Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham discusses her connections to Los Alamos during an interview Friday Oct. 7 at the Post. From left, reporter Kirsten Laskey, Governor and reporter Bonnie Gordon. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
By CAROL A. CLARK
Los Alamos Daily Post
caclark@ladailypost.com
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham stopped by the Los Alamos Daily Post newsroom ahead of her talk at the United Way of Northern New Mexico Economic Development Summit held Oct. 7 at the Los Alamos Nature Center.
During her visit with Post reporters, the Governor spoke about her connections to Los Alamos. She was born at Los Alamos Medical Center Oct. 24, 1959. Her father, Llewellyn Eugene (Buddy) Lujan, (Dr. L.E. Lujan) was the first dentist to practice in Los Alamos when it became an open city.
Lujan Grisham attended elementary school, first at Canyon in Los Alamos then Pinon in White Rock. She went on to attend E.J. Martinez and Carlos Gilbert elementary schools and St. Michael’s junior/senior high school in Santa Fe.
The governor disclosed the fact that her favorite subject in school was math followed by chemistry.
“I was a science nerd,” she said, adding that her favorite teacher was Brother Joseph Walsh who taught her chemistry class at St. Michael’s.
Her first job was with Westinghouse Advanced Energy Systems Division, which she recalled was designing the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), at the time.
The governor’s grandfather, Eugene David Lujan was the first Hispanic to serve as a Supreme Court Justice in New Mexico. He advised her to go into law and she took his advice. She went on to earn her law degree at the University of New Mexico School of Law and found a career in advocating for the elderly.
During her interview at the Post, the governor spoke of several of her favorite things including ice cream flavor, which is coffee with chocolate Jimmies. She made it clear her preference is Jimmies – the tiny rod-shaped bits of candy and not Sprinkles, the small colorful particles of candy. Her favorite color is blue and her favorite childhood superhero was Wonder woman.
It turns out the governor is an animal lover and shares her home with 20 chickens, two dogs – Loki and Java and her cat Currie. She explained that her goats, Mocha and Latte, had to be placed at an area farm after it became evident they weren’t actually the pygmies she thought they were.
“One of my favorite books is The Storm Before the Calm: America’s Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond by George Friedman,” Lujan Grisham said, adding that her last fictional read was The Four Winds from New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah, about love, heroism and hope, set against the backdrop of the Great Depression.
Lujan Grisham mentioned two movies she particularly enjoys. Young Frankenstein, which she loved watching with her father.
“I also really enjoyed Love Actually, the most romantic movie in the world!” she said.
Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, has served as the 32nd governor of New Mexico since 2019 and is running for re-election in the Nov. 8 General Election against Republican Mark Ronchetti. She previously served from 2013 to 2019 as the U.S. representative for New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District.