Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: Frederick Hammersley Fund, New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

.New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

and Viewers Like You.

THIS TIME, ON COLORES!

WHEN THEIR BROTHER PRIVATE ROBERT C LOPEZ WENT MISSING IN ACTION DURING THE VIETNAM WAR, SISTERS MARGARET AND ARLENE BEGAN A 37 YEAR JOURNEY TO FIND BOBBY.

DIRECTOR OF THE ALBUQUERQUE MUSEUM, ANDREW CONNORS, TAKES US ON A PSYCHEDELIC TRIP THROUGH EPIC ROCK POSTERS OF THE 1960'S.

IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES!

FINDING BOBBY >>Margaret Lopez: The war was so controversial and yet he went thinking that was the right thing to do.

Living such a short life, my brother never really got to see the world like we did and live a life like we live.

Have the birthdays and the Christmas and the kids and the grandkids and help with our parents and it's hard, very hard.

I still miss my brother.

I'll always miss my brother.

>>Arlene Lopez: It never ends.

>>Margaret Lopez: Yeah, it never ends.

>>Margaret Lopez: It's been 54 years since Bobby died.

It took 37 years for them to bring back part of his remains.

>>Margaret Lopez: He was in the middle between my sister and myself, and he was close to both of us.

I felt that being the oldest, I needed to protect both he and my sister.

And, boy, you talk about missing him.

Oh, my God.

Because he was such a clown.

He was so funny.

I'd be asleep in bed and he'd go like this, "Margaret.

Margaret.

Margaret.

[singing] You got to get up.

You got to get up.

You got to get up this morning.

Margaret.

Margaret, can you make me some French toast?"

And I'd say, "okay, Bobby, I'll make you some French toast."

I'd get up out of bed and go make him some French toast.

He loved French toast.

>>Arlene Lopez: I never got the song, but he would also do the three taps, you know, and he'd say, "come on, come on.

Let's go, let's go, let's go."

And, I'd get up in the morning, he'd take me to the TV and it would be the first cartoons of the day.

He'd be up before everybody and we would turn it so low we could barely hear it.

But, we didn't want to wake up anybody until we finished our cartoons.

And then he would go feed me breakfast with a carrot.

He was the one I looked up to and I played with.

He was all my answers.

I had questions, he'd answer.

>>Margaret Lopez: He got his draft notice the day after he graduated from high school.

He told me in a letter that he was joining the Marines.

So, I was in shock, absolute shock.

And, I knew the Vietnam War was really heavy duty then.

And, I was very, very scared.

There was nothing I could do.

You know, nothing we could do because he had already made up his mind.

And when he made up his mind to do something, he did it.

Yeah, he did it.

>>Arlene Lopez: In the way I saw it.

Everybody just kind of went silent in whatever they were feeling.

It was all internalized and plans were made and there was a lot of fear.

Bobby knew, he knew he wasn't coming back.

And, then when they put him on the plane, he turned around and he looked at me and I saw it.

I saw it in his eyes.

>>Margaret Lopez: Just before he left the terminal.

We just stood there looking at each other.

We couldn't even hug because it was too intense.

It was just too intense.

And, he on his uniform and he walks up the steps and he's right in the middle of the steps.

He stopped, he turned around and he looked at us.

And we looked at him and we waved and I knew that was the last time I was going to see my brother.

I don't remember saying out loud, but I said, "come back."

>>Margaret: I was standing at the door of the gas station and my dad was standing behind the counter and I saw the military car from afar driving up.

And, my heart just went.

I thought I was going to vomit when I saw it coming and I could see the monsignor crying.

And, I thought, oh my God.

So, I kept telling my dad.

I said, "dad, they're coming."

And he said, "who's coming?"

And, I said, "they are."

"Who is?"

And I said, "They're coming to tell us."

I couldn't even get it out.

And, they all three got out of the car.

And they came and my dad came and we went down the steps to meet them on kind of the driveway of the gas station.

And they walked up to us and the Marine says to my dad, "are you Bonifacio A.

Lopez?"

And my dad said, "yes, I am."

And, he said, you're the father of Robert Charles Lopez, PFC, U.S. Marine Corps.

And, he said, yes, I am.

