As I mentioned in the About >> Your Innkeepers section of this website, my spouse and best friend (yep! that’s how it gets to be after 40+ years of marriage and working partnership!!) departed on May 30th, 2011, following a long battle with terminal cancer. Elaine was a lady of composure and quiet but firm purpose and determination: she left us with a clear mandate and encouragement to continue our good and productive work. She was also the “chief archivist/genealogist/chronicler” of her family, and she had already put in motion ways to insure that her work could be carried forward amongst and for the benefit of younger generations.
But solid, long lasting reminders abound, that Elaine has been and still is much a part of our activities, surroundings and family life: I walk to work every morning, following the Inn’s flagstoned patios that she personally contributed to lay down, align and level in 1998… She had also set in motion the July 1-2-3, 2011 Vander Wagen Family Reunion (held in and around Zuni about every 5 years) which will further validate her efforts to keep family history as a living body of common experiences. And those are just two examples of the fact that her legacy consists of more than mere shared, even possibly ephemeral, emotions & regrets… Pride, commitment, achievements do endure instead!