Lydia R Sanchez was born in Jarales, New Mexico, in 1933 of important Spanish pioneer families. On her maternal side, the Melendrez founded Dona Ana; on the paternal side, the Sanchez founded and settled the Rio Abajo in 1724. Her father, Vivian Sanchez, was a land owner, merchant, and farmer in Jarales, New Mexico, until his untimely death in 1941. Her mother, Anita Melendrez-Sanchez, earned a Master’s Degree in Education and School Administration in 1952 at the University of New Mexico.
Lydia graduated from UNM in 1956 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Science and Education, plus three years of graduate studies in the 1960s. She was very proud to have been an educator for fifty years. She taught elementary and high school, adult classes, and language tutoring in New Mexico, California, Florida, and overseas. She spoke Spanish fluently and also studied Portuguese and French.
Her travels include the island of Cuba, the Bahamas, and extensive travels and studies in Mexico. Ms. Sanchez worked overseas in 1959 for the Nickel Processing Corporation of New York in Nicaro, Cuba. She lived in a luxurious setting with American and foreign executives. She educated them and their children in English and Spanish. In 2005, she traveled with her life partner, Ranae Wischmann, to Paris, France.
In her retirement, Ms. Sanchez devoted her time to scholarly studies in history (particularly Medieval), poetry, and literature. She was particularly fond of Marcel Proust, whose works delighted her and changed her life. She was an avid bibliophile and amassed a huge and eclectic collection of books. She also found time to write “The Golden Cup” and many poems.
Ranae Wischmann is the life partner of Lydia Sanchez and the co-author of this book. She has worked in the financial industry for forty years. She also had the added benefit of spending her life with Lydia, a brilliant and talented scholar, poet, and intellectual, from whom she learned so much. Her labor of love and life-mission after the death of her partner was to complete, edit, and publish the beautiful, charming story she wrote.
The Golden Cup by Lydia Sanchez and Ranae Wischmann 