And, the Marine says, "Mr. Lopez, we are sorry to inform you that your son, Robert Charles Lopez has been killed in Vietnam.

And, due to the tactical situation, his body has not been recovered."

And, my dad hit the floor.

He hit the ground, bam!

Just like that, he was down.

And, I screamed and my dad screamed at the same time as he was falling.

And, they grabbed him and caught him, caught my dad, and we helped him up and up to the gas station.

So, we had a chair ready for my mom, and my mom was saying, "what's going on?"

And, we sat her down and my dad told her, you know.

Bobby was killed in Vietnam.

My mom fainted, boom!

She was gone.

So, we got her up, you know, and she came to and everything.

And it was just horrible.

>>Arlene Lopez: I got off the bus.

My cousin Jimmy was out there and he was walking.

And, I said, "hey, Jimmy."

And he kind of turned away was the weirdest thing.

And, he looked away and didn't talk to me.

And, then I went in and I saw Dad.

Only thing I remember, the only thing I remember, is I saw Dad straight on and he was standing up.

His face was red, red, red, red, red.

And, his words to me was "Bobby died" just like that.

And, then the only thing I remember after that was I went to the bedroom and started hitting and kicking the wall.

I don't remember much after that.

One of the things I remember about myself in that time is that I couldn't smile or laugh for a whole year, not even a smile because I thought that if I did, I didn't love him enough.

[Music] >>Margaret Lopez: Yeah, I was, I was the same way.

I couldn't, I couldn't move forward.

And, then with my mom and dad, you know, our bedroom was right next to our parents and we could hear them crying.

I mean horrible.

The two of them, my mom and my dad.

[sigh] [Music] >>Arlene Lopez: Mom and dad sat in front of the TV in 1975 when a lot of them were being brought home, the P.O.W.s and the missing, and they just stared at every single soldier that came off that flight.

That, I mean, it just added a lot of extra grief for mom and dad.

>>Margaret Lopez: Yeah.

Since we had never received his body and didn't know a lot of any detail actually.

We always thought that there was some hope that he was out there somewhere.

[Music] My brother had written me a letter on my birthday to wish me happy birthday.

Because I was 21.

And, I got the letter and I opened it up and I started reading it.

"Hi Sis, It was good to hear from you And, my aunt grabbed it from my hands and she started waving it around.

"I hope you had a good birthday party with your friends.

I wish I could have been there to "He's alive.

He's alive.

We got the letter from Bobby.

You know he's alive."

"Now, you take it easy and don't get any more colds, okay?"

And I said, "Auntie, he wrote the letter on May second.

He died on the tenth.

"Tell everyone hi for me and tell Arlene to be careful for graduation.

Okay."

And, the letter didn't come until two and a half weeks later.

"Until I hear from you, then goodbye and take care.

Bobby."

And, that's when it all came apart again.

It was, it was a nightmare.

It was a nightmare.

It was a nightmare.

[Music] >> Margaret Lopez: I knew.

That after the Americans and the Vietnamese had their relations back, that they were going to start looking for his remains.

So, they had the Vietnamese people go out there and clear the area, and then they sent the archeologists and authorities and people to go out there and start panning.

Mom and dad emotionally could not handle being involved in all this.

It would it was they couldn't do it.

So, they gave it up to me.

And, I was in contact with the lady over in Quantico.

Her name was Hattie.

Every month we would talk on the phone and then they'd have conferences.

And, I go to these conferences and ask questions and they're still looking - same old thing every month.

[Music] In 2005, I get a phone call.

It's Hattie, and I had worked late that night, so she left a message on my voicemail, "Margaret we have finished the ID, the DNA testing and everything.

And, we have positively identified your brother's remains."

She didn't say artifacts, like we'd always talked artifacts.

I was sitting there by myself, just shaking.

I didn't want to call my sister yet, because I wanted to make sure I heard it right.

I didn't want to get her all upset and stuff for nothing.

So, sure enough.

So, I called my sister and I told her.

Oh, my God, and then, and that was, that was hard.

Really hard.

So, the next morning, I call my parents.

I said, "I'm going down there and I need to talk to you.

It's really important."

So they said, "okay."

So, I go down there to the house.

And, I sit him down and I told them.

I said, "I got a call last night."

