FEBRUARY 14, 2018 DECLARED “SENATOR JOHN PINTO DAY” IN THE SENATE.
(SANTA FE) Today, The New Mexico Senate extended its congratulations to beloved Senator John Pinto on his forty-two years of service in the New Mexico senate, where he has furthered the causes of his constituents, the Navajo Nation and the people of New Mexico.
Senator John Pinto was born in 1924 to a family of Navajo sheepherders and was raised in Lupton, Arizona, and Gallup, New Mexico. He attended a Bureau of Indian A
ffairs boarding school in Fort Defiance, Arizona, and after many unsuccessful attempts to run away, he finally graduated. He received his bachelor’s degree at the age of thirty-nine and a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of New Mexico. Pinto was in the Marine Corps as a Navajo code talker and, in 2001, received a congressional silver medal of honor for his service as a code talker.
Senator Pinto has dedicated his life to serving the people of New Mexico, The Navajo Nation and the greater southwest. A few career highlights prior to his senate tenure:
- Worked for twenty-eight years in the Gallup-McKinley county school system and has served as the legislative liaison for the Navajo Nation division of transportation since October 1988.
- President of the Gallup Indian community center from 1950 through 1970, during which time he helped to feed the homeless and the less fortunate families of Gallup.
- President of the Breadsprings chapter, also known as the Baahaali chapter, of the Navajo Nation from 1950 to 1954.
- Secretary-treasurer for the Red Rock chapter of the Navajo Nation from 1954 to 1960.
- Served as a member of the eastern Navajo tribal council from 1950 to 1960.
- Elected in 1972 to the McKinley county board of commissioners, where he served for four years as a commissioner.
Senator Pinto is a mentor, gentleman and wise leader whose kind demeanor has earned him the full respect of the senate. He is the most senior member of the senate, serving with distinction since his arrival in 1977, when, as a hitchhiker, he was picked up in a snowstorm in Albuquerque by then-fellow freshman senator, Manny Aragon. He has been a member of the interim legislative Indian affairs committee since it was first created in 1989 and has been the chair of the senate Indian and cultural affairs committee since its creation in 1987. Senator Pinto annually entertains his colleagues in the senate with his rendition, in Navajo, of the”potato song”.