Sixth-generation New Mexican Ernest Montoya is a thoughtful, loving man whose sense of wonder touches everything he creates, from the hand-made furniture that fills his home to his five successful children.

Montoya, a retired purchasing and contract officer for the New Mexico National Guard, took his first rudimentary steps in building furniture in a woodworking class at Santa Fe High School, where he also met his future wife, Anita Garcia. He joined the guard in 1955, a year after graduation, and married Anita soon after that. In the meantime, she became a registered nurse and subsequently began a 32-year career at what was then St. Vincent Hospital.

His work over the next 35 years precluded any hobbies or avocations, but he never gave up his interest in and love of building things with his own hands. Upon retirement, Montoya built his in-home workshop, expanding the garage into a professionally appointed woodworking studio with the intent of beginning a second career.

Furniture making did not become a business for a variety of reasons, but it has become a full-time avocation; he started by making most of the furniture and doors for his home, then for his children's various homes and now for his grandchildren's.

In fact, any discussion with Montoya about furniture making inevitably turns to his children. As he said:

"I really got serious about making furniture as the kids graduated from college and established their own homes. They needed furniture, and we gave them ours. So, I needed to build more for us.

"Then, as time went on, the kids wanted new furniture, not hand-me-downs, so I began making furniture for them. Now, the grandkids who are moving into their own homes are interested," Montoya said with a smile.

You name it, Montoya can build it: beds, cabinets, tables, couches, chairs, doors. His favorite piece to build is the armoire, he said, because it is the "perfect" piece of furniture.

"An armoire fits anywhere and everywhere," Montoya said. "It's both decorative and useful." He has built at least 10 of them for his family members over the years.

Oak and black walnut are his preferred choices of wood for most pieces because of their durability. "Anything made of oak or walnut will last a century or more," Montoya said. He also uses pecan and a "little" maple, pine and cedar for more decorative accents.

In the meantime, Anita Montoya has kept busy as well. Since her retirement as a head surgical nurse at St. Vincent, she works part-time in administration for a private practice and a medical group. She also volunteers with the local Cancer Society and is active in the Santa Fe Rose Society.

The two are the parents of Annette, 49, a civil engineer for the city of Albuquerque; Fabian, 47, a mortgage broker with Citigroup in Scottsdale, Ariz.; Anthony, 45, president and co-owner of Movida Telecommunications and several start-up companies in Denver; and 43-year-old twins, Paula, an accountant with a Belgian company based in Denver, and Joanna, who, like her mother, has her RN and manages a local family-practice clinic.

"They're really interesting people," Montoya said proudly of his children, perhaps the supreme compliment one can give one's kids. "We enjoy being with them, as well as our seven grandchildren," who range in age from 2 to 23.

Montoya noted that he has traced two Montoya relatives, a priest and a soldier, who arrived in Mexico from Barcelona, Spain, early in the 18th century. Then, his great-great-great-grandfather came to New Mexico from Mexico in the late 18th century on a Mexican land grant in Trampas. His great-great-grandfather migrated to Santa Fe after that, and the family has been in the City Different since. In fact, the family owned and ran M (for Montoya) Dairy south of what's now DeVargas Center from 1905 to 1954.

His mother, Lucy Sandoval Montoya, was born at Nambé Pueblo of mixed Indian and Hispanic heritage. Montoya said he regretted not being able to trace his mother's family beyond her parents, but said he would keep trying.

Meanwhile, Montoya keeps his creative juices flowing, building roads and infrastructure for future development on an 8-acre parcel of land he owns outside Santa Fe. His last in-house project was for daughter Joanna, when he remodeled her home's kitchen and bathrooms.