Silver City, NM, to Safford, AZ

Safford, AZ

    After leaving the Silver City RV Park & Storage I drove north about 4 miles and visited Mary McGaughey Estes, the widow of Berry Felix Estes, who died in 2008. (You'll find his obituary in the post below.) When she said that her husband was a genius, I didn't dispute that characterization since electrical engineering, meteorology, and nuclear physics or engineering, the subjects of his three degrees, are not easy courses of study. However, when I asked if she played the piano, she said that the "played the radio." Berry played the piano, organ, and six other instruments; she had apparently given away all of the instruments except the piano. I think the ability to play that many instruments is a sign of some intellect -- if not genius.

    We talked about both or our families: the Estes and the Lemmons, though the connection between the two was via Berry's grandmother, Nannie Maude Farley Estes and my great-grandmother, Martha Elizabeth Farley Shackelford Colbaugh, who was one of Maude's older sisters. As the previous post showed, Berry is buried at Ft. Bayard Natl Cemetery, but the bulk of his relatives are buried here in Eastern Arizona where Berry, his wife Mary, & Berry's sister Irene grew up; indeed, many are buried in a cemetery here in Safford.

    Just a short distance from Silver City I crossed the Continental Divide again -- though headed west this time. Recall that I crossed it in the other direction roughly 8-9 miles east of Animas on MN9, the road which follows the old El Paso and Southwestern RR grade. If you click once or twice, you can see the top of the divide east of which all water sufficient to run off ends up in the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River.

    I had intended to look up several obituaries at the Safford Library but when I arrived there Friday, there were no cars in the parking lot; a sign on the doors posted new hours: primarily: closed F, Sa , & Su. Next I checked the RAOGK [Random Acts of Geneaolgical Kindness] Search Engine for Graham County, AZ, volunteers. There was one, but it's unclear whether she does obituary lookups at the library or only vital stat documents at the court house; I hope to hear from her on Monday.

    Here's a Wikipedia article on Safford, AZ.

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    With a Winter Storm Warning in effect for tomorrow, I had conidered driving to a lower elevation, but it seems all roads leaving Safford are essentially uphill; in other words, it's difficult to find any place in Eastern Arizona which is lower than Safford's 3,000'.

    I'll not post a route until the inclement weather passes by; essentially I'm crouched in my snow cave (complete with TV & The Weather Channel at the Econo Inn/Motel) waiting for better weather.

M 28 Feb Route: Safford - Pima - Bylas - Peridot - Globe.