man" whose life adventures and accomplishments deserve telling for posterity; and

     WHEREAS, J. Paul Taylor's ancestral New Mexico roots extend to the time of the original conquistadores in the time of Coronado, and, according to Ana Pacheco, she and J. Paul Taylor share a common ancestor, Nicolas Ortiz Niño Ladrón de Guevara, who settled in Santa Fe in the eighteenth century; and

     WHEREAS, the museum of New Mexico press has published Ana Pacheco's biography of J. Paul Taylor, J. Paul Taylor, the Man from Mesilla, in which Ms. Pacheco describes a life that she characterizes as devoted "to education, cultural and historic preservation in the state of New Mexico"; and

     WHEREAS, on March 1, 2013, the friends of the Taylor family monument will hold a special signing of J. Paul Taylor, the Man from Mesilla in the New Mexico house of representatives lounge;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the adventurous life of its former colleague and revered fellow New Mexican, J. Paul Taylor, be celebrated and that his devotion to the people of New Mexico be recognized; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that J. Paul Taylor and his biographer, Ana Pacheco, be congratulated on the publication of J. Paul Taylor, the Man from Mesilla in which his fascinating life story is recorded for posterity; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to J. Paul Taylor, Ana Pacheco, the friends of the Taylor family monument and the J. Paul Taylor foundation.

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