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    An Indelible Imprint: Ruben Cobos, A Multi-Talented Personality
    An Indelible Imprint: Ruben Cobos, A Multi-Talented Personality
    An Indelible Imprint: Ruben Cobos, A Multi-Talented Personality
    Ebook111 pages1 hour

    An Indelible Imprint: Ruben Cobos, A Multi-Talented Personality

    By Nasario García

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    About this ebook

    Few individuals who retire from academia leave an indelible imprint, but Rubén Cobos can be counted among those whose legacy is guaranteed. His contributions, both in and outside the classroom, to the annals of Hispanic language and culture of New Mexico are well inscribed for present and future generations to assimilate and enjoy.At peace with himself in his golden years, he spoke proudly of his longevity in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment, a magical planet that he warmed up to and came to love. Cobos’s compassion for Hispanics and their language, customs and traditions in the hinterland, his interest in students, love of pets and music, plus his fondness for tinkering with telescopes, is unequivocal. The word “beautiful,” which becomes a leitmotiv throughout "An Indelible Imprint: Rubén Cobos, A Multi-Talented Personality," perhaps best portrays his persona and assessment of life on this fragile earth of ours.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateMar 1, 2011
    ISBN9781936744794
    An Indelible Imprint: Ruben Cobos, A Multi-Talented Personality
    Author

    Nasario García

    Folklorist and native New Mexican Nasario García has published numerous books about Hispanic folklore and the oral history of northern New Mexico, including Hoe, Heaven, and Hell: My Boyhood in Rural New Mexico (UNM Press) and Grandpa Lolo’s Navajo Saddle Blanket: La tilma de Abuelito Lolo (UNM Press). He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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      Book preview

      An Indelible Imprint - Nasario García

      © 2011, 2014 Nasario García

      All rights reserved.

      Rio Grande Books

      Los Ranchos, New Mexico

      www.LPDPress.com

      Printed in the U.S.A.

      Book design by Paul Rhetts

      No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information retrieval system, without the permission of the publisher.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      García, Nasario.

      An indelible imprint : Rubén Cobos, a multi-talented personality / Nasario García.

      p. cm.

      Includes bibliographical references.

      ISBN 978-1-890689-84-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)

      ISBN 978-1-936744-79-4 (ebook formats)

      1. Cobos, Rubén. 2. Folklorists--New Mexico--Biography. 3. Hispanic Americans--New Mexico--Biography. 4. Hispanic Americans--New Mexico--Folklore. I. Title.

      GR55.C56G37 2011

      398.092--dc23

      [B]

      2011040670

      Dedication

      To

      Richard V. Teschner

      Friend,

      Colleague,

      and

      Student of Written

      and

      Southwestern Spanish

      Tanto vale el hombre cuanto vale su nombre.

      A man is worth no more than his name.

      Contents

      Dedication

      Foreword

      We Sail Wherever the Winds and Waters Take Us

      Interview

      Epilogue

      Publications

      About The Author

      Foreword

      As we pay tribute to the late Rubén Cobos, one of New Mexico’s foremost Hispanic folklorists, we are reminded of the ancient art of numerology, reputed to have originated on Plato’s lost island of Atlantis that still plays an important role in the world. Numerology provides the mystical interpretation of the bible found in the kabala, and it was also taught thousands of years ago in both Egyptian and Greek schools. Today, the 11th day of the 11th month and the 11th year is a significant milestone for many people who believe in numerology. The number 11 means intuition, mastery, spirituality, enlightenment and the capacity to achieve. Rubén Cobos, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday in 2011, is a reminder of the significance of numerology.

      One hundred years ago Rubén Cobos was born in Piedras Negras, México–the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year of the 20th century. When you have three sets of 11s, they add up to 33, which, according to numerologists, equals a spiritual consciousness developed through experiences and the desire for a higher plane of service. Looking back on all that Cobos achieved in his lifetime gives credence to numerology and its many implications.

      Cobos was the author of several books of Hispanic folklore, including two that are regarded as classics in their field: A Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish and Refranes: Southwestern Spanish Proverbs. His literary contributions to New Mexico’s Hispanic culture have provided an educational and historical foundation for generations to come.

      It was in his early days that Cobos became interested in the Spanish language of New Mexico. Spanish was spoken differently here, as he recounted. "There were many words that I was unfamiliar with but which were similar to the ones I had read about in the book Poesía tradicional de los judíos españoles, written by Manuel Alvar. That’s when I got the idea to write this much-needed dictionary on the way people spoke Spanish in this part of the state." Mindful of the large concentration of people with Sephardic Jewish ancestry in New Mexico, Cobos spent almost 30 years researching his book.

      Cobos was 16 when he ventured from Coahuila, México, in 1927 to the Land of Enchantment. My mother and I came to Albuquerque because my sister Consuelo, who was nine years older than me, had contracted tuberculosis while working as a social worker in Texas. She died at the Presbyterian sanitarium one month after we arrived, explains Cobos.

