Consuelo Bergere Kenney Althouse received an unexpected phone call in March 2021. The voice on the other end of the line was an attorney from the U.S.
Department of the Treasury seeking permission to decorate millions of commemorative quarters with the face of Althouse's distant relative, Adelina "Nina" Otero-Warren. To Althouse, Otero-Warren was one among a "mantle of tías " — a looming but loving group of women with shiny shoes, tight buns and high expectations — in Althouse's large Santa Fe family. Althouse had grown up visiting Las Dos, Otero-Warren's homestead in the hills north of Santa Fe, for family celebrations.
But the request from the Treasury Department — and the research it triggered for Althouse and her family — made it clear Otero-Warren was also a powerful voice for women's rights and multicultural education. "That really brought her to life for me," Althouse said. Born in Los Lunas in 1881 to an influential Hispano family, Otero-Warren first appeared in The New Mexican 's society pages — yes, we had those — as a young woman.
The paper carefully documented her travels and social engagements. A story published in February 1900 announced she had attended a wedding wearing a white organdy dress with pink ribbons. In November 1901, the paper announced Otero would spend "a season with friends" on the Upper Pecos River.
The paper's coverage of Otero's June 1908 wedding to Rawson D. Warren lavished praise on the bride: "Wherever known she is very popula.