She started the center as an act of appreciation for Melrose people doing so much for her during her husband’s illness. Through a lot of encouragement Ann and a group of some thirty interested people met in December of 1966 and organized to start a Community Center. The name selected for the project was The Melrose Arts and Crafts Center. A building was selected which was eventually sold to purcha
se an old vacant garage building with caved in floors and a collapsed roof. Their plan was to become self-supporting within one year. All the renovation work was done with donated materials and labor. No outside financial help was used. At this time, items needed for the Center were tables and chairs. People ate off boards laid over sawhorses. Money was raised by having dinners and once even a donkey basketball game to raise money for tables and chairs etc.! To start with, food was brought in. The Community Center became the most knowledgeable Center in New Mexico for Ceramics and was a model and inspiration for other Centers in the State. There was an LPNthat came in on certain days to take blood pressure. People gathered for games and dinners. Sometimes there was as many as 300 guests at a carried in meal. Sunday dinners drew people in from Tucumcari and Ft. Sumner as well as other outlying communities. In 1972, the Community Center received funds from a Title III Grant from the Commission on Aging with Food Component Meals on Wheels as a pilot program. So Melrose began carried out meals for shut-ins as well as congregate meals cooked at the center and served by a paid cook and many volunteers. The Center continued to grow and in 1973 Ann received the Citizen of the Year award and represented Melrose in Washington, DC at the President's Council on Aging. She was highly praised by New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici for her efforts in creating a “CAN DO” attitude in MELROSE. . December, 1998, our present Center was opened thanks to the efforts of Ray Hester. Mayor; Hoyt Clifton, a Santa Fe Capital worker and member of the Melrose Village Council, and Cleta Blackburn the Director at the time.
