Patricia was born in Los Alamos on November 8, 1949. Her parents worked and lived in Los Alamos during the week and on weekends the family would go to their house in Chimayo to work on the farm/ranch at La Centinela near Chimayo, where they raised animals and crops. Her father was also a well known master weaver. Patricia graduated from Los Alamos High in 1967. She attended NMSU, receiving a BS degree in Agricultural Biology. She later attended Utah State receiving an MS degree in Biology-Microbial Ecology. She returned to Las Cruces and worked at NMSU as a research specialist in an animal nutrition toxicology lab, completing an MS in Animal Science/Toxicology in 1984. In 1985 Patricia and her husband, Marco Oviedo, moved to Chimayo where they started the family business. She worked concurrently for the New Mexico Department of Transportation as an Environmentalist/Public Involvement Coordinator until 1990, then briefly as the Department’s Public Affairs Director. In 1991, she transferred to Los Alamos National Laboratory where she was a Technical Staff member and worked in the Environmental Restoration Program as a Community Relations Specialist. In 1995, Patricia "retired” from the Lab to work in the family business full time. She is the manager of three distinct businesses:
Her husband’s woodcarving and bronze sculpture gallery and foundry;
a breeding farm of heritage breeds of donkeys, horses and sheep, sold around the country, some used in movies; and a guest inn.
Her job title is “Jenny of all Trades” and duties include bookkeeper, gallery operator, guest inn owner and manager, horse-donkey-mule trainer, sheep wrestler, cow liberator, truck driver, santo painter, trail ride director, manure mover, cat broker, and social director…to name a few. Working in her own business has given Patricia the flexibility to engage in other activities which includes leading Donkey Trail rides under the name of “Paseo de la Tierra Vieja” through the foothills in Chimayo, describing the history and pointing out various historic and archeological landmarks of interest to those on the ride. She is an official tour guide at El Santuario de Chimayo and for other historic churches in the surrounding area, and has written a pictorial history book on Chimayo, published in 2012. Patricia is a former board member of the Chimayo Cultural Preservation Association, and is currently Chairperson of the Chimayo Association of Businesses and of both Holy Family Parish Finance Council and the El Santuario de Chimayo Advisory Board. She is a member of the Chimayo Community Planning Organization.
We are proud that Patricia is a Voz.
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