wfn.org | GAC Files Suit in New Mexico to Delay Sale of Property

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3-August-1998 
98258 
 
    GAC Files Suit in New Mexico to Delay Sale of Property 
    Surrounded by Ghost Ranch 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
    and Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-The General Assembly Council (GAC) has filed suit in New 
Mexico to temporarily halt the sale of a 12-acre piece of land that is 
completely surrounded by the denomination's Ghost Ranch Conference Center 
to a Fort Worth, Texas-based family foundation. 
 
    At issue for the church is its right of first refusal to purchase the 
property once owned by the late artist Georgia O'Keeffe.  The property is 
currently accessible only by a road that cuts through the heart of 
conference and program facilities of the 21,000-acre Ghost Ranch. 
 
    The property, which includes a small adobe house, has been appraised 
for $750,000, but The Burnett Foundation - which put up most of the money 
to build the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and Study Center in nearby Santa Fe - 
has made an offer of $3 million for the property. 
 
    The GAC, through its Executive Committee, filed the suit July 31 (the 
last day it had to exercise its purchase option) in order to buy 
negotiating time with the foundation for a deal that will preserve the 
church's interest in maintaining Ghost Ranch as the relatively unspoiled 
getaway it has become for Presbyterians. 
 
    Rumors that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has already agreed to 
purchase the property are premature, said the Rev. Cathy Chisholm, chair of 
the GAC.  "It is still not decided yet," Chisholm told the Presbyterian 
News Service.  "Negotiations are going on in several different areas as to 
who will end up purchasing it. ... This is not a situation we chose or 
created, but one in which we had to react to and make a decision." 
 
    Ghost Ranch was bequeathed to the PC(USA) in 1995 by Arthur and Phoebe 
Pack - except for 7.6 acres they sold to O'Keeffe in 1940.  When she died 
in 1986, O'Keeffe bequeathed her property to her custodian and companion, 
Juan Hamilton.  In 1987, the PC(USA) deeded an additional 4.5 acres to 
Hamilton in exchange for the right of first refusal to the entire 12 acres 
should it ever be sold. 
 
    One of Hamilton's attorneys, Joseph Goldberg, declined to comment. 
Another was unreachable by press time.  The PC(USA)'s general counsel, Eric 
Graninger, also declined to comment. 
 
    "If this were strictly a real estate deal it would not make sense," 
Chishom said. "But that's not what this is. ... It is a question of 
stewardship.  Is this [exercising the option to buy] something we would 
regret not doing? [The Burnett Foundation] is a secular, outside 
institution with its own goals and values [and it] would be plunked down 
right in the middle of church program and mission." 
 
    John Marion, head of The Burnett Foundation, told the Santa Fe "New 
Mexican" that he and his wife, Anne, wanted to restore the O'Keeffe house 
on the property for "limited" use by scholars studying O'Keeffe's life and 
work.  The Marions founded the O'Keeffe Museum. 
 
    The Foundation offered Ghost Ranch $250,000 to relinquish the right of 
first refusal.  The church declined. 
 
    "We want to see that the O'Keeffe property is used in a way that 
continues and enhances the important education and conference ministry we 
do at Ghost Ranch while at the same time honoring the memory and work of 
Georgia O'Keeffe," said the Rev. Ed Craxton, associate director for 
Christian education, whose office oversees the PC(USA)'s national 
conference centers.  "We have always sought to be good and respectful 
neighbors." 
 
    When fire destroyed the Ghost Ranch headquarters building in 1983, 
O'Keeffe made a $50,000 donation and lent her name to a challenge fund to 
replace it. 

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