Esquipula Padilla

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Esquipula Padilla having a cigarette with a cup of coffee in front of the kitchen stove at his house in Rowe, New Mexico. Circa 1960.

This is a neat picture of a relative of mine who lived next door to us in Rowe in the late 1950's and early 1960's. His name was Esquipula Padilla. He was one of my favorite relatives. He was always willing to spend time with family. I remember all of the neighborhood boys going to his house on a Friday evening in the winter to play cards. We used stick matches to make bets, or the paper book matches which were worth 10 stick matches. Sometimes we would end up going home at 2:30 or 3:00 AM. Playing poker for matches, can you imagine.

I also remember going rabbit hunting with him in the winter just after a snowfall. He had a .22 Cal. rifle and would take 5 shells and come home with  2 - 3 rabbits.

Actually he and his wife, Guadalupe Archuleta, and children lived in Colorado for a while, then in Rowe and finally in Cerillos, New Mexico. I last saw him in 1999, shortly before he passed away. He was then living with his daughter in an area close to the honor farm in the the Los Lunas area.