Margaret Martinez pores over a photo album filled with memories from her life on the lanes.
Within the album are photographs from the various bowling tournaments she’s played in, both in-state — Farmington, Albuquerque and Carlsbad — and out-of-state — Reno, Nev., Tucson, Ariz. and Las Vegas, Nev.
There’s a newspaper clipping of her and her championship bowling team sporting Pueblo Drugs jackets — their local sponsor during the tournament and Martinez’s employer.
On a nearby table are all of her trophies from various bowling tournaments, some of which are comprised of two or three elaborate tiers.
All of these accolades and memorabilia point to one thing — Martinez’s nearly 55 years of bowling.
Over the years, Martinez has seen friends and bowling allies come and go. After seeing the closures of Silva Lanes and Tewa Lanes, she now bowls twice a week at the bowling alley at the Santa Claran Resort and Casino, sometimes with her daughter and grandson.
Martinez said she started bowling in 1960 and never stopped, even as she raised a family.
“We grew up in Tewa Lanes,” daughter Ann Margaret Martinez said.
Over the years, Margaret Martinez collected awards and trophies, including a doubles trophy with her sister Maggie Trujillo.
“She cracked me like a whip,” Trujillo said.
Even though everyone in the family knew when bowling night was, Margaret Martinez was remembered for always putting her family first.
Along with all the awards and certificates, Margaret Martinez proudly displayed a plaque she got from Española Valley High School for attending all of Ann Margaret Martinez’s high school basketball games.
“She always made time for us, but bowling was always her own thing,” daughter Debbie Martinez said.
Margaret Martinez will turn 85 next month, but she has no plans of slowing down. Just last month, Margaret Martinez received a certificate from the National Women’s Bowling Association for receiving the same score three times in a row — a relative rarity in the world of bowling.
Margaret Martinez said she’s battled through hip injuries and recently switched to a 10-pound ball from a 12-pound ball under doctor’s orders, but she plans to keep bowling until its a physical impossibility.
Even with a lifetime’s worth of accolades, she doesn’t mind joking about her bowling career with her husband Levi Martinez, a retired veteran of the Española Police Department and the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.
“I told my husband, ‘If I saved all the money I spent on bowling, then I wouldn’t need to buy lottery tickets,’” Margaret Martinez said.
Looking back at the half century of bowling she’s participated in, Margaret Martinez said she’ll look back fondly at the traveling and the people she’s met along the way.
Over the years, bowling has become a family affair, and though some of her children no longer bowl, she will bowl once a week with one of her daughters and grandson.
Debbie Martinez said she’s currently trying to put together a campaign to induct Margaret Martinez into the Bowling Hall of Fame.
But regardless of her legacy as a bowler, Margaret Martinez will spend the foreseeable future, at least on Monday and Thursday nights, at the bowling alley.