JULY 16, 2006
By Father Juan Romero
It was 8 PM on the eve of this midsummer night of 2006 that the expected dedication of the more than life-sized bronze Memorial of Padre Antonio José Martínez was to take place in the Taos Plaza. The event was scheduled to take place at 2 PM the following day, Sunday July 16, on occasion of the beginning of the “Fiestecitas” that anticipate the celebration of the annual Taos Fiestas. I circled the plaza in my rented car on my way to the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe where I would be spending the night. From that church, Padre Martínez actively served the people for thirty-two years. For another ten years before his death, he would continue to live in Taos and serve the people as he could as a priest and as a politician.
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