And, I explained to them what the situation was.

And, I said, "they have recovered Bobby's remains.

He's coming home."

Finally, 37 years.

So they couldn't believe it.

They were shocked, you know, because it had been, I don't know, maybe 15 years since, you know, they started looking.

Then the rest was the planning of the final resting place.

[Music] >>Margaret Lopez: So, my sister and I and mom and dad.

We all decided we wanted him to be buried in Arlington and it ended up that we did it on Veteran's Day.

It happened on Veteran's Day when we actually buried him in Arlington.

It was so difficult to relay it to my family because it was reliving everything over again.

It was like if they had just told us for the first time Bobby had died, the first time.

And, we had to go through all of that sorrow and anguish, you know.

>>Arlene Lopez: I was happy that they recovered the body for mom and dad.

I knew how much it meant to them.

I was angry again.

I got angry again.

I was just so upset that we're going to have to go through it again.

[Music] And, then you had to hear everybody talk about war again.

You had to hear how it happened.

I can visualize that field being bombed and I can visualize my brother's body being torn apart.

It was a it was a gut punch to me.

It hurt.

I would have rather not go through that again.

[Music] >>Arlene Lopez: Bobby was a very gentle heart.

He was a loving heart.

I've always thought that he died because he couldn't kill.

[Music] >>Arlene Lopez: My favorite poster in the sixties was the poster that said "War is not healthy for children or other living things."

There's too much grief.

It's not just the person who dies, it's their families.

It affects society and the whole the consciousness of the world, for that matter the whole universe and the people who start these wars should be the ones fighting.

And, nobody else, leave the people alone.

[Music] >>Margaret Lopez: We functioned on robot mode for so many years.

I mean, it was difficult for ten years.

We couldn't even talk about our brother amongst the four of us together, just couldn't do Couldn't even mention his name.

I couldn't even name my son after him.

And, I wanted to so bad, but I knew if I did, it would bring it all back.

I couldn't name him after my brother.

[sigh] [Music] >>Margaret Lopez: I dreamt about him every single night for four years.

One night, I got a phone call and I answered the phone.

And, he said, "Hey, Margaret."

And I said, "Bobby."

He said, "Were you asleep?"

And I said, "yeah, I was just dreaming about you."

And, he said, "well, what were you dreaming?

And I said, "well, I was just dreaming that you were coming home.

And, he said, "Margaret, I'm not coming home."

He said, "I'm not coming home."

[Music] That's the last time I dreamt of my brother for many, many, many years.

[Music] >>Arlene Lopez: For four years after Bobby died, I was a no good human being.

I'll tell you.

I was angry all the time.

I was nobody's good friend.

What got me over my anger was the search for why did this happen to Bobby?

What is this all about?

It's just so awful.

Why is the world awful?

Why is there suffering in the world?

And, that that helped me just get the broader view.

And, it helped me find peace inside me and realize that we're not the only one's suffering.

And, I think that helped a lot that we are not the only ones who suffer.

At first it feels like you're the You know, you're the only one in pain.

You're the only one crying.

It's a long road.

It's a journey.

It's a journey.

And, Bobby was the highlight of my life's journey.

It was because of him that my life is what it is.

>>Margaret Lopez: You know, I think about him for his birthday and on his birthday, I think I would have made him a lemon meringue pie and mashed potatoes.

He loved mashed potatoes.

And he loved lemon meringue pie.

And, I loved making it for him.

[Music] >>Margaret Lopez: Yeah.

I do not wish this on anyone.

It's.

It's brutal what we have to all go through, not just my sister and I now, but thousands of families that are going through this now and losing more than just a loved one.

He was a part of my heart.

And, you know, they say you get closure.

There's no such thing as closure.

There's no such thing as closure.

Once you lose someone like that in your family.

Or someone you love very much, that leaves an open wound in your heart that can't be closed.

You just learn to deal with it and not dwell on it so much and remember the good things, you know, remember the good things and the fun things.

And, we used to ride our bikes and play out on the street and go swimming in the ditch and.

You know, go to the carnivals and ride the bus together in school, that kind of thing, you know.

That's what you think of.

and honor your loved one that's passed.

A PSYCHIDELIC ROCK EXPLOSION.

