I Dedicate to my beloved friend & Fellow Traveler as a tribute from me and all others whose lives he touched. Thankyou, Jaff Seijas

 Please click link below to visit the memorial Page ! Thank You !

 https://lelandwheeler.wixsite.com/archive

Leland Wheeler
Memorial
1952-2022

Picture Diary of Early Santa Fe Days

Santa Fe 1978-80

                                                     

 

                              Rick Dillingham,Michael J. Husband and Mical Slagle, dinner (damaged old snapshot)

Fun at Spence Springs Hot Springs

     The D.H. Lawrence Conference registration - great guest list

                                                 On the roof at the Palace Avenue Compound

    Invitation to Persona Mysterium opening, Robert Nichols Gallery, 1980 & friends at event.

Pictured in various pics : Manolo Rivera,Robert Nichols, Dick Mason, Rick Dillingham,Michael J. Husband,Kenneth Pardue,Barry Soprano,Duke Klauck,Lyn Mustian,Richard Freebe, Ken Hunt and a few unidentified.

                                                     camping at Santa Clara

Art Thomas

Art Thomas, it appears, has vanished from the public eye altogether. He is/was an accomplished artist and also dynamic figure in the art world. I met him in Atlanta at the Atlanta College of Art. He went on to Santa Fe, New Mexico where he organized the Armory For The Arts (now a solid institution) and the popular Salon des Refusés exhibition held concurrently with The Santa Fe arts Festival. Sometime in the 1980's he moved to Charleston, South Carolina and opened a successful Print-making studio and then opened his own gallery in the historic section of Charleston through the early 1990's. I had two exhibitions there. Upon closing the gallery he retired from all his former activities and became more and more obscure. There are rumors about his whereabouts but nothing is certain.

a charming colored pencil drawing of the "Bunk House" at the Turner Ranch in Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico..where many of our friends stayed over a couple of decades.

My exhibit at The Art Thomas Gallery, 2 Queen Street , Charleston...with Art, Eva Carter and myself.

Kathleen Howren-Alderman 1909-84

This is my Maternal Grandmother, Kathleen Howren. Without her guidance and encouragement the probabilities would have been quite different. She gave me books, took me on "rides" to "see the sights" and permitted me to rummage through her old photographs. She also allowed me to live with her during my Senior Year of High-School after I left my Parents. She treated me with respect and full trust. I hope she is yet a guiding Spirit.

Victor Seijas - 193?-1999

This is my uncle - Victor Seijas - 193?-1999
There were three sons in this family -Ernest,Raymond (my father) and Victor.
When Victor died, Ernest was first contacted, told no-one and took charge of the cremation. He did not claim the ashes and no other ceremony or even obituary was given. No-one knew until after he fact that his death had been ignored.
Yet in life he was a simple, sweet human being, always full of cheer.
This is his only memorial.

Victor - looking hip circa 1970's

Marjorie Oberne 1911-1992

Marjorie holding a bird sculpture from Baffin Island (1972)

One of my favorite friends and mentors, Marjorie Oberne, a person of rare insights and a spiritual guide. I met her in Atlanta in 1971 and she took me under her wing. She had wonderful small salon-like evenings, which she held in her large apartment located at 1599 Peachtree Street, which was affectionately dubbed "The Palace".  She helped support me by allowing me to restore antique Tibetan Thangkas and also taught me the time consuming craft of restoration of Eskimo soapstone sculptures, which she imported from Baffin Island. These sculptures were easily damaged when mishandled. She was the first woman to go to Baffin Island and to support local indigenous artists. She was also an artist in her own wright. She was Canadian by birth and the niece of Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada 1911-1920. In her teens and early twenties Marjorie traveled round Europe. She met Jack Oberne aboard the Queen Mary on her return from England to America. They married in 1929.She had two daughters Penny and Mary, in her words "flip sides of the coin". Penny married a box manufacturer and moved to South Carolina while Mary left for India, where she lived the remainder of her life in Goa, mother of several children and friend of many wandering global Hippies. Marjorie took many trips to India herself and always had fascinating stories of her travels. I loved her very much and missed her greatly when she died. Her charm and candor and her probing mind were her most fascinating attributes and still many of the conversations we had echo in my memory. She would always say..."When you don't know what to do next....Follow the arrows...".

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence

Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and Chateau Roussan

This is a magical place...and many a magical thing happened to me here...

Bust of Nostradamus