HUGH WHITNEY CHURCH Jan. 4, 2022
Hugh Whitney Church, 89, of Albuquerque, passed away January 4, 2022.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Fermor and Peggy Pond Church and his brothers Ted and Allen Church.
He is survived by his wife Kathleen Church whom he adored and was married to for 66 years, his children Julia Church Hoffman, ex-spouse Jeff Hoffman, Eric Church and wife Andrea Ensign, and Leigh Church.
Hugh was born in Santa Fe and was raised in Los Alamos and Taos. He graduated from Taos High School in 1950 and earned advanced degrees at UNM and UCLA. Hugh settled into a long career at Sandia Laboratories as a meteorologist. He was an avid skier from a young age, learning to fire up the rope tow at El Rito with his Taos High School peers on not-entirely sanctioned weekday afternoons. He rode horses until late in life and treasured his days as a Philmont staff wrangler in high school summers.
Hugh sang in a choir in his adult life, strongly supported the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and urged his kids in their musical adventures. Hugh was a self-described New Mexico native son and “a constant observer of the environment and a participant in the battle to preserve it from the encroachment of population and development”. Hugh treasured his brothers and parents and the life they had together.
His children remember Hugh, who was a polio survivor, as quiet and stoic, generous and fair, their guide to the appreciation of the outdoors. He insisted on an equanimous approach toward everybody. He supported us in whatever we pursued after we left the nest. Hugh was among the early advocates who urged that the front door should be shut so as not to heat the outdoors; that unnecessary watts of energy were not to be wasted by lights being left on; who knew every dirty dish’s precise place in the dishwasher.
Words were scarce. He drove the family VW camper van down remote forest roads in northern New Mexico until it would go no further, and that’s where we camped. Aspen made the hottest coals; a torn ACL may or may not have been a good enough reason to stop skiing for the day. You ate your lunch on the chair.
Hugh was very sweet and supportive with his grandchildren Devon, Emma, Hugh, Will, Jonah and Hadley as babies and throughout their lives.
We will think of Hugh when we are on snowy winter mesas, and while driving on roads through nearly impassable sandy arroyos, and on quiet summer days when the wind blows through the pines in the mountains of the Sangre de Cristos and Jemez.
A small family service and scattering of ashes is expected in the summer in northern New Mexico at places Hugh loved. In lieu of sending flowers, mourners are encouraged to make donations in Hugh’s name to the following organizations in which he was either an active member and/or whose work he strongly believed in.
American Lung Association, NM: www.lung.org/research/sota/city-rankings/states/new-mexico
Taos Land Trust: 575.751.3138 taoslandtrust.org/
Los Alamos Historical Society: www.losalamoshistory.org/donate.html