Welcome to Colores, we are here today with Andrew Connors, the director of the Albuquerque Museum.

Hello Andrew.

Hello Devon!

It's good to see you.

How are you today?

Good to see you!

Terrific.

So, we're here at the Dreams Unreal Exhibition.

Can you tell us a little bit about what inspired this exhibition?

The Dreams Unreal Exhibition is uh put together almost entirely out of posters that were donated to the Albuquerque Museum by Jim Gunn, A man who went to the Bay area in 1967 to study medicine.

So, he became a doctor in the middle of the late 60's Bay area psychedelic rock explosion.

And he wanted to preserve this incredible collection that he developed so he gave about 300 of these objects to the Albuquerque Museum a couple of years ago and we wanted to celebrate them and tell the story of the 1960's and this incredible dynamic creative moment in American history as illustrated through these great posters.

What is it about them that's special?

Well one of my favorites in in the exhibition is actually the one that the University of New Mexico Press loves so much that they wanted to have it on the cover of the beautiful book called: Dreams Unreal the Genesis of the Psychedelic Rock Poster.

And so, this is a poster by Bob Schnepf.

And Bob Schnepf uh was a incredibly uh well educated graphic artist.

As in artist in his own right.

Um.

He served in the Navy starting at age 17 and got out of the Navy when he was 24 and uh went to art school and made some of the most incredible posters that have absolutely nothing to do uh with the musicians themselves.

Uh.

This poster behind me is the one I really want to talk about.

Um.

I was um.

raised in Colorado, in suburban Denver basically.

So the fact that this is promoting a September 1967 concert in Denver makes me really happy.

What is it about them that inspires you?

Well as as an art historian I love the fact that there's so much assimilation of other stuff.

Most of the time the text, which is what is, a poster is supposed to be about.

It's supposed to tell you.

Um.

about something.

About an event.

But most of the text is really dense and hard to read, you really have to spend a lot of time with it.

And then they assimilated all of these other images, the central image advertising this concert in Denver uh comes from Gustave Doré's illustrated Bible.

And uh.

This is just a photocopy of the Gustave Doré uh illustration of a uh story from the old testament.

Where a man comes home and uh promises God that he'll sacrifice the first thing that he sees.

Well his daughter comes running out with all of her friends.

And so he has to sacrifice his daughter.

Why the heck would that be an appropriate image for a rock concert in 1967!?

But it works so beautifully because it seems to be about celebration and joy and happiness.

The daughter was happy, the dad had to kill her.

She wasn't happy because he had to kill her.

But um.

There, so many of these interesting uses of very much out of favor art history that these young graphic artists decided to appropriate.

They pulled in all of these images.

So the more we look the more we can learn.

And also hidden, um, in the lower part of the poster uh.

Very much in the patterning you can barley see it, and it's printed in green on red so your eyes do this incredible um.

optical thing um.

It credits the lighting designers for the concert.

And so this Lantern Works was a uh psychedelic light show company, uh, that was working in Denver at the time.

A lot of people think about this time as a time of possibility, radical change, looking forward, how do you think this exhibition speaks to that?

Well in particular this poster was created in 1967, and in 1967 there was such great potential and such great optimism in the minds of young people uh.

Where they were going to save the world and the world was going to be better and we were going to look after each other and care for people.

And a poster likes this really reflects that on optimism and that opportunity to say "we are young, we are enthusiastic, and we're going to make a difference."

And so much of this creativity during this time period, the rock musicians that were inventing something entirely new, uh.

The light show artist that were inventing using technology that was brand new.

But using in a way that served people and welcomed all.

And that was one of the things that Family Dog Productions really wanted to do with everything.

Everybody was welcomed, everybody should come, and everybody was in this together.

What an incredible moment of optimism that I think a lot of the artist expressed in these great works of art.

Excellent!

Well thank you so much for your time and thanks for speaking about this amazing exhibition.

It's my pleasure!

Thanks so much for asking.

TO VIEW THIS AND OTHER COLORES PROGRAMS GO TO: New Mexico PBS dot org and look for COLORES under What We Do and Local Productions.

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"UNTIL NEXT WEEK, THANK YOU FOR WATCHING."

Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: Frederick Hammersley Fund, New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

.New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

and Viewers Like You.