Thread: Ohkay Owingeh: Crash kills Tewa storyteller

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Ohkay Owingeh: Crash kills Tewa storyteller


Staff and wire reports
September 18, 2006

Woman struck while traveling home from national awards ceremony; alcohol suspected

Esther Martinez, a renowned Tewa storyteller and linguist, was killed in a traffic accident on her way home from accepting a National Heritage Fellowship in Washington, D.C., her grandson said Sunday.

No arrests have been made, but Española police say they suspect alcohol was a factor in the crash, and the suspect is in critical condition at St. Vincent Regional Medical Center.

Martinez of Ohkay Owingeh was traveling home from a National Endowment for the Arts celebration in Washington when the car she was in was hit Saturday night in Española, Matthew J. Martinez said. She was 94.

“She was a pillar in our community,” said Matthew Martinez, who accompanied her to Washington last week for an awards ceremony. “She embodied what it meant to be a Tewa person and lived it and practiced it and served as a role model.”

Esther Martinez died at the scene of the accident, Matthew Martinez said. Her daughter, Josephine Binford, was hospitalized with injuries but expected to go home soon, and another daughter, Marie Sanchez, was recovering at home from two broken ribs, he said.

The women’s Dodge Dakota pickup was struck head-on on South McCurdy Road about 10:30 p.m. Saturday by a Ford F-150 pickup that had crossed the center line after sideswiping a Toyota Camry, Española police Detective Christian Lopez said.

The suspect, a 44-year-old Mexican national who lives in Nambé, suffered severe facial injuries, Lopez said. He said police suspect alcohol was a factor because the Ford driver and his truck smelled of alcohol, and alcohol containers were in the truck. Test results on the suspect’s blood are expected today.

Esther Martinez was honored along with 11 other folk and traditional artists for being named a 2006 National Heritage Fellow, the nation’s highest honor for such artists, the NEA said in a news release. The fellowship includes a one-time award of $20,000.

She received a standing ovation in the nation’s capital for her stories and life’s work preserving her native Tewa language and traditions, the release said.

“To lose a national treasure as beloved as Esther Martinez in such a senseless manner is truly tragic,” NEA Chairman Dana Gioia said. “New Mexico and the entire country have lost an eloquent link to our past. We can find solace in remembering her lifelong commitment to keeping her culture alive and vibrant.”

Lynnwood Brown, a friend of Esther Martinez’s and a former Ohkay Owingeh tribal planner, helped her write her fellowship application. “She was really looking forward to this trip, although at her age and health, it was not an easy thing to do,” he said. “It was great that she got to make the trip.”

Her eyesight was failing, but until recently, she was working on translating old stories and old recordings of stories, Brown said. “Esther was so generous with her knowledge with other tribes,” he said. “There was nobody who knew the language, the different aspects of the language, like she did.”

Esther Martinez was born and raised on the Northern New Mexico pueblo, the NEA said in a biography.

Her American Indian name is P’oe Tswa, or Blue Water, but many knew her as Ko’oe Esther, or Aunt Esther.

She spent much of her childhood living with her grandparents and traveling back and forth in a covered wagon to visit her parents.

She was a major conservator of the Tewa language, teaching her native language from 1974 to 1989 at schools in Ohkay Owingeh, formerly known as San Juan Pueblo.

She also helped translate the New Testament of the Bible into Tewa and compiled Tewa dictionaries for pueblos that have distinct dialects of the language, the NEA said.

Since 1988, Esther Martinez told her stories in English to non-Tewa audiences through Storytelling International.

Matthew Martinez said his grandmother had remained active in recent years. She also was scheduled to be a guest speaker at a class he was teaching at Northern New Mexico Community College in Española next Saturday.

“She lived a full life, and it’s her time,” he said. “It’s going to be hard. I feel comfortable that I had that connection with her in life.”

A funeral service for Martinez will be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday at San Juan Pueblo Parish at Ohkay Owingeh.

http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/49437.html

Family tries to make sense of crash death
(4 comments; last comment posted Today 11:08 am)


By SHANNON SHAW AND Jason Auslander | The New Mexican
September 19, 2006

Esther Martinez's family isn't mad at the driver who allegedly crashed his pickup head-on last weekend into the vehicle the renowned Tewa storyteller and linguist was riding in, killing her instantly. Instead, they feel sorry for him.

``I'm not sure there is an emotion to describe what we are feeling right now,'' said Matthew Martinez, the storyteller's grandson. ``We feel sorry for the guy. # My grandmother was a very spiritual person, and she would have prayed for him.''

Espanola police plan to ask a state District Court judge to sign an arrest warrant today for Jaime Martinez Gonzalez, 44, on a charge of vehicular homicide in Saturday night's crash that killed the 94-year-old Ohkay Owingeh woman, Espanola Detective Christian Lopez said.

Esther Martinez died about 10:30 p.m. when the Ford F-150 pickup, allegedly driven by Gonzalez -- a Mexican national who resides in Nambe -- crossed the center line on McCurdy Road, sideswiped one car and hit the Dodge Dakota pickup with Martinez and her two daughters inside head-on, Lopez has said.


