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Excerpts from Abe Peña's  Memories of Cibola

All material used with the kind permission of the author, given to me personally.

from Los Alamitos
"Carroll Gunderson, generally known as C. G. Gunderson, came with his family from Laguna to Grants in 1928. He came to manage the Bond-Sergeant General Merchandise store, which became the Bond-Gunderson store in 1940, and later, the Furniture Mart. The Furniture Mart closed its doors in recent years, bringing an end to an era.


From the day they arrived, he and his wife Frieda got involved in their community. He was appointed to the School Board of Grants Union High School and served several terms as chairman of the board. Their two sons, Charles (Bud) and Ray (deceased), attended school in Grants, then went on to the University of New Mexico and returned to help with the expanding businesses. Like their father and mother, both were tall fellows, showing their Scandinavian heritage; both were active in sports, especially basketball.


Bud says that Jackie Harrison got the first bicycle when Santa Fe Avenue was first paved, in 1931. Bud got the second one, and Wilbur Thigpen got the third! Jackie was the son of Will Harrison, the editor of the Grants Review, the predecessor of the Beacon. He went on to fame and many awards as the political columnist who wrote 'Inside the Capitol' from Santa Fe, which was carried by most newspapers in the state for many years.


Grants had no electricity when the Gundersons came from Laguna. He purchased a Fairbanks-Morse generator and generated electricity for the store and warehouses, as well as for nearby neighbors. In 1930 the Fairbanks-Morse Company purchased the generator and expanded into the Inland Utilities Company, subsequently purchased by Continental Divide Electric Cooperative (under the Rural Electrification Administration) in 1947 and still going strong.


Beside his interest in business and commerce, G. C. Gunderson was interested in government and was elected the first Mayor of Grants when it was incorporated. He was a founding member of most clubs and organizations formed in Grants prior to World War II. He also served as a 'banker' to many of his customers, carrying them on credit until their wool or crops or livestock were sold. He was one of the principals who chartered the Grants State Bank in 1947, the first bank in Grants. The Republican Party of New Mexico nominated him as candidate for the office of governor in 1944. I was too young to vote, but we campaigned hard for a man who we believed would be a dynamic and progressive governor for our great but poor state of New Mexico. He lost by only a narrow margin, in spite of the dominance of the Democratic majority, a majority that established itself during the 'New Deal' days of Franklin D. Roosevelt.


In 1952 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention, in Chicago. At that time I was in the U.S. Army, serving in the veterinary service in Chicago during the Korean War. As I recall it was the first fully televised political convention ever, and Mr. Gunderson, a commanding figure in any crowd, was followed by cameras throughout the proceedings. I recall sitting in the visitors' gallery, watching. He supported former General Dwight D. Eisenhower to be the standard bearer for the party. Ike's principal opponent at the convention was Senator Robert O. Taft, of Ohio. Floyd W. Lee of San Mateo, also a delegate to the convention, supported Senator Taft. In a close race for the nomination, Eisenhower won and went on to become president.


After the discovery that was to change the course of Grants history, Paddy Martinez, a good friend of the Gundersons, brought a yellow rock into the store in 1950. It was sent off to be assayed and turned out to be high-grade uranium! A prospecting stampede followed that brought people and money and jobs to the area. George Dannenbaum, a former mayor of Grants, has written a book of the uranium days entitled Boom to Bust. The book adds to the history of our area and is a good source of information for people who shared those days in a booming mining community. George Dannenbaum, a Democrat and Mr. Gunderson, a Republican, were fierce opponents in the political arena.


Mr. C. G. Gunderson will long be remembered as a friend. Those Hispanic people who knew him well called him "El Gunso." Every time I drive past the Saint Teresa Community Center on High Street, I recall another example of generosity from this uncommon man; he and his wife, Frieda, donated the land on which this landmark was built. There are dozens, and probably hundreds, of individuals in Grants and the surrounding area who worked summers or part-time at the store. Some of them were students, home for the summer, who needed to earn money to continue their education. Somehow he always employed them and encouraged them to continue. Among these aspiring scholars were a sister and a brother of mine. Mr. Gunderson was a leader in the best sense of the word."