Dr. Terry Ray Reynolds

Dr. Terry Ray Reynolds was born to Raymond R. and Harriet P. Reynolds on April 7, 1940 in Denver, Colorado. She was the first of two children and is survived by her brother, Rick, and by a large extended family. Her best ever canine friends Yazhi, Hilary, James, and Oliver are already waiting for Terry at the Rainbow Bridge. Many thanks are extended to the caregivers and hospice workers who have assisted Dr. Reynolds during recent weeks.

Terry experienced difficult physical problems from an early age and this not only shaped her life, it fueled her determination to “survive and thrive.” She earned degrees in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Colorado (B.A., 1962) and at Stanford University (M.A., 1965). While pursuing doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia, Terry became ill and spent four years partially bedridden. She was eventually diagnosed with incurable Multiple Chemical Sensitivities and Mast Cell Activation disease in 1972. Despite detours dictated by her health, Terry completed her doctoral dissertation, Navajo Residents Practices and Ideology at Sheep Springs, a research study of the relationship between Navajo worldview and the decisions that Navajos make in their everyday lives (UBC, Ph.D., 1979).

One of the strongest threads in Terry’s life has been her passion for learning about the unknown. Entwined with that passion is her deep appreciation for the people she has encountered who have been both guides and good friends. As a graduate student Terry was selected for the Harvard Columbia Field School at Ramah, New Mexico in 1963. She lived with a Navajo family at the Ice Cave near Bandera Crater and later shared time with that family at Sheep Springs. During summers through 1971 she lived with several families in the Sheep Springs area and participated in many everyday adventures they shared with her. She has been forever grateful for the teachings and kindnesses of these families and for the mentorship offered her during these years by Dr. David F. Aberle.

After completion of her graduate studies, Dr. Reynolds contracted with the Native American Rights Fund for a 1980 project in Las Cruces, New Mexico to research historic claims that might lead to federal recognition of a distinct Indian Tribe in the Tortugas area. This project led to her research into Border history and began her search for early Spanish documents that might reveal ancestral lines and genealogy. During this time Terry formed long-lasting relationships with Mary Daniels Taylor, in fact with the whole Taylor clan, and with Terry L. Corbett, a gentleman and scholar. It was relationships like these that contributed to Terry’s decision to remain in the Mesilla Valley past the completion of her contract.

The early 1980s brought an abundance of opportunities and friends who sustained Terry’s life in the Valley. She continued her Border research, worked at an art gallery near the Plaza in Mesilla, was an adjunct instructor in anthropology at New Mexico State University, and

volunteered at the NMSU Museum. Terry renewed a childhood friendship with Darlis Miller, who was by then a history professor at NMSU, and began friendships with Joan Jensen, another history professor, and Ruth Ford, who shared Terry’s interest in antique glassware from the 1800s. Faced with continuing health problems and wanting to reduce predictable stresses, Terry began a transition to museum work with the help of Dr. Mary Elizabeth King, NMSU Museum Director, who not only taught Terry about museum organization, but also helped her begin work as a curator.

Faced with the aging of her parents, Terry moved back to Denver in 1985 to help care for them. Her father died not long after Terry’s return; her mother endured, and saw the turn of the century. While Terry was in Colorado she worked for the University of Denver as a member of their CORE faculty, lectured in anthropology, revived the Anthropology Museum Studies Program, and directed the University’s Women’s Studies Program. Among her friends and associates at the University were Pamela Laird and Judy Greenfield, who remained in touch with Terry across decades. For four years beginning in 1994, Terry served as Chair of the American Association of Museums’ Committee on Professional Museum Training, allowing her to travel for conventions as well as write articles on professional museum work. She also did contract work for the US Army Corps of Engineers, conserving artifact collections at the University of Denver, and helped a junior college in Durango with its collections.

By the late 1990s Dr. Reynolds had decided to return to New Mexico, but health issues came to the fore when Terry was diagnosed with cancer. Following treatment, she left Colorado and resumed her association with NMSU. Given her now considerable experience with conservation and collections, particularly with items related to Native American tribes, Terry became Collections and Exhibit Curator for the University Museum. During this time Terry met Toni Laumbach who had been a curator at the museum in the 1970s and later became Assistant Director. Toni’s advice and counsel helped guide and inform Terry’s work. Among other efforts, Terry reorganized gallery and storage spaces in accord with NAGPRA standards and provided improved meeting areas for the public. Along the way Toni and Terry formed a lifelong bond that has stood out for its deep roots and resilience.

While at the NMSU Museum, Terry started a volunteer program with outreach to the university community and to Las Cruces residents. In the process of developing the program Terry gained two more good friends, Fern Herman and Mary Tiffany, who became the heart of the volunteer group. Terry served on the Advisory Board for the Cumbres and Toltec Railroad, providing assistance with historical information. And she did additional work for the Corps of Engineers, evaluating interpretive material for Visitors Centers at three dams built by the Corps in New Mexico. In the late 1990s Dr. Reynolds began to identify and work with artifacts from the Amador Family of Las Cruces. She explored local archives including the Rio Grande Collections held by the NMSU Library

and curated artifacts from the Amadors for exhibit in the Amador Hotel when it served as an office building for Dona Ana County. In 2003 Terry’s research was used as the basis for a major exhibit at the NMSU Museum. Titled Border Lives Once Lived, the exhibit filled the Museum with artifacts and information showing the Amador family’s prominence in the development of Las Cruces. A gift to the Museum by descendants of the Armijo family, another prominent early family in the Mesilla Valley, led to their family’s inclusion in the exhibit.

During her research on the Amador family, Terry became acquainted with several descendants who were very helpful and they have maintained longstanding friendships. Included in this group are Paulina Garcia Adair’s children and grandchildren, Juan Amador’s grandchildren, the children of Francisco Amador, and Corina Campbell’s grandchildren. Another contributor to this living history has been Connie Sharpe, a lifelong resident of the area and friend to some of the Amador grandchildren. Terry’s well-earned retirement from the Museum in 2008 brought a new phase in her research on the Amadors and their legacy. Austin Hoover, head of NMSU’s Archives, asked Terry to volunteer to organize material in the Amador collection that had not yet been processed. This task included a very wide variety of printed materials and items beyond the correspondence that had been previously read and categorized. The initial task spread to include the Adair Collection that provides information on the lives of several Amador descendants living in Las Cruces in the 20th Century. With an increase in mobility problems and associated risks, Terry reluctantly ended her volunteer tenure at the Archives in 2019. However, she continued her research and writings on the Amador family. As friends can attest, Terry has remained curious throughout her work and her (supposed) retirement while investigating how various pieces of the Amador family’s history have been woven into the fabric of Las Cruces.

Terry’s long life was made possible in large part because of her own fierce determination to forge a productive path through a thicket of chemical intolerances. But, as in her career in anthropology and her redirection to museum work, Terry was lucky in finding people to help with her health. Two doctors were particularly important, first Eloise W. Kailan, MD who did significant and widely cited research on the effects of pesticide overspray and drift, and later, Erica M. Elliot, MD of Santa Fe, an expert in environmental medicine and integrative therapies. Dr. Reynolds has been very grateful for their research and practical assistance.

Services will be held in Colorado with burial alongside Terry’s parents and grandparents in Olinger Crown Hill Cemetery in Wheat Ridge, CO (website: dignitymemorial.com). In recognition of Terry’s distinguished professional career, donations may be made in her name to the Rio Grande Historical Collections at the New Mexico State University Library through the NMSU Foundation, P.O.Box 3590, Las Cruces, New Mexico, 88003 (575) 646-1613.