Las Cruces, NM – 10-13-26 – In recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month, on this edition of PUENTES, Host- Emily Guerra met with Elisa Maria Sanchez, a Grant County, New Mexico lifelong local and national civil activist now at La Posada Assisted Living in Las Cruces.
Sanchez was born in Santa Rita, New Mexico, now an open-pit copper mine, where over 70 years the Empire Zinc strike took place in 1954, and then memorialized the by the film “The Salt of the Earth.” She experienced the strike and the making of the film alongside her mother, Angelina G. Sanchez, active on the picket line and a character in the film. She studied at Los Angeles City College; received degrees from Western New Mexico State University in Silver City, NM; and New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM. For several years she taught school in California and New Mexico.
In 1975 she moved to Washington, D.C., where she was President and CEO of MANA, A National Latina Organization that empowers Latinas through leadership development, community service, and advocacy.
Then in 1997 Sanchez received the prestigious “Medallion of Excellence” by CHCI - Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute presented by President Bill Clinton and Vice President Gore, honoring her as a role model and outstanding civic citizen for the Latino community, particularly Latino youth.
In 2000 she joined the NMSU staff and created the Southern New Mexico ENLACE Collaborative (Engaging Latino Communities for Education) and in memory of her mother, established the Angelina G. Sanchez Memorial Endowed Fund for NMSU ENLAE Students Studying Abroad.
Sanchez met the love of her life in 2015, Clifford Pelton, he was 85 and she 74, they married in 2020 and he passed away in 2021. In memory of her husband, a civil engineer, she established the Clifford L. Pelton Memorial Endowed Fund to support NMSU “Aggies Without Limits. Finally, she will be increasing the value of her endowments after her lifetime by naming the NMSU Foundation as the beneficiary of her estate.
Previous interviews and articles:
https://www.krwg.org/puentes/2014-02-28/finding-comfort-in-our-skin
https://alwaysanaggie.org/stories/the-power-of-an-education/
