Raul B. Tellez - It`s Personal - Part 2
Transcription
Raul B. Tellez - It`s Personal - Part 2
place, so he was snapping pictures of across the border. “They took Raul out to eat that everything. The brothers got a satchel night, and we went, too. They asked out of their Jeep and started countif we had any more bulls. I had four ing money on the hood. When the at the Tucumcari (NM) Bull Test. We reporter asked what was going on, settled on a price, and all shook hands. Raul said, ‘No, we’ve got to have a contract,’ so he got a napkin and wrote a contract on it, four bulls for X amount of money. They got out their cash and pooled it on the table, figured out how much they had, and that was written in as the down payment. Then we all signed the napkin.” Dwayne laughed and added, “They said, ‘Now you have to buy our supper because you have all our (L-R) Raul and his NMDA award. Raul receiving his award in Durango. money.’” When the Disneys accompanied I said they’re paying for the bulls.” “On the hood of a Jeep?” Yes. “Can I that second set of bulls, Raul and his assistant had several people with have a picture of that?” No. Laughing, them. Said Dwayne, “One was a free- Dwayne said, “It was one of those fun lance reporter from up north some- things.” The Disneys enjoyed the Mexican cattlemen, and attended their cattlemen’s conventions every chance they got. “We always enjoyed those conventions. If you ever have the opportunity to attend one, you need to go,” he added. The conventions are in May and October. Wesley Grau said: “We made a lot of trips to Sonora and Chihuahua, and we’d go to the state fairs because the cattlemen’s associations all met at the same time as the state fairs. We could go at those times and see every cattleman raising stock in both states. All the cattlemen are members of the associations; in fact, they really can’t market cattle very well unless they’re a member of the association.” Charles Dickerson, auctioneer based in Las Cruces, said: “Raul and I traveled together for 29 years. In Mexico, Raul is strictly business. In all those D I G I - S TA R S C A L E S Your weight and data recordingg solutions ions SW HD 7,000 lb Chute Scale Introducing! Stockweigh Heavy y Duty 7,000 lb. Chute Sc Scale l t 3VHHFEEFTJHOGPS)FBWZ%VUZ.BOVBM4RVFF[F$IVUFT t 2VJDLJOTUBMMOPMFWFMFSBEKVTUNFOUTOFFEFE t 4UBJOMFTT4UFFM$BCMF(VBSESFTJTUTDBCMFJOKVSZ BOEBOJNBMCJUJOH t MCDBQBDJUZQBJS Easy access Complete with the Indicator of your choice! SW4600EID SW600 Digi-Star Products are available tthrough: hrough: Email: [email protected] www.zeitlow.com McPherson, KS 800-364-1605 Boonville, MO 800-530-5158 T ER R ITOR I A L M AGA ZINE 43 years I saw him drink maybe two breeder and American Hereford As- met me at the airport and allowed me beers, and that was after all the busi- sociation president, said: “When we to speak to their association. It was an went as a group he looked after us. honor, and I spoke to them in Spanish.” ness was done.” Later, Raul laid the groundwork for Dickerson’s auctioneer business in- He was always thinking ahead to cludes everything agricultural. He has try to make things work, and he had Harvey to help breeders establish a a machinery auction annually, which good judgment. If something didn’t Mexican Hereford Association. “I was many Mexican farmers and ranchers look right he’d say, ‘I wouldn’t do that,’ honored to do it,” he said, and added: “Later, after disattend. Raul carpersion of Harries a set of cards vey Herefords, containing probI was asked to ably 800 names, judge their show. phone numbers My Spanish is not and other inforperfect, but I enmation, but Dickjoyed doing it.” erson said, “Raul doesn’t need Like many that. It’s all in his others, Harvey head.” mentions Raul’s Regarding the (l-r) Mexican President Vincente Fox Quesada.NMDA informational booth at Sorora Cattlemen’s. dedication to getcomment that it’s ting New Mexico not “what” you know but “who” you and besides all that, he’s a good agricultural products and those who know in order to be successful, Dick- friend.” need them together. “I’m not a salesRaul, of course, is fluent in both Eng- man,” he reminded. “I’m a facilitator.” erson maintains: “That’s not right. It’s ‘who’ knows ‘you.’ Until you establish lish and Spanish. Every New MexiIndeed! Harvey said Raul has faciliconfidence in each other, neither side can who traveled with Raul received tated sales of New Mexico “dairy cattle, Spanish lessons, and they appreci- beef cattle, tractors, working chutes, really trusts the other.” Without question, Raul and his ated it. Wesley Grau said, “He helped semen tanks, cotton gins, whatever is friends on both sides of the border me learn Spanish. My Spanish is not needed.” That list also includes honey share a special rapport and trust. He very good, but I know a lot of words.” from Miami, N.M. Phil Harvey really paid attention told of an NCBA meeting where he Steve Irisik, Jr., a Southwest Kansas made sure his Mexican friends were and got very good at Spanish. He Cattleman and farmer, recalled how treated as the special guests they were. proudly recalled a trip to Durango, he first met Raul: “We were trying to The word “friend” comes up often in Mexico during his term as American sell flour into Mexico out of our mill conversations about Raul. Phil Har- Hereford Association president. “The in Rincon, NM. He was