Worm Moon March 1, 2018
1. I am off of Facebook. It is not for me. I am beginning to post images on Instagram. If you are so inclined please follow me that way.
2. Marci has purchased a little 2 bedroom house in Marathon and she will be offering it up as a VRBO type rental, but only to the people on this email list. I’ll let you know when it is ready. If you email me with an interest I will make sure she gets it.
3. Pipeline releases gas without notice to local officials; pipeline spokesperson disagrees. This scares the hell out of me. You can read this story. Go to bigbendnow.com, and search pipeline.
By JOHN DANIEL GARCIA
johndaniel@bigbendnow.com
HALLIE STILLWELL
When I first moved to Marathon in 1988, I was working at the Gage Hotel as a cook. I committed to a year there, and after that I would fully get back to my life and career as a photographer. I actually started shooting some about 6 months after I moved here, but mostly I would hike and sit and watch the mountains for hours. I wasn’t sure how to start my photographic life here, but I knew it could not be like anything I’d seen in the tourists books that come out every year (and still do). It had to come from love, knowledge of the area, and a deeper understanding of the people that were born in this desert, as well as those that chose it as their home. To be an insider. I relied on my ability at portraiture, and my belief that as long I was earning money with my camera I was successful. And so, I started to make portraits of the people for personal work, and for money I would do copywork, school photos, proms, magazine assignments and weddings. This is how I met Hallie Stillwell. She was the local Justice of the Peace, and married people. If the couples were looking for a photographer in the area I was there. The first wedding we did together was Susan Doyle and David Pampe. They got married at Grapevine Hills. I remember it well, funny enough. I was running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off snapping images. Hallie married people quickly. After we drank fine champagne, made portraits and celebrated, Hallie had to pee; she went around the side of my truck and did her business. I was impressed. What a woman. She was about 90 years old. She was unpretentious, quick witted, and wasn’t bashful with her thoughts. In a way she became a role model. One time on the way back from a wedding, I was taking Hallie home. and the lights on my old Chevy Luv pickup just stopped working. Nothing. It was dark. I had a Q-beam light. I plugged it in to the cigarette lighter and drove on, my left hand out the window with the light. I still had 50 miles to go after I dropped her off. I must have been a sight pulling into the border check point.
Another time Hallie was going to Alpine, and she stopped in to see me on the way. She drove an 80’s Chevy Impala. A long brown bomb of a car. Hallie wore thick Coke bottle glasses. I was talking to her through the passenger door window and I noticed the whole right side of her car had lots of dents and scratches, and probably some hair if you looked closer. I said "Hallie, the whole right side of your car is banged up.” Without missing a beat she says “Well that’s my blind side!” I asked her to please call me whenever she leaves the ranch. I ride bicycles on that road.
Then there’s Dadie, my surrogate Mom. She was the force behind the Stillwell family, Hallie, and the Hall of Fame Museum. I will write about her next time.
Please feel free to forward these emails to anyone you think that might be interested. Also, I have been writing these full moon stories for several months and I am going to archive them on my website. I just haven't figured it out yet.
Happy Full Moon. Thank you all for supporting my life in the desert.