      After the death of his sister, Cobos and his mother decided to stay in New Mexico, where he graduated from the Presbyterian-run Menaul High School in 1932. He went straight to the University of New Mexico, receiving both his bachelor’s degree in and his master’s degree in languages in 1936 and 1940, respectively. From 1949 to 1950, Cobos attended Stanford University to work on his doctorate; he passed his oral examination in 1957.

      Cobos began his teaching career in rural New Mexico in Wagon Mound in 1936. Eventually he made his way back to the University of New Mexico, where he taught from 1944 through 1977, the year he was named a professor emeritus. During his career, he also taught at Stanford University, the University of Nevada in Reno and at the Universidad Central del Ecuador in Quito.

      Rubén Cobos received numerous awards throughout his illustrious career, including a Doctor of Humane Letters and Doctor of Letters from both Colorado College and New Mexico Highlands University, a place on the New Mexico Folklore Roll of Honor and the Excellence in the Humanities Award from the New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities. He also received an award from the Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española, the North American Academy of the Spanish Language.

      Ana Pacheco

      Former Publisher, La Herencia

      Santa Fe, New Mexico

      We Sail Wherever the Winds and Waters Take Us

      Many years ago a young boy named Rubén Cobos from Coahuila, México, in search of his own Seven Cities of Cíbola, ventured north with his family to New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment. On the way they stopped off at San Antonio, Texas, eventually arriving in Albuquerque in 1927 where he lived most of his life.

      Each one of us would like to think that we were born under a lucky star, but Rubén Cobos came into this world under three distinct, yet similar stars. Let us consider for a moment the numbers 11, 11, 11. Either way one looks at them, they conjure up luck and good fortune. However, the numbers in typical riddle-like fashion, characteristic of Cobos’s style and persona, represent his birth date. He was born in Piedras Negras (formerly Ciudad Porfirio Díaz), México, on November 11, 1911.

      After graduating from Albuquerque’s Menaul High School in 1932, Cobos attended the University of New Mexico, receiving both his bachelor’s (1936) and master’s (1940) degrees in Spanish. Upon being awarded his bachelor’s degree, he embarked on a teaching career in the public schools of rural New Mexico.

      From a novice teacher in Wagon Mound, to positions in Los Lunas and Normal University (today New Mexico Highlands University), to being awarded emeritus status at the University of New Mexico, where he taught from 1944 until his retirement in 1977, Cobos left an indelible imprint on education, exemplified by high-quality standards in the classroom.

      His teaching on occasion took him beyond the borders of New Mexico. During his career, Cobos taught, among other places, at Stanford University (1949-1950), the University of Nevada at Reno (1961), and the Universidad Central del Ecuador in Quito in 1963.

      Throughout his illustrious teaching career, whether in the public schools or at the university level, his methods and techniques, always imbued with an unparalleled sense of humor, were novel and truly ahead of his time.

      Those of us who studied under Rubén Cobos will never forget his grammar classes at the University of New Mexico. If there is anyone who ever raised the study of grammar to an art, it was he. How can anyone ever forget his endless repertoire of dichos to get his grammatical points across? Thanks to his own perspicacity as well as the wisdom and philosophy inherent in his folk sayings, we learned about ourselves, our Hispano culture of New Mexico, and how the Spanish language, absent the tedium that so frequently permeates classrooms, functions.

      But where did Rubén Cobos’s folklore come from? Where did it have its roots? What he brought into the classroom he obtained from the viejitos (old-timers) in kitchens, barnyards, dispensas, or the resolana in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Whereas the kitchens and barnyards were his own laboratory for learning about Hispanic folklore, for many of us the classroom was transformed into our own kitchen or laboratory of cultural knowledge, understanding and appreciation. That is where we learned and heard, oftentimes for the very first time, about entriegas, trovos, coplas, corridos, décimas, and other folkloric gems he collected out in the field over a period of time.

      In the process of sharing his knowledge of Hispanic folklore, not only did Cobos author dozens of articles, but he also published several books. Two of them are regarded as classics in the field: A Dictionary of New Mexico and Southern Colorado Spanish; and Refranes: Southwestern Spanish Proverbs. His public lectures, radio talk shows and television programs on customs, history and culture, folk tales, language, poetry, music, and humor throughout New Mexico and the Southwest are memorable indeed.

      But his own mischief kept him young at heart. Even in his 80s a childhood-like spirit was evident. To see him accelerate his high-powered station wagon at an inter-section just to show off its power, leaving drivers to wonder what had possessed him, was amusing.

      His humorous stories in tape-recording old-timers are also unforgettable. For several decades Cobos dedicated himself to preserving the Hispanic culture and language of northern New Mexico. The hundreds of hours of interviews that date

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