Tribute to Former New Mexico Governor David Cargo, Let us be in prayer for family and friends

New Mexico Broadcaster Hall-of-Fame’s Frank Haley calls former New Mexico Governor David Cargo, “A very nice man, the best”

Albuquerque City Councilwomen Janice Arnold Jones has told me many times that Cargo was “a great man”

Mark Twain once said, “Live your life so that at your funeral even the undertaker cries.”

This seems to match the life of David Cargo, May God Bless the memory of former Governor Cargo.

Here’s a report from The Daily News in Farmington:

For a politician nicknamed Lonesome Dave, former New Mexico governor David Cargo had an army of friends.

Dozens of them streamed into the state Capitol on Thursday morning to see Cargo’s flag-draped casket and to remember his contributions to New Mexico.

Cargo, who was 84, died last week. He was living in a nursing home in Albuquerque after having a stroke.

New Mexico’s youngest governor, Cargo was elected in 1966 at age 37. He served two two-year terms, during which he created statewide kindergartens and the state film office to recruit moviemakers to New Mexico. His administration also was the catalyst for clean-air and clean-water acts.

A lawyer by profession, Cargo became an actor as he helped make the state more aggressive in competing for movies.

He played a newspaper reporter in “The Good Guys and the Bad Guys,” a cavalry corporal in a Western called “The Gatling Gun” and a state trooper in “Bunny O’Hare.” Filmmakers sometimes credited him as Gov. David Cargo. Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Mitchum and Martin Balsam were among the stars he worked with.

In an interview two months ago, Cargo played down his acting career and panned many of the movies in which he appeared.

“Some of them were pretty bad. Oh, God, they were awful,” he said.

Cargo was a Republican but he insisted on being more precise. He called himself a Lincoln Republican because of his commitment to civil rights. Alfonso G. Sanchez, 85, was among those at the Capitol paying a final salute to Cargo. Sanchez and Cargo studied together in 1957 for the bar exam.

Each served in the Army during the Korean War. Both had political aspirations.

Sanchez became district attorney of Santa Fe County, where he sized up Gov. Cargo as a politician willing to take chances.

“It’s not easy making decisions. He shot from the hip,” Sanchez said.

Click here for more from The Daily Times https://www.daily-times.com/four_corners-news/ci_23640612/new-mexicans-pay-tribute-lonesome-dave-late-governor