Sunday, December 17, 2017

My good friend Pete Martinez lost his battle with cancer and If you want to pay your respects his service will be this Wednesday Dec 20,2017 at 10am Our Lady Of Fatima Casper WY

My good friend Pete Martinez lost his battle with cancer and If you want to pay your respects his service will be this Wednesday Dec 20,2017 at 10am Our Lady Of Fatima Casper WY. He was my friend and I will be there. I was called by the Casper Star Tribune they were doing an article about him and asked me about our friendship and this is what they wrote. Pete I am going to miss you and I will see you down the trail love you brother.
Pete Martinez called Casper artist Chris Navarro one day out of the blue, maybe 25 years ago, and said they should meet. Both musician and sculptor had a shared interest in rodeo and horses.
At some point later, Navarro decided to give Martinez the basics on team roping. Martinez wanted to know how to do it safely, because, of course, the Nashville musician “couldn’t afford to lose any of his digits.”
Martinez, a man known for strong family bonds, a sense of humor and his success as a Nashville recording artist, died of cancer Dec. 10 in Houston. He was 56.
“The guy was a born entertainer, that’s for sure,” Navarro said. “Just him and a guitar and bunch of guys sitting around you know, the next thing you know, it’s a party breaking out.”
A full life Martinez was born in Leadville, Colorado, and grew up in Casper, the oldest of three siblings, said his sister, Sandra Dixon. His parents, Pete and Isabel Martinez, raised them around music and horses, which remained lifelong passions for him, she said.
His music and business activity took him around the country and even overseas to perform. But he visited his hometown whenever he could, even if just to stop for dinner out with family before a flight out the next day, Dixon said.
People always noticed the tall, thin man in his trademark black cowboy hat, she said.
“I had to share him,” Dixon said. “I don’t think he knew a stranger; and if he did, he would make friends immediately. He had the most warm smile. People were just drawn to him.”
Martinez’s father taught him to play guitar when he was young, Dixon said. Martinez graduated from Natrona County High School in 1979, and he earned his bachelors degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Wyoming and Metropolitan State University of Denver.
His albums recorded in Nashville included “Changes,” and “I Would for You” on the Rodeo Records label, and his single “Bull Rider” became a hit at rodeos nationwide.
He also recently recorded a gospel CD, Dixon said.
He was a hit with Casper audiences for his local performances including the CNFR and Ranch City Party at the Casper Events Center.
The son of a Navy veteran, Martinez performed his song “We Thank You” for a D-Day commemoration event in 2014 at Omaha Beach in Normandy, according to his Facebook page. A song he wrote called “The Horse” was featured on an IMAX film, his sister said. Hank Williams Jr. helped on one of his CDs.
She recalled he’d often send photos from Nashville and call his mother to say, “You won’t believe who I just got to watch singing or just met.”

Martinez also ran companies in Colorado and Houston, where he owned homes with his wife, Dixon said. He worked in the water resource industry with experience in mining engineering, energy development and ranch and farm brokerage, according to westernwaterresources.com.
Dixon looked up to Martinez, even as a child. He was protective and could be bossy, so she’d tell him he was her big brother, not her dad — and they’d laugh.
They’d go to the lake on the Fourth of July and jump off the cliffs. Even if everyone else said not to do something, he’d be the one to say, “Let’s do it, I’ll do it with you.”
His daring extended to competing in rodeo as a bull rider, she said.
“He was a cowboy from his soul,” Dixon said.
Friendships Martinez’ friends remember him as down-to-earth with a sense of humor and loyalty.
His childhood friend, Dick O’Hearn, said he never let success give him a big ego. He was outgoing and generous with smiles, handshakes and hugs. O’Hearn called him an active listener, paying close attention and asking questions.
“He thought you were the most important person in the room at that time,” he said. “He would just focus on you and play catch-up.” Martinez always was eager to reunite over the years and reminisce about their years together in church, little league baseball and school — from Westwood Elementary through UW — and their times since then, he said.
“It’s always so great to see you,” Martinez wrote when he signed his “Changes” CD for his friend. “We’re like brothers.”
Navarro, too, remembers him most as a good friend. After a bad horse wreck on the trail ride in New Mexico, the first face Navarro saw when he came to was Martinez.’ Martinez also was the first-person Navarro knew to arrive at the hospital. He’d had his clothes cut off, so Martinez bought him new ones.
Martinez called him a few weeks ago from Houston to tell him it would probably be the last time they talk.

“He told me he valued my friendship and that I meant a lot to him and that he wanted to let me know he loved me,” Navarro said. “Not many cowboys tell each other they love each other, you know what I mean.”

Thursday, December 14, 2017

AUTUMNS CHALLENGE

My monumental bronze elk AUTUMNS CHALLENGE at a collectors home in AZ she sent this picture with no photo shop what a sunset. Lisa thanks for sharing.
chrisnavarro.com

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Fort Collins monuments (and the stories behind them)


Fort Collins monuments (and the stories behind them)
"Monuments are a great way to learn about your city, the people who have been there before," said Thomas Cauvin, a Colorado State University professor of public history and the mind behind a recent Northern Colorado monuments project. Fort Collins monuments (and the stories behind them)
3. "20% Chance of Flurries"
"20% Chance of Flurries" sits on the east side of CSU's Monfort Quad, reminding passersby of the perseverance of Colorado's farm and ranch families. Location: Colorado State University
Located on the east side of CSU's Monfort Quad — perched high above the sea of students trudging to class every day — is a frozen glimpse into frontier life.
The 16- by 11-foot bronze statue, named "20% Chance of Flurries," shows a cowboy clutching his horse's reins and holding a calf on his lap.
The statue, which was sculpted by Chris Navarro and dedicated in 2005, honors the farm and ranch families of Colorado. A plaque below the sculpture includes a poem of the same name, written by Jeff Anslinger.

20% Chance of Flurries
As we headed out to start the day
We noticed the sky was turnin' gray
A cold north wind had started to blow
and we knew that by noon there'd be snow
Now I'll admit its early spring
And a man never knows what the weather will bring
But most of the calves are already born
And just last week the sheep were shorn
Then the blizzard blew in like a demon from hell
How much snow we'd get was hard to tell
So towards the shelter we pushed the stock
But the snow was a driftin' by two o'clock
Then the sheep went to millin' and the cattle bunched tight
But like mad men against nature we kept up the fight
We were yellin' and whippin' with our catch ropes
But as the blizzard raged on, there sank our hopes
Across our saddles we carried calves to the shed
And prayed to God that by morning they all wouldn't be dead
We made it to the house, but our hopes they were gone
Then the blizzard blew out just before dawn
For we knew the battle we had lost
But then first light showed us the cost
My heart was sinkin' while I was on the saddle
Countin' dead sheep and draggin' frozen cattle
But in my mind some words still remain
This weatherman's little rhyming refrain
Stockmen and ranchers, you have no worries
It's only a 20% chance of flurries.

20% Chance of Flurries is a sculpture that won a national competition and was commissioned as a 15 ' tall monument by the Colorado Department of Agriculture. Placed at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, the sculpture honors the dedication and hardships of the people who make their living ranching and farming. The image of a cowboy on a horse saving a young calf embodies the test of endurance that highlights the best qualities of the men who live in the West. They face hard conditions, and take life as it comes. This sculpture is available in a table top size. chrisnavarro.com