‘Citizen of the Year’ Betsy Windisch donates her time, energy to Gallup
By Molly Ann Howell
Managing Editor
If you attend an event in Gallup, whether it’s a Relay for Life fundraiser, recycling drive, or church function, you’ll likely find Betsy Windisch there lending a helping hand.
For decades, Windisch has been one of Gallup’s most active volunteers, splitting her time between the First United Methodist Church, the McKinley Citizens Recycling Council, the Plateau Sciences Society, the American Cancer Society, and Gallup’s chapter of the Special Olympics.
In her nomination letter where she nominated Windisch as the Sun’s Citizen of the Year award recipient, Gwen Wilson commended Windisch for her involvement and awareness of the community.
“Betsy is someone who just lets the community know what’s going on,” Wilson said. “If someone is new to town I encourage them to get on Betsy’s email list so they can find out what’s happening.”
BECOMING A PART OF THE COMMUNITY
Windisch moved to Gallup with her husband Eric Van Hartesveldt and their children in 1988. When her daughter started kindergarten, Windisch took a part-time job as the secretary at the First United Methodist Church.
She eventually moved into the church’s Christian Education Director role, where pastors often sent her to meetings and events in their place. It was through these gatherings that she got to know Gallup, and see the impact that volunteers can make on the city.
Now, almost 40 years later, she continues to juggle a variety of volunteer efforts, two of which are extremely close to her heart: cancer awareness and recycling.
Supporting the American Cancer Society and Relay for Life is important to Windisch because cancer impacted her life repeatedly. When she was eight, her father was diagnosed with rectal cancer.
“They didn’t expect him to live,” Windisch said. “But luckily, we lived in Baltimore.”
John Hopkins Hospital, one of the top hospitals in the world, is known for its medical research. Wiindisch’s father was accepted into a medical trial in which they were testing out the benefits of colostomies. That trial ended up saving her father’s life, and he lived to the age of 99.
But cancer reared its ugly head again years later when Windisch’s best friend was diagnosed at the age of 34. She died four years afterward.
Most recently, Windisch’s husband was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer, central nervous system lymphoma. He passed away on June 5, 2024 after battling the disease for five years.
All these tragic experiences, as well as watching other friends die from cancer, pushed Windisch to join the American Cancer Society’s local chapter for Relay for Life, where she helps raise money for cancer research and maintains her standing as a large advocate for it.
Fast forward over 20 years later, she’s now a part of the Relay for Life’s board of directors as its public relations specialist. She uses her extensive email list to send out updates and keep the community informed and involved.
Joyce Graves met Windisch through First United Methodist Church, but the two women have gotten close through their work with Relay for Life.
“She’s an amazing woman,” Graves said of her friend’s dedication. “Sometimes I don’t know how she does all she does. I get tired just hearing about her talk about ‘going here, going there, doing this.’ She’s very busy, but she’s very dedicated. She’ll get things done, and you can trust she’s going to do what she said she’s going to do.”
Windisch’s other major passion is protecting the environment through recycling, which she demonstrates with her work with the McKinley Citizens Recycling Council.
The City of Gallup didn’t have a recycling program until after 1989 when local librarian and activist Octavia Fellin invited the City of Albuquerque’s Director of Solid Waste to Gallup, which led to the formation of the recycling council.
Windisch credits Fellin with getting the movement started. She said Fellin brought people from all over the country and the world to talk to Gallupians about recycling.
“They were appalled that Gallup wasn’t recycling,” Windisch added.
Once the program began, Windisch took it upon herself to educate the city’s youth on the topic. When she wasn’t volunteering or working at her other part-time jobs, Windisch would substitute teach at the local schools.
“Back in the old days, I could go into a classroom as a volunteer, as a parent and give talks on archaeology, saving the rain forest, or recycling because I was a graduate student in art history and archaeology,” Windisch said.
Windisch graduated from the University of Missouri in 1972 with degrees in art history and archaeology. With those degrees, she spoke to students about recycling, ancient Greece and Rome, and the Amazon rainforest.
“Wherever I could, I was always promoting the environment,” she said.
When she was teaching a music class at Red Rock Elementary she brought in instruments made out of recycled materials, such as metal and plastic coffee cans. And when she spoke about the rainforest, she brought in materials to make ice cream sundaes — tree nuts, chocolate, and vanilla ice cream, all items that were made with products from the Amazon rain forest.
She cited one moment in a local grocery store from years ago when a mother of one of her students recognized her.
“‘You! You’re the reason I have to recycle now!’” Windisch recalled the encounter with a laugh.
The mother explained that her daughter had brought Windisch’s teachings home, and now demanded that her mother recycle anything she could.
“You start teaching kids at a young age,” she said. “They may not be able to verbalize what they’re doing, but you have to be able to role model. We have to be role models for the younger and the older generations.”
Between these two causes and countless others, Windisch’s workload may be large but so is her enthusiasm for helping others. It’s what has made her a pillar of the community and a nominee for the Sun’s Citizen of the Year.
