I do not know when Pueblo began the commemoration of World AIDS Day. I do know that at that commemoration there were only 2 people. They went to the Arts Center and put black ribbons on several pictures. Then that evening the 2 of them held a candle light vigil. She was the sister of a young man who had passed from AIDS and he was a victim. I never knew his name, but I still see her today. It was through her that the Pueblo AIDS Memorial Quilt was conceived.
The next year there were 5 of us. 3 of us were parents of a gay child. The third year there were 2 mothers and my daughter Debbie with her biker husband Hammer. For some reason we thought we had to stay until midnight all the years before. That year, Hammer told us we were nuts because it was cold enough to freeze the b@^^s off a brass monkey and there was no one that knew we were there. He was right!
From those humble beginnings many things transpired. Someone started the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt early on. It lives in California. It is constructed of individual panels measuring 3' x 6', which is the size of a regular grave. I conceived the idea for a smaller version of this constructed of 1' x 2' panels. The Pueblo AIDS Memorial Quilt was dedicated at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center on December 1, 1997. For several years, that was it's venue until we started having World AIDS Day here. The library is now it's home through December. It is still stored in my basement.
The big quilt in California is now too big to be displayed any where. The last showing of it was on the mall in Washington D.C.
The next year there were 5 of us. 3 of us were parents of a gay child. The third year there were 2 mothers and my daughter Debbie with her biker husband Hammer. For some reason we thought we had to stay until midnight all the years before. That year, Hammer told us we were nuts because it was cold enough to freeze the b@^^s off a brass monkey and there was no one that knew we were there. He was right!
From those humble beginnings many things transpired. Someone started the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt early on. It lives in California. It is constructed of individual panels measuring 3' x 6', which is the size of a regular grave. I conceived the idea for a smaller version of this constructed of 1' x 2' panels. The Pueblo AIDS Memorial Quilt was dedicated at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center on December 1, 1997. For several years, that was it's venue until we started having World AIDS Day here. The library is now it's home through December. It is still stored in my basement.
The big quilt in California is now too big to be displayed any where. The last showing of it was on the mall in Washington D.C.
NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, often abbreviated to AIDS Memorial Quilt or AIDS Quilt, is an enormous memorial to celebrate the lives of people who have died of AIDS-related causes. Weighing an estimated 54 tons, it is the largest piece of community folk art in the world as of 2016. Wikipedia
Tomorrow at 2:00 we will gather to recognize World AIDS Day. Part of that celebration will be to recognize the loss of one of our leaders, John A. Tenorio. He passed one year ago the day after Thanksgiving. John was my friend. I was the mother he lost and he was the brother I lost. Our friendship had gotten off to a rocky start many years before, but we had both come to realize that this was a friendship blessed by God and misunderstood by man.
Sunday we will add his panel to the quilt. It is simple. The fabric is one of the plaid shirts he always wore. The Christmas card he sent out the first year he was a grandfather is in the pocket. There is a picture of him and his brother, Len in the city hall parking lot. It does not tell a story. It is not a work of art. But it does hold a lot of tear drops, because I miss that boy more than words can say. It is just something that will mark the life and death of John A. Tenorio.
May he rest in peace knowing he leaves behind a legacy that will never be forgotten and an empty place in our hearts that will never be filled.
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