Why Prep

Dear Sandia Prep Community, 

It’s hard to believe we are closing in on the end of the school year. This time of year is a whirlwind, and it also brings about opportunities for reflection: reflection on the year nearing completion, reflection on where we currently are, and reflection on where we’d like to be. 

I have also, however, been reflecting on why we are here. I mean this in a few different ways, and this reflection has been brought about by the recent passing of a dear friend, Dr. John N. “Bud” Wilson. Bud first came to New Mexico in his teens to build trails and do other work in the forests around Taos, and he fell in love with the land (like so many of us). Service in the Navy during World War II and his formal education would take him far and wide, but New Mexico remained a guiding star, so much so that he held down a job pumping gas during medical school in order to gather funds to start purchasing land in the little ranching community of Lama in northern Taos County. 

Once trained as a thoracic surgeon, he was a pioneer in open heart surgery, quickly sharing his knowledge by helping to start an open heart surgery program in a small village in India that continues to this day. Upon his return to the U.S., he founded the first heart surgery clinic in New Mexico at what is now Presbyterian. While literally holding the hearts of thousands of New Mexicans in his hands, he also worked constantly to lend a helping hand outside of the hospital and to care for the environment. Bud was the most generous, open-hearted (pun acknowledged but not intended!) person I have ever met. He also was a workhorse - whether performing surgery, building fences and bucking bales of hay, or providing guidance to youth (often all in the same day), he poured his heart and spirit into every endeavor. 

Bud is the reason I am in New Mexico. My husband Jim moved to Taos fresh out of college (and lacking in some direction), where he connected with Bud through a family connection. The welcoming spirit with which Bud, his wife Barbara (who preceded him in passing 13 years earlier), and their children opened their home and folded my husband into the rhythms of their ranch and youth camp activities was exceptional. What likely would have been a one-ski-season adventure for him became a whole different story because of this relationship. Bud was something more than an avuncular figure for Jim, providing not just a job and a place to stay, but also invaluable mentorship in the higher arts of kindness, charity, commitment, and grit during an unmoored period in his life. Jim’s love of New Mexico is born of his rich relationship with Bud.

Cut to New York City, where I was living after college, trying to figure out how I was going to make my mark. I met Jim when he was visiting a close friend, and our connection led me to drive across the country to visit him just a couple of months later. As I drove into New Mexico, I fell in love, first with the sky, then with the land, and, well, with my husband. During that visit, I met Bud and saw what an amazing person he was. It was hard to have too long of a conversation with him because he was constantly moving. And almost everything he did involved helping someone else, trying to make something better. He might be making tea for us, delicately removing porcupine quills from a stray dog’s nose, feeding his horses, or organizing activities for the summer camp his family ran on the ranch. Whatever it was, Bud was operating from a sense of service for the wellbeing of someone else.

Bud and Barbara saw the transformational and healing properties of their ranch at Lama, and they worked to share its experience with many by making it available for educational purposes. In fact, my first forays into education occurred there, where I worked as an instructor for a San Juan Pueblo Youth Conservation Corps program and the New Mexico Governor’s Community Service and Leadership Camp. These experiences launched my career and cemented my love of the outdoor classroom and experiential learning. So, not only am I in New Mexico because of Bud, but I am an educator who believes strongly in the value of the natural world as a learning environment and in the power of interpersonal connections.

And my commitment to educating the next generation, while already a seed within me, blossomed that summer, due in large part to watching Bud, who worked tirelessly to make things better for everyone, but particularly for children. Having benefited from summer camps during his youth and teens, he, along with Barbara, started the Sangre de Cristo Youth Ranch Summer Camp on their land because of their strong belief in the power and goodness of youth and experiences with nature. For over 35 years, these summer programs were free because Bud did not want a lack of resources to prevent a child from sleeping under the stars, rubbing campfire smoke out of their eyes, and working a little bit under the noon-day sun. The family went the extra mile to develop a meaningful experience for diverse groups of youth from all over New Mexico, the United States, and several foreign countries to come together and build their own community.

When my husband first came out to Taos with a plan to ski, he had no idea he would end up learning all there was to know about digging fence post holes, cleaning acequias and moving water around, building adobe structures, and guiding children in ranch activities. But he did all of these things and worked hard at them because he had quickly developed a deep respect for Bud, and that’s what Bud was doing. Bud led mostly by his actions, but he seemed to know exactly when some extra guidance was needed. When Jim applied and got into law school at UNM, he mentioned casually that he was thinking about deferring his acceptance and staying in Taos another season. Bud would have none of it. He sat him down and said he needed to keep moving his life forward. Taos would still be there for him, but now was the time for him to continue his education and make his own mark on the world.

And because Jim was in Albuquerque for law school, I moved here when I finished graduate school, and I began my first teaching job right here at Sandia Prep. I actually first learned of the school the summer I lived in Taos because another counselor was an alum - Ted Allen (’78)! And the Wilson family has Prep connections as well - Bud’s daughter-in-law, Sarah Wilson, was a beloved science teacher and Outdoor Leadership Program (OLP) leader for many years, and some of Bud’s grandchildren attended the school.

In thinking about Bud and the immense impact he had on so many people, I am reminded of the value of strong relationships in guiding youth toward their futures. Jim and I benefited tremendously from our relationship with Bud when we were at an inflection point in our own careers. And I know he had a similarly enormous impact on hundreds, if not thousands, of other young people through his work as a doctor and his work on the ranch.

Having seen so much carnage in the operating room, Bud had a clear-eyed, but not jaundiced, view into the sources of suffering, and he felt the imperative to do something to improve our future as humans on this planet. I think Bud believed that the best way to translate this imperative into action was to invest in our youth. When Bud fell ill last fall, he went through periods of great clarity and insight in between times of living internally, struggling against and resisting his illness. Even at this time, his positive outlook and deep empathy for our youth shined through. At one point, re-emerging into a period of rich insight and likely mindful that his opportunities to share were drawing down, he said, “I would like to congratulate the wonder of the younger generation in the new world.” It does not surprise me that as he prepared to leave our world, he was thinking big thoughts about youth and the playing field they are on today, all with a sense of optimism and wonder. 

The younger generation that we shepherd every day, that you entrust us with, really is operating in a new world – full of potential, promise, fear, threats, and still tremendous opportunities – one that looks so different from the world in which we came of age. As educators and parents, we are well served to keep in the foreground and value the importance of what we are doing with these children but also maintain the sense of wonder for what it is they are going through, all with the quiet, sustained optimism and insight of my friend Bud. 

All the best,
Heather