Phillip Zachary (One of seven sons and three daughters.) was born on leapyear in 1940 to Jesse Cordell & Laura Zachary. J. C. and Laura went west (health reasons) from Indiana in 1930. Heading to Phoenix (The Valley Of the Sun) to recover from TB they and their young family lingered in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a spell and decided to stay. Recovering from TB, JC went to work in a hardware store on N.4^th Street next to Halls Indian trading Post. Mr. Hall liked the way My Dad worked and offered him a job in The Indian trading post. In the course of operating the trading post JC would have to re-solder and repair or re-cut a stone for someone’s ring, necklace or bracelet, JC learned the basics of turquoise cutting.

In 1934 Mr. Hall asked JC & Laura and family to move to Villa Grove, Colorado to operate the his very famous turquoise Villa Grove Turquoise mine there. JC & Laura mined and cut the turquoise for Mr. Hall.

When the opportunity appeared, because of the popularity of the Fred Harvey’s train depots and Grand Canyon Turquoise Jewelry Stores, JC & Laura setup a successful turquoise stone cutting shop. They supplied a good majority of the stones used in the Tourist Indian jewelry boom in the 1930’s and 1940’s. JC & Laura’s reputation grew until every turquoise miner in Nevada, Arizona and Colorado beat a path to their door.

Phillip began cutting stones when he was 12 years old. I remember one of the first orders my father received was for thousands of agatized Petrified Wood (one of the hardest stone). Grinding these arrowhead shapes, I developed forearms so as I could beat most anyone in school at arm wrestling.

In 1960 I went in to business with my father, JC Zachary. We cut turquoise stones and sold and traded for Indian handmade jewelry, with the Gallup NM Indian traders. I cut the stones and JC had a route with retail Indian Stores in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado.

Phillip Zachary In 1963 married Patricia (Patty) Hendrix Zachary.  We manufactured jewelry using silversmiths we trained from mostly Alamo, Canyoncito, Crown Point chapters of the Navajo Reservation. We sold, for almost 20 years, handmade turquoise jewelry to almost every major gallery in the West and Southwest along with many East Coast galleries. Tiring of the hustle and bustle of road life we moved to Branson, Missouri in 1986. We opened our retail gallery in the Engler Block High grade craftsman mall.  Phillip Zachary's Turquoise and Silver Gallery Inc has been located in the Grand Village Shops since 1998. Patty Zachary passed away on July 15 2000.  Phillip remarried in 2002 to Emma Golden Phillips. Starting in 2003 Phillip Zachary has been specializing in Australian opal hand cut by Phillip to display the unique opal fire lying hidden in each magnificent rough piece.

In nineteen hundred and thirty-two (in the midst of the Great Depression) J.C. and Laura Zachary, headed west from New Castle, Indiana (towing along the first half of their brood). At St. Louis, Missouri they got on the fabled Route 66 and began their westward adventure, heading for California. And, what a unique adventure it was.
They soon found that much of Route 66 was not yet paved and their first thunderstorm found them digging out of the mud. And, when they got past Tucumcari into the "hills" of New Mexico, the poor old car just couldn't get up them---so, Dad had to turn it around and go up in reverse. It's the only gear that was low enough to make it to the top. When they got through the Sandia Mountains by way of Tijeras Canyon their car was about to give up the ghost.
Emerging from the canyon they saw a sign "Albuquerque 9 miles". Well, so much for California. The small oasis of Albuquerque, situated along the Rio Grande River, was to be the end of their journey.
It wasn't long after settling in what was then the outskirts of Albuquerque that J. C. & Laura landed jobs managing the "Hogan Trading Post" located on US Hwy 85 north. Having to repair jewelry for their customers, J. C. began his career in lapidary by teaching himself stone cutting in order to perform these repairs. He also taught himself to silversmith with an old-fashioned blowtorch, thus enabling him to complete the jobs properly.
It wasn't long before J. C. was known throughout the trade as the premier stonecutter in the business. He soon began selling stones to the better jewelry manufacturers including the Navajo Arts & Crafts Guild. Mine owners such as the Godbers, the Browns and the Edgars began bringing their very best grades of turquoise to Albuquerque for him to cut. J. C., Laura and their sons cut many hundreds of pounds of #8, Godber, Blue Gem, Morenci and other stones for them.
Their fame for their quality work is largely the cause of Albuquerque becoming the turquoise cutting capital of the United States of America.
Within a few years, the family moved to Villa Grove, Colorado when J. C. began operating and managing the turquoise mine located there. After the birth of their sixth child (Jack Eugene), J. C. & Laura moved the family back to Albuquerque to resume cutting turquoise and petrified wood. And, I might add, give birth to their last four children.

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