November 2008
Hidden Treasures in High Rolls
by Craig Springer
It’s no stretch to say that Bill Stanbrough knows his wood. He should. For 31 years he cruised the Lincoln National Forest of southern New Mexico while employed with the U.S. Forest Service. Stationed in Cloudcroft, Bill administered timber sales. He “looked over the loggin’,” as Bill puts it. He misses that work he says, but he’s never stopped working with wood.
Today, Bill and his wife of 52 years, Virginia, make folk art toys, and bird houses and feeders—all from wood. These two people have purveyed folksy playthings for 40 years. What started as a hobby has turned into a vocation, post-retirement.
Bill was born in Arivaca, Arizona, in 1936, and for the same reasons most anyone moves—economic opportunity—his parents headed east in 1948. Young Bill and his family came to the High Rolls area on the west flank of the Sacramento Mountains above Alamogordo. They settled in Haynes Canyon to run the Ackerman apple orchard. His dad eventually went to work at Holloman Air Force Base. But the apples don’t fall too far from the tree; Bill came to make a home in High Rolls, and there he’s stayed.
Virginia, on the other hand, was born and raised in Mayhill. Virginia drove a school bus for a short time, and also worked at an elementary school. “Bill always made us a good living,” she says, providing for her and their three children—Wanetta, Johnny and Tiger (a supervisor at the Otero County Electric Co-op over the mountain at Alto).
If raising three kids wasn’t enough work, Virginia kept a hobby of craft making, specializing in pueblo fronts and button covers. “It all started with me—I was making pueblo scenes, and selling them in Santa Fe, and tourist shops everywhere from here to California,” says Virginia. “By the time Bill retired, I was behind on some crafts. I said to him, ‘if you help me catch up on these, then we’ll go fishing.’ Well, we went fishing one time and have been busy since, and we have enjoyed every day of it. Bill does the cutting, and I do the painting.”
When hobbies turn to money-making ventures, then it becomes “work.” But that is not the case with Bill and Virginia. “There’s no quota on making toys,” says Bill. “I make as many as I want. We still do it as a hobby as time allows—whatever somebody wants, we try to make it for them. It’s relaxing, I go to my shop behind the house in the barn, and get away from the TV and phones, and do what I enjoy.”
The best-selling items these days are their “Hidden Treasures,” and a lot of them pass through the Sacramento Mountains Historical Museum at Cloudcroft. They come in Noah’s arc, an Indian story teller, and a school house. Each one has tiny surprises inside, such as the animals, little children, and all the supplies you’d need for schooling —including a little red apple, no doubt like one picked from a High Rolls orchard.
You can buy one of their creations at the museum, or stop for a spell. “Look me up here in High Rolls,” says Bill. “Just a rock’s throw from the highway.”
If you know anyone who’d make a good profile for this column—including yourself—let us know at sespinoza@enchantment.coop.
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