Honoring a New Mexico Giant

Dear Friend, 

Yesterday, I went to the Senate floor to pay tribute to Ralph Vigil, a fierce advocate for his community and the Pecos River. Ralph’s life was a testament to his commitment and connection to New Mexico and its people. A leader in every sense of the word, his legacy will live on in the lives he touched and the causes he stood for.

Please join me in honoring Ralph’s legacy.

Transcript

In New Mexico, we practice: “querencia.”

Querencia is a deep, even spiritual, connection to the land.

A love of place that demands we care for what has been passed down to us and protect it for future generations.

Today, I stand on the Senate floor to pay tribute to a man who embodied querencia: Ralph Vigil.

Ralph grew up along the Pecos River at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Northern New Mexico.

With family roots extending hundreds of years, Ralph often called himself “a twelfth-generation Hispano in a state of Nuevomexicanos.”

He took pride in his Hispanic and Indigenous heritage.

Every aspect of Ralph’s life was a testament to his commitment and connection to New Mexico and its people.

A parciante of his local acequia, Ralph often brought people in to share acequia traditions.

This included Mark Allison, Executive Director of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance.

One year, Ralph and his family invited Mark for an annual acequia spring cleaning.

All day, they shoveled and raked and cleared the way for the water to nourish the fields.

Once they were done, they went up and opened the headgate.

Ralph’s dad moved a few rocks, and Mark and Ralph stood and watched the water come down to water the fields.

As mayordomo of the Acequia del Molino, Ralph determined the allocation of water for each family like he did everything else: with the resounding belief that in the acequia, as in life, everyone is equal, bound together by water, land, and tradition.

Ralph carried these principles of equality, justice, and interconnectivity to everything he did.

As Chairman of the New Mexico Acequia Commission for 19 years, Ralph fought to protect the water and needs of local communities.

In the words of Juan Sanchez, who worked alongside Ralph at the Commission: “Ralph...helped communities who didn’t really have a voice, keep a voice.”

And when extensive mining proposals threatened the traditional ways of life along the Pecos, Ralph stepped into action – helping form the Stop Terrero Mine Coalition.

This is where I got to know Ralph, as we worked together to create and introduce the Pecos Watershed Protection Act: Legislation to defend our watersheds and designate over 11,000 acres of National Forest Lands as the Thompson Peak Wilderness Area.

At the federal and state level, Ralph was a community leader in every sense of the phrase – committed to protecting and nurturing the people and places of New Mexico.

He was also a farmer, a father, a skateboarder, a mariachi...

And a friend – one who let others know how much they meant to him.

As described by his close friend and colleague, Garrett VeneKlasen: “Ralph was an old soul and a sage” who “radiated goodness and grace.”

His friend, Robert Apodaca, put it similarly: “Ralph...loved with his whole heart and soul...[And his] legacy lives on in every life he touched and every cause he stood for.”

Julie and I extend our heartfelt condolences to Ralph’s family, friends, colleagues, and community.

I know that we will all think of Ralph every time we see the Pecos.

And may we all honor Ralph’s memory by carrying on our own querencia for the places and waters that have sustained our way of life and forged our communities.

Sincerely,

MARTIN HEINRICH
United States Senator