Woman treks around her native pueblo, visits with home-bound seniors Story-Date: 02:53 p.m. PST Friday , April 16, 1999 Woman treks around her native pueblo, visits with home-bound seniors By Jan Jonas The Albuquerque Tribune ISLETA PUEBLO, N.M. (AP) -- On any weekday Anita Abeita can be seen walking the meandering dirt-packed roads that lead to houses and tribal buildings on Isleta Pueblo. The 4-foot-11-inch go-getter usually wears a dress with an apron tied around her tiny waist. She sports sensible shoes and a kerchief on her head as she walks to the post office every day except Sunday, when she attends church services nearby. Anita has received mail at Box 97 since about 1933, the year she married. Born in the pueblo on March 29, 1911, Anita has walked the pueblo paths for more than 80 years. The pueblo is her home, her roots and her life. It's her past, present and future. As long as you know where you're going and watch your step, she says, you will do fine. For Anita, that applies to life as well as to her walks. She attended St. Catherine's, a live-in school in Santa Fe, through the eighth grade, the highest grade taught at that time. "I used to like it and enjoy it even if I had to eat beans," Anita said. "Every morning, all we had was plain gravy. Every day for lunch and dinner, all we had was beans. It never bothered me." She traveled to the school by buckboard for years. When she was 14, a man who lived in the pueblo and owned a car drove Anita and a few other students to Santa Fe from Isleta at the end of one summer to begin their school year. "We had to stop in Santo Domingo Pueblo when his car broke down and we had to stop overnight," she said. That adventure was the first time she rode in a car. While in school in Santa Fe, Anita didn't have to draw water from the well or use an outhouse. Living at St. Catherine's was a luxury. She remembers life on the pueblo as a small child. What others might think of as hardship, Anita thinks of as a special time. Family dinners were much different from today. "We used to eat on the floor," she said. "We'd make a circle and put a pot in the middle." Sitting on a rug or blanket, everyone dipped bread into the pot, scooped up the stew or soup or beans, and ate with his fingers. "I thought we were the last family to learn about a table," Anita said. When her grandmother died, the family began to eat at a table. Forks and spoons came later. Although friends and family say Anita is a good cook, she says she doesn't do much any more. Her horno, the beehive-looking oven that she used for baking bread, recently caved in. She's looking for someone with the skills to rebuild it so she can get back to fresh bread. That's a favorite food, but the truth is she likes everything. Anita isn't picky. "Anything that goes on the table that's good for me to eat" is savory fare, Anita says. "Whatever the good Lord brings on the table for me to eat, I eat." These days, Anita dines at a tan cafeteria table while sitting on a dark brown folding chair at the pueblo's center for the elderly. She walks again, this time through a line where she receives a plastic tray with dividers, similar to what elementary schools use. A typical meal could be steamed brussels sprouts, no butter, no salt. Add to that Spanish rice -- white rice with tomato pieces and some spices. Fruit, such as orange slices or apple sections, accompanies the main dish, which could be a meat and bean burrito with green chile and melted cheese inside. Whole or low-fat milk comes with it. Coffee or tea is optional. For lunch, Anita usually walks several blocks to the post office from the house her husband built for them after their wedding. When the center's van comes by, she catches a ride the quarter of a mile or so to the center. She doesn't drive. "I walk. I have no car," Anita said. "You going to furnish me with one so I can push it around?" She jokes about driving. She tried once. It didn't go well. Her husband of 38 years, Remijo Abeita, tried to teach her. "I got in the car, drove it down the hill and turned it around," Anita said, "and ran into my brother's house. I never again touched it." She doesn't mind riding, though, and since her husband's death in 1971, if someone on the pueblo is going somewhere, she's ready to hitch a ride. Anita loves to go, she loves to do things, and she enjoys helping people. She has a 20-hour-a-week job with the pueblo's center for the elderly as a senior companion. For 14 years Anita has visited with other seniors who are home-bound and want to hear a little tribal gossip, share family news and have company during the day. Anita earns about $2.50 an hour for reminding her clients when it's time to take medication or visit the doctor. Sometimes she does light chores for one of her three female clients, or combs out their hair. The salary is small change, but she likes getting a little extra money while being there for others. She also helps in the center's arts and crafts store sewing pillows and other items to sell. The proceeds go to the center's programs for the elderly, such as the day-care center. It's the first on a pueblo in New Mexico, said Betty Johnson, director of elderly services, who facilitates the senior companion program. Anita does some of her sewing on an electric sewing machine, but she also still uses on a treadle-, or pedal-, operated Singer that belonged to her grandmother. Mr. Singer is long gone, but his machine "sews pretty good yet," Anita says. In her kitchen, she uses some of the pots and dishes that her mother used. There is a bookcase in Anita's home that belonged to her mother. Those things are important, but not necessary. "Sometimes I feel like earthly things aren't worth anything," she says. It's people who command her attention. "If you're able to help out, do it," she says. "It's no pleasure when you don't want to do it. Do it from your heart with love." Anita's faith shapes her attitude. She begins and ends her day by reading the Bible. "If you have people you've got anything against," she says, "you forgive them, pat them on the back and love them." Even though her husband died in a vehicle-related accident and two of her five children have passed away, she doesn't think she has problems. She feels blessed by her three living children, 12 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and other family members and friends. When asked what bothers her, she can't think of anything. "I couldn't tell you because I guess nothing does," Anita says. "All my problems I give to the good Lord." For more information, visit the NewsHound website at http://www.newshound.com or send an email to speak@hound.com.