November 23 1950 November 14 2019
Harold Edward Woten November 23, 1950 – November 14, 2019 Send Sympathy Gifts Sign Guestbook| View Guestbook Entries| Send Sympathy Card| Memorial Donation Ed Woten, 68 Harold Edward Woten of Sixteen Springs, Cloudcroft NM, died November 14,2019, at Casa Arena Nursing Home in Alamogordo, NM. Ed was an amazing historian with extensive knowledge in New Mexico history, as well as world history, and an exceptional teacher. Four walls were not the boundary of his classroom. In his 68 years of life, he visited every National Park he ever saw, and shared his experiences with anyone interested in learning. After serving his country in the United States Navy, Ed earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees. He spent time as a geologist, and became a teacher first in EI Paso, as well as at New Mexico State University-Alamogordo. Ed eventually settled in to inspiring fourth graders in Cloudcroft. He spent more than 20 years at the school. His classroom was a step into the world of dinosaurs, geology and rocks, space, and nature and wildlife. Each year he gathered his students and took them deep into the Fort Stanton Cave, near Capitan, for an experience far outside of any textbook. Eventually he would start a caving club that visited many regional caves for both day and overnight trips. He was instrumental in discovering and mapping new caves in many locations and did extensive work at Carlsbad Caverns. For a number of years, Ed also taught at the New Mexico Museum of Space History’s summer camps. Ed shared his love of history and outdoors’ skills with many different generations of Cloudcroft kids, including as scoutmaster of the Cloudcroft Boy Scouts. He helped guide the Sacramento Mountains Historical Society Museum as a board member and arranged their annual summer lecture series. During his teaching years, he served a stint on the Cloudcroft School Board. For many years, Ed was a member of a local book club, where he brought his knowledge of different genres, literary history, and film. After his retirement, he invested his passion for books and teaching into a new venture, Imaginary Books, in Cloudcroft’s Burro Street Exchange. A lifelong voracious reader, collector, and bibliophile, it was evident the moment you walked into his bookstore that he had a love for history and the written word. Science-fiction posters adorned the walls, as well as signed photographs from such authors at George R. R. Martin, and Michael McGarrity. Ed traveled the state on the trail of books new and old, and would set up sale tables at such events at com icons. Visitors to Imaginary Books could wander through the overflowing store, and discuss virtually any genre, author, and film history with Ed. Former students who were home for a visit trekked up the stairs to visit their former beloved teacher. Ed was heavily involved with the local Methodist church, where he helped with many church sponsored events. He played one of the 12 disciples in the church’s Last Supper living history play, and sang in the annual Christmas cantata. He loved writing for the Mountain Monthly, Cloudcroft’s local paper, whose office was next door to Imaginary Books. He regularly turned out features on wildlife, insects, Old West history, interviews with authors, penned a serialized fiction series, and yes, book and film reviews. Even after retirement, Ed was a fixture at the annual Cloudcroft Schools’ Veterans Day program, but was noticeably absent this October because of his illness. Ed was preceded in death by his father, Harold Edward Woten. He is survived by his son Alexander Woten, and his mother Betty Jean Woten, his one sister Earlene Woten Neeley, and one brother Bobby Woten. He has two nephews, Brett and Eric McFarland. Services are scheduled for Monday, December 9th, at lO AM at Cloudcoft High School Gym. SERVICES Memorial Service Monday, December 09, 2019 10:00 AM Cloudcroft High School Gym Cloudcroft, New Mexico 88317 Get Directions on Google Maps Print Obituary Sign Guestbook Name: Location: Video: Image: Light A Candle Candle 1 Candle 2 Candle 3 Candle 4 Email: Please keep my message private Personal Message: Personal Message (required) Confirm: Submit Guestbook entry
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Harold Edward Woten November 23 1950 November 14 2019.
Death notice for the town of: Alamogordo, state: New Mexico