Adobe Kingdom

"The Adobe Kingdom" is one of those rare things: the true story of two families across twelve generations. They came to New Mexico seeking a new homeland, not to initiate a new society but to transplant an old one. What they found, as they lived their lives in what they came to believe was one of the most beautiful places on earth, was a forbidding land, both hostile and nurturing, and not unlike the land they had left behind. Their daily contact with its remarkable landscape assured that they would remain a pastoral people centered on their herds and flocks and, at once, one with the land. Culturally isolated and little disturbed by outside influences for over two and one-half centuries, they retained their way of life. Yearning for his roots and for a return to the land of his birth, Donald Lucero follows two families across twelve generations, from their entry into New Mexico at "La Toma del Rio del Norte," in 1598, to their achievement of statehood in 1912 and beyond. This account of their journey, littered with both joys and sorrows, invites the reader to share in the New Mexico experience. Lucero is a former resident of Las Vegas, New Mexico, where he was born in his father's home, formerly the home of his paternal grandfather. He was educated in the Las Vegas schools through college, where in 1958 he received his B. A. in history from New Mexico Highlands University. After service with the U. S. Army, he served a two-year commitment with the U. S. Peace Corps in Colombia, South America. He then returned to New Mexico on a Peace Corps Preferential Fellowship to pursue graduate work in Counseling at the University of New Mexico. He received his M.A. in Counseling from this institution in 1965 and returned to complete his doctorate in Counseling Psychology in 1970. Since completion of a post-doctoral fellowship in Community Psychiatry and a second master's degree in Mental Health Administration at the University of North Carolina Medical School and School of Public Health, he has held several clinical and administrative positions in mental health. Dr. Lucero, a licensed psychologist, conducts a private practice in psychology in Raynham, Massachusetts. He is also the author of "A Nation of Shepherds" and "The Rosas Affair," both from Sunstone Press.