Teddy Roosevelt manages to get all the votes at the Quemado Senior Center

By Anne Sullivan

If Theodore Roosevelt ran for election today, his campaign speech last week in Quemado would surely have won him many votes.
Powered by an overdose of energy, Randy Milligan as President Roosevelt bounded onto the floor of the Quemado Senior Center Oct. 16 to deliver acampaign speech. The time was approximately 100 years ago, a time of hope and glory for a strong America.
Dressed in his Rough Rider outfit, Roosevelt told the audience of the peace and rejuvenation he found in the West after his first wife and his mother had died on the same day; about the gentle song of the meadowlark; the thrill of shooting his first buffalo; and about his passion for protecting wildlife. He strove for protection of the wilderness for future generations.
The large and enthusiastic audience no doubt learned a lot of American History about the era when Roosevelt, the 26th President and his large family livened up the White House. As a matter of fact, he was the one who named it the White House. The question period during which audience members ask the Chautauqua performer who answers as the person he’s portraying was extended for 20 minutes as people wanted to know about President Roosevelt’s family, foreign policy, his time in New Mexico, the Bull Moose party, etc. Roosevelt left us with an apt quote for our time: “We cannot be a great nation unless we deserve to be a great nation.” Randy Milligan has the good fortune to look exactly like Teddy Roosevelt, but it was his acting that convinced and captivated the audience.
This Chautauqua performance was brought to Quemado by Northern Catron County’s Roadrunner Arts Council through the New Mexico Humanities Council.
The Senior Center made the Dinner Theatre concept a hearty reality with their delicious barbecued chicken, mashed potatoes, coleslaw and biscuit topped off with a wicked banana split.

Teddy Roosevelt manages to get all the votes at the Quemado Senior Center