ONE OF A KIND...

How many times have you attended the Gallup Indian Ceremonial? How many times have you visited the main baseball field at Fort Canyon Park? How about the Chamber of Commerce offices? Or the Navajo and Zuni Fairs? Or have you gone to any meetings of the Gallup Junior Women's Club? Do you go bowling? If so, how many of you have been involved with your Bowling Association? How many of you serve on community boards or charity groups? I could go on and on, and it would not be enough credit to one of the great and quiet people of our community, one who has volunteered to do all the above and more, including being the driving force in the annual American Cancer Society Golf Tournament (formerly the "Joe Sherman Memorial Longest Day of Golf" and formerly and simply "The Longest Day of Golf"), and Relay For Life (which this coming tournament is all about).

Without taking anything away from Joe Sherman, my friend, fellow golfer and supporter who lost a long battle with cancer in March of 1998, and the founder of Gallup's Longest Day of Golf back in the 70's, I've got to tell you, without LUCILLE MARTINELLI, it is doubtful that Joe Sherman and many other groups in Gallup would have had the success they've had, that simple! This community has had many good leaders and hard workers, Lucille is right up there with the best of them which has been a blessing for the community... not to mention to her beloved husband Frank!

In an interview with Lucille, who, in addition to her daily volunteer work, her duties as wife and mother, she found time to work at Wells Fargo Bank for 53 years, she could not pick a favorite charity or group, "they are all worthy"; but one particular project stood out, perhaps because it gave her the opportunity to take some of her first "baby steps" in serving her community, or, perhaps because of the obstacles that faced her and her group at the time that made them stronger and made them appreciate the rewards much more. It was around 1951 when local businessman, Bert Giovanetti, asked young Lucille to help him organize Little League Baseball in Gallup.

At the time, kids played in alleys, dirt parks, people's backyards, etc., where ever they could, but they had no baseball park. With a lot of work, visits and phone calls to many people, she was able to secure a place for a baseball park from the municipality, but could not get the city's financial help. So, this became the genesis of her expertise in asking community members for money for good causes, and the now artificially grassed (2002) park at Fort Canyon Park was born. All Mr. Giovanetti had wanted was to be able to organize all the local teams into a league, and he ended up with more: A BASEBALL PARK! Her volunteer work with the American Cancer Society started just a few short years later, and it never stopped, probably never will. When prompted to explain why so long, her answer is simply, "you know, it does take some time from you, and sometimes you say, 'this is my last year', but then someone you know is diagnosed with cancer, or a friend of your friends is, and it becomes more and more difficult to give up. All this money goes to research, and there has been tremendous advancement. I've seen some very good things happen!"

As far as her "golf connection" to us (and the reason of our curiosity about her service), it is not clear on how the Longest Day of Golf started, Lucille is not a golfer (and my friend Joe was), but since the beginning, the Longest Day of Golf, was a success not only because of Joe's enthusiasm, but also because of one quiet but powerful driving force of servitude: Lucille Martinelli... Thank you lady!,

and now, we won't expect less from the new "Day & Night American Cancer Society Tournament" (June 20) and of course, "adoptive" son Dale Dedrick, who, though will have a hard act to follow, is confident because he's had a ONE OF A KIND TEACHER!