Santa Fe, N.M. • The state Capitol echoed with tributes to the life and times of Navajo Code Talker and state legislator John Pinto on Wednesday after his casket traveled in a memorial procession across the high desert of northern New Mexico.
Hundreds of politicians, relatives and friends gathered in the Statehouse rotunda to mourn the death of the World War II Marine who served 42 years as a state Senator — a record for political longevity in that chamber.
Democratic Senate majority leader Peter Wirth said colleagues were awed by Pinto's political stamina and delighted by his good humor.