It's like uncharted territory. There are more than 140 animals staring visitors in the face when they walk into the Hibben House. But what visitors? Since 2002, there haven't been many.
When Frank Hibben was alive, students would sit among the animals and have conversations. They could point out the blue paint on the rhinoceros' horns in the elephant room - it killed a small bicyclist and therefore had to be killed. The boar's head in the hallway signifies the end of havoc wreaked on a Muslim community that wouldn't touch it, so Frank, a former professor and big-game hunter, was called on to get rid of it.
Count the number of trophy rooms in the world, and Frank's is among the top 50. Though it might seem like he killed for sport, views change when people hear the stories, when they learn the animals were killing other animals, other people and destroying crops.
Tomi Folk, photographer for Frank's biography, said it didn't make sense until she heard the stories.
"Sometimes that has to happen," she said.
Outside his home on Campus Boulevard, Frank spent most of his time scouring the African continent and on digs.
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In Africa, he had a small dispute with Ernest Hemingway - both men were interested in the same hunting site.
"This is the kind of level of people he encountered in a normal life, which isn't so normal to the rest of us," Folk said.
Frank was 91 when he died in 2002. He and his first wife, Eleanor, entered into a life-estate agreement in 1986 with the UNM Foundation. The agreement states that as long as the couple was alive, they could reside in the house.
No such agreement was made with Marilyn Hibben, Frank's widow. She could be asked to leave at any time. She doesn't have a problem with that - she's certain she'll leave. It's not knowing when that frustrates her.
Marilyn has been organizing her husband's paperwork since his death. It was agreed she could take as long as she needed.
Nora Chino-Wilson, Marilyn's housekeeper, and Alberto Martinez, her groundskeeper, are staring down an unclear road. It's been years, and no decision has been made.
"I have no idea," said Garth Bawden, director of the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology. "This is a man who had a career spanning five or six decades and that many file cabinets at least."
Without the help of Chino-Wilson and Martinez, Marilyn's work could not be done.
On June 15, Chino-Wilson and Martinez were surprised to receive a letter stating their term appointment with the University would end in 30 days. More letters followed. The last stated the two would remain Physical Plant employees until further notice.
"My belief is that what they're doing is trying to pressure her," Martinez said.
The house could be sold or left intact. It has been appraised for market value, but not put on the market. Either way, it has to benefit the Maxwell Museum. Marilyn prefers the house be left the way it is so students can visit and learn from the house.
"He never imagined anything else," Marilyn said.
Frank's life was the University. It was his intent always to have the house benefit UNM students. It's a sensitive subject, though.
The foundation says it wants to keep everyone's best interests in mind.
"We probably should make a decision pretty quickly, so that everyone understands what is happening," said Susan Morris of the foundation's planned giving office.
There is little left the Maxwell Museum wants to take out of the house, which is managed by the foundation. Archaeological notes, field research and ethnographic material have no monetary value, but great research value.
Sources
Marilyn Hibben, Frank Hibben's widow
Hank Bruce, biography writer
Tomi Folk, biography editor and photographer
John Maes, assistant treasurer for UNM Foundation
Susan Morris, from UNM Foundation's planned giving office
Alberto Martinez, groundskeeper and Frank Hibben's caretaker
Nora Chino-Wilson, housekeeper
Life-estate agreement between UNM Foundation and Frank and Eleanor Hibben