Esther Martinez was on her way home from accepting a National Heritage Fellowship in Washington, D.C.. Police said she died at the scene.

Judging by the force of the crash, it appeared the Ford was moving at a high rate of speed when it crossed the center line, Lopez said. The speed limit on McCurdy Road at that point -- where each lane narrows to about eight feet wide -- is 25 or 30 mph, he said.

Josephine Binford, Martinez's daughter, was initially hospitalized at St. Vincent Regional Medical Center but was released Monday, Lopez said. Another daughter, Marie Sanchez, who was driving, suffered broken ribs but was never admitted to a hospital. All three women were wearing seat belts at the time of crash, he said.

Gonzalez was in stable condition at St. Vincent on Monday with numerous facial injuries, including a broken jaw, Lopez said. Police, who got a search warrant Monday to draw a sample of Gonzalez's blood, believe alcohol was a factor because Gonzalez smelled like alcohol and alcohol containers were found in the truck, Lopez has said.

A ``senseless act'' is how Matthew Martinez described the death of his grandmother. Since she was already elderly, the family had prepared themselves for her death, believing they would get a chance to say good-bye, he said. But the way she died was such a shock, they are still trying to make sense of it, he said.

Countless numbers of Esther Martinez's students have called to express sorrow for their teacher, Matthew Martinez said. Ohkay Owingeh Gov. Joe Garcia and U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., will attend Wednesday's funeral, and officials from Washington, D.C., who helped give her the fellowship are flying in, he said. The family is planning a private family service for today. Wednesday's Mass is at 9 a.m. in San Juan Parish Hall, and burial will follow.

Esther Martinez was known for her career in education, which didn't begin until she was in her 50s. A mother of 10, she served as Ohkay Owingeh's Tewa instructor and director of bilingual education for more than 20 years.

During her tenure at the San Juan Day School, she published The San Juan Pueblo Tewa Dictionary, which was digitized into a CD-ROM for Ohkay Owingeh children to use in the classroom, along with language curriculum guides. She also served as a Native language consultant at other pueblos, according to her biography on the Women Artists and Writers of Color Web site.

The American Folklore Society awarded her book My Life in San Juan Pueblo the Elli Kongas-Maranda Prize in 2004, and it continues to be used in many colleges and universities across the United States, the Web site says.

In 1992, Esther Martinez published two of her favorite childhood stories, The Naughty Little Rabbit and Old Man Coyote.

Contact Shannon Shaw at 995-3837 or sshaw@sfnewmexican.com , and Jason Auslander at 995-3877 or jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.

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Man pleads guilty to killing Tewa storyteller print


By Natalie Storey | The New Mexican
February 26, 2007

The man who killed a renowned 94-year-old Tewa storyteller while he was driving drunk pleaded guilty Monday in state District Court to homicide by vehicle.

Jamie Martinez Gonzales, 45, will serve up to six years under the plea agreement his attorney, Tom Clark, reached with the District Attorney's Office.

Martinez was on her way home with two of her daughters to Ohkay Owingeh last Sept. 16. She had returned to New Mexico from Washington, D.C., where she accepted a National Heritage Fellowship. Police said Martinez Gonzales was drunk when he crossed the center line on McCurdy Road, sideswiped a car and plowed head-on into the Dodge Dakota pickup carrying Martinez.

Both of Martinez's daughters sustained minor injuries in the crash. Martinez died at the scene. Martinez Gonzales, a Mexican national who was residing in Nambé at the time of the crash, suffered a broken jaw and other facial injuries. He had a blood-alcohol level of 0.15.

Martinez Gonzales told the court Monday that his family in Mexico left him and he came to the United States to try to make a new life for himself. He said, through an interpreter, he had always been a hardworking man. In addition to homicide by vehicle, Martinez Gonzales also pleaded guilty to inflicting great bodily harm.

Before the plea agreement, Martinez Gonzales was facing up to 12 years in prison and an additional charge of causing great bodily harm, which prosecutor Shari Weinstein agreed to dismiss. His sentencing wasn't immediately scheduled.

Herman Agoyo, an Ohkay Owingeh councilman, said he thought Martinez Gonzales is getting off easy. "It seems to me that the sentence is very light compared to the great loss we experienced," he said.

Martinez had been a Tewa instructor at Ohkay Owingeh for more than 20 years. During her tenure at San Juan Day School, she published The San Juan Pueblo Tewa Dictionary, which was digitized into a compact disc for Ohkay Owingeh children to use in the classroom, along with language-curriculum guides. She also served as a Native language consultant at other pueblos and won countless awards.


Comments

By Melinda Serna (Submitted: 02/27/2007 11:43 am)
This is terribly sad for both parties involved. I live very near Nambe and am troubled by the amount of drug consumption and drinking while driving that I see in the area. It is evidenced by all the beer bottles, cans, needles, and boxes seen strewn about the roadways and rivers, which I encounter on daily walks. I agree with Mr. Agoyo's statement about the sentence not being commensurate with the loss. Why doesn't the state spend more money on alcohol rehab??


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