Students move in and out of the University area. Evelyn Abbott, 84, said each coming and going gives her a chance to meet new people.
"If I need a can open, I take it outside and stop the first student I see to open it for me," she said. "They put down their books and take the can and opener and open it for me."
Marius Sava, a UNM biology major, lives across the street from Abbott and met her on the way home one day.
"She asked me if I would help her move some stuff out of her house to her garage," Sava said. "She is a real nice person. She never complains about our loud music."
Abbott moved to the UNM area more than 30 years ago so her two children could walk to the University. She said she knows most of the students in the area.
In August 2002, she said she took water and cigarettes to some students while they were sitting in a police car after a party turned violent over a cup of beer.
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"They had been sitting in the cars for hours, and I knew that they would be thirsty," Abbott said. "Since I smoke, I knew they would be wanting a cigarette. The officers let me give the items to the kids. They knew who I was anyway."
Abbott's neighbors are not only UNM students. She said she is flanked by people who have just moved into the neighborhood and are not UNM students.
"I had been here only a few days when Evelyn came over with a big jar of cookies for my grandkids," neighbor Barry Bryant said. "She was the first one to come over to welcome us to the neighborhood."
Abbott said looking out for the community has become a full-time job.
When she needs yard work done, she said she usually hires a homeless man to take care of it.
She has also started what she calls a Free Porch.
People can leave clothes, books and food on a porch next to her home. If someone needs something, they can take it, she said.
During the past summer she put out plants and a sign saying, "Last Chance for Plant Parenthood." In no time she said the porch was full of the plants. But it all stopped when someone set the porch on fire, she said.
Abbott and her husband retired from Sandia National Laboratories. After they retired, they made and sold jewelry. Her husband died in February from cancer.
According to the 2000 census, there has been a decline in the number of elderly who live in the UNM area. It reported that 1.4 percent of people between the ages of 70 and 90 live in the area compared to 15.2 percent of people aged 20 to 24 years.
"Other than the student traffic in the mornings and afternoons, it's a quiet neighborhood," Bryant said. "Evelyn said she liked to get to know all the students who have moved in and out over the years. She's a nice neighbor."
Abbott said living in the UNM area has been good for her.
"When I get tired of being in the house, I go around to the Frontier and have a cup of coffee," she said. "There's always someone to talk to there."
