TCHS ANNUAL MEETING/ELECTIONS
& LECTURE FOR FEBRUARY 1, 2025

"GROWING UP IN TAOS"

JOSE GUSTAVO CORDOVA

Jose Gustavo Córdova, a retired US Army Colonel with over 30 years of military service, which includes active duty, National Guard, and military reserve.

To further his career, he pursued a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology and Chemistry, and graduated in 1974 from New Mexico Highlands University and a Master’s Degree in 1976, also from New Mexico Highlands University. In 1977, after graduating from the Military Academy, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army. 

To compliment his military career, Col. Córdova began a complimentary career in Public Administration.  It was in 1985 that he was selected from amongst fifteen candidates to the position of Town Manager for the Town of Taos, serving over 20 years in that position.

During his military career, Col. Córdova was recognized with numerous awards, the most significant being the Bronze Star Medal while serving as a Combat Medic in the Republic of Vietnam, and assigned to the 3rd Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division.  In addition, he was also awarded the Air Medal after completion of over 25 combat aerial flights, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, and the Combat Medical Badge. 

Following his retirement, he was appointed as an Executive Recruiter for a national recruiting firm to seek professional administrators for
municipalities and other local governments. He continued in his capacity of Senior Vice President for the Mercer Group, up until his most recent retirement from public service in December 2021.

The Taos County Historical Society is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1952 and dedicated to the recording and preserving of the irreplaceable in Taos County.
Membership is open to anyone upon payment of dues.
For additional information on the programs, activities and history of Taos visit the Society's website at www.taoscountyhistoricalsociety.org

Mil Gracias, A THOUSAND THANKS, does not begin to cover the many, many individuals to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. This debt is not only the living but also to those men and women who long ago began to preserve the journals and documents we now depend upon for knowledge of the past: the chroniclers who accompanied the explorers and settlers and who, dusty, tired and hungry, sat in the light of a candle to record in their journals the events of the day and the Franciscan clerics who made detailed reports of their canonical visits to the mission churches of Nuevo México.

Corina A. Santistevan
Acknowledgements in "Taos: A Topical History"