helping, but, vey Jr., former New Mexico Hereford Union Ganadera (cattlemen’s union) made it clear that we had better treat RODENT Management plainjans.com s” mou e“fa thopsrinted plainjans.com : from T ER R ITOR I A L M AGA ZINE 800-235-6140 more on the web re Cho Caps 44 p l a i nj a n s 800-235-6140 s l a i nj a n p the Mexican’s right -- he did not go for any underhanded shady dealings. This was great, now we were all on the same page. I have been to Mexico with Raul, he is connected and a man of integrity. He was fun to go with because he was so well thought of. If we had more Raul’s the world would be a better place.” Raul’s helpfulness even, sometimes, included non-agricultural products. Sharron Stuart, president of a Las Cruces bank, said she had seen gorgeous pottery made by a lady in a village in Mexico. “It was such fine pottery, painted with human hair.” She mentioned it to Raul, and told him she would really like to purchase some of that wonderful pottery to give to the bank’s directors at Christmas. On his next trip, Raul told the artist. “She brought them here to the bank, and we wrapped them. It was all done on a handshake.” After a pause she added, “I don’t think anyone could fill his shoes now that he’s retired. It might take a delegation.” Raul’s excellent work has been noticed and appreciated by many. The honors and awards he earlier received as an FFA officer were only the beginning. The Las Cruces Jaycees presented the 1972 Jaycees Distinguished Service Award to him in recognition of his outstanding and dedicated service to his community. The Durango, Mexico cattlemen honored him with their San Juan del Rio Durango Friend Award, which was a Pancho Villa statue. In 2005 the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) presented to Raul their James A. Graham Award for outstanding service to agriculture. Also, in 2005 he was recognized as NMDA’s Exemplary Employee of the Year. Dr. I. Miley Gonzalez, director/secretary, wrote: “You are an outstanding employee in every respect and we appreciate your professionalism as you promote the New Mexico Department of Agriculture.” In 2007, Raul received NMDA’s second Distinguished Service Award. 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Box 1506 • Great Bend, KS 67530 • 620-793-9200 Andrew Murphy, CEO Jerry Kuckelman, COO Brandon Depenbusch, Executive Director of Advanced Livestock Technology T ER R ITOR I A L M AGA ZINE 45 He appreciated the recognition, of closed their border to the U.S. Meanwhile, the Mexican governcourse, but his comment was: “I come to work, not to get awards.” ment seems to be losing the battle His work didn’t change all that with the drug cartels. Even ever-posmuch when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was implemented in 1994. Sales of breeding beef cattle going to Mexico were mostly unchanged, because the so-called advantages already were in place. Actually, the drought in Mexico had a greater effect. Since then, New Mexico and the American Southwest are suffering from drought as well. It seems Mother Nature often trumps political (l-r) Raul and Gloria Tellez and Avelino and Carmen Tellez. agreements. Still, politics rear their ugly heads itive Raul Tellez shook his head and now and then. When a cow in far said, “We haven’t been to Mexico in a away Washington state was diag- long time.” Still, Raul will be happy to nosed with BSE (mad cow disease) help his hundreds (not an exaggerain 2003, the U.S. closed the border to tion) of friends any way he can. His Canada. So the Mexican government home phone number is 575-527-2855, 46 T ER R ITOR I A L M AGA ZINE and his cell number is 575-644-3419. Born and raised south of Las Cruces, NM, Raul’s father, Avelino O. Tellez and mother, Carmen Bustamante Tellez had 15 children. Thirteen reached adulthood, and Raul is number five. His great-grandfather came to the Mesilla Valley before New Mexico was a state. Including his grandchildren – and one greatgrandchild -- that’s eight generations. Raul’s wife, Gloria grew up near Anthony, NM, a mile north of the Texas state line. Her father, Jesus M. Acosta arrived in the valley much later than the Tellezes. He and his five brothers fled Mexico riding burros in the early 1920s, escaping the Pancho Villa revolution. Avelino Tellez’s goal was a high school education for all his 13 children. He got a bonus: The eldest, Ray, earned a business degree from Highlands University in Las Vegas, N.M. Avelino not only knew his children’s ages and birthdates, he even knew the day of the week each child was born; along with weather conditions that day (or night). Large families, especially among those who live and work on the land, are most always close-knit. Raul and Gloria epitomize that concept. Their counterparts in Mexico have the same value systems, which probably explains the comfortable relationship the two groups enjoy. They give the idea of “family” a whole added dimension. Most every successful person can name mentors (“guiding lights”) in their lives. Raul has four: his grandfather, Leon Tellez; his father, Avelino Tellez; Hugh Whitfield, owner of Whitfield Trucking, and Dr. William Stephens, NMDA director who hired him in 1984. Lastly, the mutually beneficial trade between Mexico and the United States has been happening for hundreds of years. In rancher/cowboy parlance it’s called “neighboring.”