Armando Alvarez Compean, who lived in Gallup for more than 20 years, died June 1 in Descanso, Calif. He was 79.
Born in Mexico, he came to the United States at an early age and worked as a businessman for many years in Brownsville, TX before starting a career as a painter.
He came to Gallup to visit his brother, Alex Alvarez, who was a golf pro here, and decided to stay. While here he married his third wife, Gaye Brown, who worked as a writer and copy editor for the Gallup Independent.
A year after coming here, he secured a contract with the City of Gallup to build a sculpture to reflect the nature of the city and its people. The $100,000 contract resulted in the creation of the...
Continuing a 7-part special by Richard F. Kontz on a Vietnam Vet he met while running the Bread of Life Christian Bookstore in 2015 through mid-2011.
