Evelyn Frey

Evelyn Frey, the First Lady of the Canyon.

NPS

In 1925, Evelyn and George Frey and their infant son Richard came to Frijoles Canyon to manage the Ranch of the 10 Elders. The lodge had been built by Judge Judson in 1907. It was located across Frijoles Creek from Tyuonyi Pueblo.

After the area was designated as Bandelier National Monument in 1916, the lodge was run as a concession within the park. At that time, the only way into and out of Frijoles Canyon was a steep, dirt path. All of the Frey's belongings had to be tied onto mules for the arduous journey down from the canyon rim. The family possessions included household goods, 75 fruit trees, and several hundred chickens.

By the mid-1930’s the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established a camp in the canyon. The CCC removed the Lodge of the Ten Elders to build a new lodge, visitor center, museum, curio shop, dining hall, an apartment for Mrs. Frey, and a road into the park. The Freys divorced, but Mrs. Frey stayed on to run the new Frijoles Canyon Lodge. She educated her son at home through the fourth grade; later he attended the New Mexico Military Institute and served at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project. His accidental death in his mid-twenties left a wound in his mother’s heart that never healed.

Mrs. Frey continued running the lodge through World War II and the Manhattan Project. Scientists brought into work on the Manhattan Project came to stay in Frijoles Canyon when housing was short in Los Alamos. On May 3, 1975, New Mexico paid tribute to Mrs. Frey with a “Mrs. Evelyn Frey Day” for 50 years as a concessionaire. Mrs. Frey passed away in her sleep in her apartment in Frijoles in September 1988. She was in her mid-90sand had lived in Frijoles Canyon for 63 years.