SENATE MEMORIAL 28

56th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2023

INTRODUCED BY

Shannon D. Pinto

A MEMORIAL

HONORING FORTY-THREE YEARS OF SERVICE BY STATE SENATOR JOHN PINTO AND DECLARING FEBRUARY 14, 2023 "SENATOR JOHN PINTO DAY" IN THE SENATE.

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto was born in 1924 to a family of Navajo sheepherders and was raised in Lupton, Arizona, and Gallup, New Mexico, and passed on May 24, 2019; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto attended a bureau of Indian affairs boarding school in Fort Defiance, Arizona, and after many unsuccessful attempts to run away, he finally graduated; and

     WHEREAS, he received his bachelor's degree at the age of thirty-nine and a master's degree in elementary education from the university of New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto served in the United States marine corps as a Navajo code talker and, in 2001, received a congressional silver medal of honor for his service as a code talker; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto worked for twenty-eight years in the Gallup-McKinley county school system and served as the legislative liaison for the Navajo Nation division of transportation, beginning in October 1988; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto served as president of the Gallup Indian community center from 1950 through 1970, during which time he helped to feed the homeless and the less-fortunate families of Gallup; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto served as president of the Breadsprings chapter, also known as the Baahaali chapter, of the Navajo Nation from 1950 to 1954; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto served as secretary-treasurer for the Red Rock chapter of the Navajo Nation from 1954 to 1960; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto served as a member of the eastern Navajo tribal council from 1950 to 1960; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto was elected in 1972 to the McKinley county board of county commissioners, where he served for four years as a commissioner; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto served with distinction in the New Mexico senate since his arrival in 1977, when, as a hitchhiker, he was picked up in a snowstorm in Albuquerque by then fellow freshman senator Manny Aragon; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto was a member of the interim legislative Indian affairs committee since it was first created in 1989 and was the chair of the senate Indian and cultural affairs committee since its creation in 1987; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto was instrumental in the passage of numerous legislative initiatives, including the designation, in 1987, of "American Indian Day" in New Mexico; the creation, in 2004, of the first state cabinet-level Indian affairs department; and the improvement of state highway 491 between Gallup and Shiprock; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto worked tirelessly for the improvement of state highway 491 between Gallup and Shiprock, which the legislature suggested, in 2003, be renamed "Senator John Pinto Highway"; and

     WHEREAS, the Native American filmmakers grant fund was spearheaded by Senator John Pinto during his work in the 2019 legislative session; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto worked with the interim legislative Indian affairs committee and with other lawmakers for several months to establish the grants; and

     WHEREAS, one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) in funding was made available through legislation passed in 2019; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto would annually entertain his colleagues in the senate with his rendition, in Navajo, of the "potato song"; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto was the senior member in the senate; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto was a mentor, gentleman and wise leader whose kind demeanor earned him the full respect of the senate; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto had been married to his wife, Joann, for sixty-three years at the time of her passing; and

     WHEREAS, Senator John Pinto was known nationwide and in many foreign countries for his involvement in national legislative organizations;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that it extend its congratulations to the family of the late Senator John Pinto on his forty-three years of service in the New Mexico senate, where he furthered the causes of his constituents, the Navajo Nation and the people of New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that February 14, 2023 be declared "Senator John Pinto Day" in the senate; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to Senator Shannon D. Pinto, the governor, the secretary of Indian affairs and the office of the president of the Navajo Nation.

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