October 4 Del Orr

While we were at the St. Francis Assisi Mission, we stopped into a small single-room trading post adjacent to the church, housed in a building that is over 400 years old. When we entered there was a glowing fire in the adobe fireplace and an elderly gentleman, Del Orr, amidst a room full of antiques, collectibles, restoration projects, and trinkets.

Del seemed surprised to see us come in but the twinkle in his eyes said that he was delighted. Del has been in the tribal trading business for all his life and knows the local tribes well. Among other things, he makes roaches (a headdress made from a variety of animal hair; they are very beautiful, works of art in their own right, and very popular with Native American males for tribal ceremonies). He showed us the box of orders and I fear that some of the later requests may never be completed unless Del turns out to be a very long-lived man.

As we walked around the room, Del told us the origins of many of the items he had collected through the years during his far-flung travels to all continents. At one point I asked if a particular decorative Hopi shield was for sale; he demurred. He said that he had purchased all the stock from the Jack Henry outposts along the Santa Fe Trail (Route 66) when they went out of business. At this point in his life he surrounds himself with the best of the best, so the shop is as much a small museum as a shop. Del is an art collector as well as an artist. He also restores old Pueblo pottery and old frames for his collectible art pieces. Just before we left, having purchased a gift for our grandson Peter, Del gave us a promotional card for an exhibition of tribal dancing and rituals. The card looked brand new but the young male dancer on the card has been dead 40 years.

Part of me wanted to stay and listen to him all day. After I walked out the door, my intuition was to go back inside to make sure he was really there. It was an encounter that was a one of a kind.