Eighty Years in the North Valley of Albuquerque

By Louis Santillanes

"Eighty years in the north valley of Albuquerque" is the autobiography of Louis Tony Santillanes, who was born and raised in the tiny village of Alameda New Mexico, a village that has since been incorporated into the city of Albuquerque. His parents were Moises and Faustina Luna Santillanes. The Santillanes and Luna families came to New Mexico in the mid-1800's with the Conquistadores fleeing the Spanish Inquisition because some of them had converted to Judaism.Tony went to Alameda elementary school and graduated from Albuquerque High School in 1950. He then went to work as an apprentice carpenter for Lemke Construction and helped his father at the Alameda Bar.A friend recommended him to the New Mexico State Department Health for a job as an assistant x-ray technician. He was hired and went to work taking chest x-rays in a tuberculosis survey.The Korean War began and Tony saw many of his friends being drafted so he decided to join the U.S. Navy so he wouldn't have to sleep on the ground in the mud and snow. Because of his x-ray experience he was sent to the Hospital Corps School in Bainbridge Maryland. From there he went to x-ray school in Philadelphia.During his time there he was promised a leave and when the leave never materialized and he realized he had been lied to he called a first class petty officer a "horses ass". One week later he was transferred to the Fleet Marine Force (Marines) as a medic and shipped off for Korea as a Navy Corpsman.When Tony came back from the war he married Bertha Casados. After being honorably discharged from the Navy he came back home to Albuquerque and attended the University of New Mexico. While working for the post office he studied hard and got a contractor's license and formed his own company to build homes. When the housing market had a downturn he decided to get into a profession that wasn't susceptible to fluctuations in the economy; funeral director. He enrolled in thantopractice (funeral services) school in Los Angeles, came back to Albuquerque and built his own funeral home, the Alameda Funeral Home. After retiring Tony found the time to start the Alameda Fire District #1 and was the first Bernallio County (where Albuquerque is located) Fire Chief in 1957. He was also the CEO (Deputy Adjutant) for the American Legion.Afte

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1505324955
• ISBN13: 9781505324952
• Release Date: January 2015
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 216 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.0"