History of the Guilds of The Santa Fe Opera, Inc.

Part 2, 1992 to 2010
by Sadie Knight, Guilds Historian

Author’s Introduction
The History Committee for this publication was originally made up of three members. I was only going to help the original two volunteers. When one of the members had to step down, the President of Guilds, Inc. asked me to chair the committee. I was hesitant at first, but she persuaded me to take on the responsibility. I invited Paul Young, Youth Night Chair, to join the committee and Paul agreed. The third member was June Warren, a long-time Los Alamos Guild member.

Our committee met in the conference room of the Ranch office annex, with Andrea Walters. Kyle Gray, Guilds, Inc. liaison from The Santa Opera staff, joined us at a subsequent meeting. I asked Paul if he would write a report on Youth Nights beginning with the 1991-92 season, and he agreed. June volunteered to write histories on the different Guilds, Inc. presidents.

The committee met again with Kyle Gray at the Ranch. I had prepared a listing of all the Guilds, Inc. Presidents from 1991-92 to 2008 and another listing of all guild Officers from the different member guilds for the same period. I had also typed 32 pages of narrative and Paul had completed a report of Youth Nights with one page of narrative and a page listing the operas presented from 1991 to 2009. A third page listed the Youth Night chairs for each year. Kyle made copies of all the material for each committee member and a copy for his records.

Sadly, Paul Young died in November of 2009 after a brief illness. This was a real downer for all of us who knew him and had worked with him. Then, in the Spring of 2010, June Warren was taken quite ill and suddenly I became a committee of one. Although June was still able to attend some Guild functions, she died in December 2011 before this history could be published.

I have diligently tried to report all the many activities of Guilds, Inc. and of the active member guilds. I sincerely hope readers will find it both informative and interesting.

Sadie Knight, Taos, New Mexico, February 2012

Acknowledgements
Without the assistance of John Webber, President of Guilds, Inc., and Ian Ritchie, President Elect, with formatting and editing of my narrative, this History could not have been completed. Thanks to Ian for taking my typewritten pages and converting them to MS Word in order to facilitate printing. Also for scanning my collection of photographs and, with John’s assistance, placing them in the narrative in topical order.

My thanks also to Kyle Gray, SFO Guilds Liaison, for the time and effort in assisting me with access to the archives, arranging for meeting rooms, and providing copies of my original draft for editing. Also, my thanks go to June Warren for securing photos from the Los Alamos Guild archives for use in the publication.

Continue to Prologue: Important Milestones after 1992