Pacheco: Carson explores deep ties to N.M.

Ana Pacheco | For The New Mexican

10/13/2008 - 10/13/08

It has been said that all fiction is based on fact, and for Bill Carson, 79, his book Peter Becomes a Trail Man (University of New Mexico Press, 2002), is in many ways his own odyssey. Aimed at young readers ages 9-14, Carson's story is about a young boy who leaves his hometown of St. Louis to travel on the Santa Fe Trail to New Mexico in search of his father.

"In 1933, my family and I drove out to New Mexico using as many roads possible that were close to the Santa Fe Trail," he says.

The quest to travel along the Santa Fe Trail was an attempt by the Carson family to relive the experience of an earlier member of their family. "My great-great-grandfather, William Carr Lane, traveled from St. Louis to New Mexico on the Santa Fe Trail in 1852," he says.

William Carr Lane, who was New Mexico's second territorial governor from 1852 to 1853, is featured prominently throughout this tale of a boy's Western adventure, and was the inspiration for the book. "My father, William Carson, was an English professor, and he had spent years researching William Carr Lane's story. He wrote the original draft for the book, and I added to it years later," says Carson.

The history surrounding Carson's ancestor also led him to New Mexico. "My father knew about the Los Alamos Ranch School and encouraged me to go there," he says. Carson attended summer camp there from 1939 to 1942. Founded in 1917 by Ashley Pond, a Detroit businessman, the school encouraged boys to become strong men through rigorous outdoor living. The school closed in 1943 to make way for the Manhattan Project and the dawn of nuclear warfare.

"That experience changed my life," Carson says. "It was wonderful. We spent the summers living outdoors. Everything we were taught had to be precise, from the way we pitched a tent to taking care of the horses to working with others."

Carson's childhood experiences in New Mexico have come full circle, both through his book and through the work he does with children. In 1997, Carson and his wife, Georgia, founded the Salazar Partnership, a 501c3 organization consisting of 85 volunteers working with teachers at Salazar and Agua Fría elementary schools. Members introduce children to literature by reading to them and providing each child with three books per year, which they can take home.

Carson is also the chairman of Santa Fe's Children and Youth Commission. The organization, which was started in 1991 and is funded by the city's gross receipts tax, provides money to organizations working with low-income children. "There's an increasing number of children living in poverty in the Santa Fe area," Carson explains. "This commission works with the city as they provide the money needed to these organizations assisting children."

Carson was born in St. Louis on Dec. 19, 1928. He graduated from Princeton University in 1950 and was a navigator in the Air Force during the Korean War from 1951 through 1954. He received his MBA from Stanford. He and Georgia have been married for 52 years and have two daughters and three grandchildren. Carson spent the first part of his career working as a computer programmer and systems analyst. In 1979, he founded a technical training company, the American Technical Institutes, with offices in four cities in the Midwest.

When it came time to retire, New Mexico beckoned. "We had been coming out here on family vacations since 1973, and we decided Santa Fe was the place to retire," Carson says. In 1992, when the couple moved to town, they hit the ground running with their know-how in getting things done. Their volunteer work has not gone unnoticed: Last year they were named Living Treasures, and earlier in the decade they were acknowledged as people who are making a difference in Santa Fe.

Unlike many retirees, the Carsons have more than enough to do, spending their days recruiting volunteers and raising money to keep the Salazar Partnership afloat. Although Carson could pass the time playing golf and basking in the New Mexico sun, he's happy with his life.

"It goes back to what I was taught at the Los Alamos Ranch School. Their philosophy was in doing things right," he says. "And volunteering my time and energy for Santa Fe's children is the right thing to do."

Ana Pacheco is the founder and publisher of La Herencia, a culture and history magazine (www.herencia.com, 505-474-2800). Her weekly tribute to our community elders appears every Tuesday.