'Our hearts and her organizational skills': Anne Wheelock Gonzales helped organize Santa Fe Indigenous Center

Anne Wheelock Gonzales grew up used to feeling like she didn’t belong.

Born to a father from the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and a Finnish American mother, Wheelock Gonzales lived in nine different communities across seven states throughout her childhood thanks to her father’s different postings with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and his military service during the Korean War.

“I appreciated every place we lived … but as a kid, I was always the outsider,” said Wheelock Gonzales, who lived in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Wisconsin, Colorado, Minnesota, South Dakota and New Mexico at various points. “I was always the new kid, and so that was kind of hard.”

So about two decades ago, when Wheelock Gonzales heard friends Randy and Jackie Chitto’s dream to found a center where Native Americans li