ForeverMissed
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Peter Mackaness, 73, of Taos, NM passed away on Wednesday, December 10, 2014 due to a long battle with nephropathy. He was preceded in death by his parents, Faith and Frank Mackaness. He is survived by his sons, Ian A. Mackaness (Stefanie C. Lopez) of Albuquerque, NM, Sylvan H. Mackaness (Lisa) of St. Petersburg, FL, grandchildren: Andrew L. Lopez – Mackaness, Serena R. Lopez – Mackaness of Albuquerque, NM, Myles Mackaness, Nevyn Mackaness of St. Petersburg, FL , brothers, Tim Mackaness (Judy Nylin) of Portland, OR, Roger Mackaness (Sue) of Corbett, OR, large extended family of uncles, aunts, cousins, great nephews, and a great niece. Peter loved and cherished his extended family very much.

He was a beekeeper, woodworker, carpenter, historian, family man, father, and lover of life. A gardener and friend to all. He was a teacher, lecturer and a connector of all people. He was a longtime employee of Taos Ski Valley, a lumber grader, member of Taos Historical Society, an active member of the El Camino Real National Historical Trail. Peter was the host of a radio show sharing history with the masses and a tour guide of the City of Taos, the city he loved so much. He was a past president of the Old Spanish Trail Association (New Mexican Salid del Sol Chapter), contributing member Camino Real Trail Association, Oregon Trail, Spanish Trail, Founder Taos Historical Walking Tours, Founding/ Developing Committee member El Camino International Heritage Center.

Please take a moment to share some of your favorite stories of Peter. You can do so on this website in the "stories" tab, you can also upload Videos and Photos right onto the website. 

December 11, 2023
December 11, 2023
Joseph your message reminded me of one of the "walking conversations" Peter and i had and this one was in 1967 probably early fall. We were walking from Cole and Haight down to China Town to a place famous for the crazy waiter who would yell at people coming in to stop where they were----or to the people leaving to stop where they were---and wait for permission. If it was their first time it was intimidating----but once you were in on the "joke" it was great fun!
Anyway we were walking and Peter was telling me about the difference between big L Love and little l love.
I think when he told you you would Love your current Lady "forever" he meant the big L Love which once experienced in a relationship never dissipates---like where could it go---ya can't "lose" it. It is ever present and timeless. So he was right about Love in that sense. Since it was not "born" (always been there) it will never die.
Now...relationships are often "romantic love" which is actually a fairly new concept in terms of evolution. It changes and you can "lose" it---it can die and turn into the opposite! Don't we all know that one?
Joseph----take a look from big L Love . If it was there "then" it will be there Now. I think this is what Peter was sharing with you. He taught about both levels---but all ways from Love.
December 10, 2023
December 10, 2023
Aloha Peter.......... sending love to you and everyone ....                 

Blessed soul, blessing soul ... miss you ...
Peace, faith and love all around ... bless. <3<3<3
November 23, 2022
November 23, 2022
Having recently turned 80, I’ve been digitizing some precious old tapes, and found these tributes after doing a quick online search for a guy I remember being present for a friend’s recording session in the Goose Hollow area of Portland Oregon in 1968. I used to run into Peter now and then in the years I inhabited the Portland counterculture. I don’t remember him having a fixed abode, he floated around the community keeping his own hours and making his bed wherever he ran out of gas.

At this time Peter had a lyre made by a luthier patterned after the instruments wielded by the ancient Greek poets who sang and chanted their works in performance. He would improvise a toga using a white bedsheet and rampage through the rainy streets of Portland in his gladiator sandals brandishing his lyre and singing lustily in Greek.

Peter only let me down once, when he assured me that my then-girlfriend was meant to be my love for life. This turned out to be inaccurate, otherwise he was immaculate. You don’t forget a guy like that, and that’s why 50 years later I finally find out where he landed. I’m so glad he found a community cohesive and expansive enough to contain his joyfulness for years on end.
December 10, 2021
December 10, 2021
OK......Peter naked!
We were at work at the hip job co-op one morning in 1968 handing out the Berkeley Barbs (30 to start) to a line of young kids to go and sell to the folks on the "tour" bus or downtown on mkt st etc.----when a guy came into the office and asked us if we might be able to find some people to romp around the redwoods in Big Sur for their magazine---something like "naked in nature ".......!
Yes we could. Most definitely we could.
Peter and Collin and I and our Beautiful "old (young) ladies" at the time plus a duo from texas staying at my house --Peaches and Cream---really!
So off we went into vans to Big Sur----limekiln creek first.
We took some acid Peter had----Took off our clothes---took along the guy with the camera----and went crazy through the woods down the creek to the beach and click click click. And we get paid to do this!
We stayed that night at Gorda-----a very hard-core commune-- back to the land fun group of folks--- and musicians all----thankful for the acid and the wine we brought----very thankful for peaches and cream----and another etc happened. A lot of them.
Peter was telling stories the whole time and I don't think I had ever seen him happier----almost an unbearable vibe of Light and Joy infected our new friends. The combo of Peter and lsd? Ommmmm my.
So---this is getting kinda long so i will stop here----we had to get dressed and start acting normal when we got to Monterey. Just an act.
Just one more story of the magic that was happening during that time.
BTW-----Peter the Zorba the Buddha Is alive and full of IT in a small village in the mountains of China....no really he is---trust me.
yogadon
December 10, 2021
December 10, 2021
In my heart... <3 <3 <3 .... forever ... Peter...
Rainbows and hugs to everyone ... love to all of Peters family and friends...
... Keep your spirits high... your lanterns lite... and your hearts open... Blessings to you all. ...
December 3, 2020
December 3, 2020
Happy Heavenly Birthday, Peter...
Missing you ... always... our thoughts often upon you ... Hearts still go out to your family ... sons and grandkids... all those who love you... The world could use you in it again..my friend... I'm sure you're in it ... somehow.. Thanks for being born and being here ...Happy Birthday, toast.. cheers... l love you...Peter.. forever missed.. until we met again. Aloha, Mutchi
December 3, 2020
December 3, 2020
Feliz Cumpleanos hermano Peter! Times have been strange, but just focusing on the negative is just that- it leaves one dwelling on the bad. With the bad, there is also good. This seems to be the balance of things, of life. I'm hoping even without the presence of you Peter and those gone, we can prevail in love and gratitude. This deadly, global pandemic sure has put the human heart to the test. We miss you bro, and hope that things are good on the other side. Much Love.
December 10, 2019
December 10, 2019
Wow, five years have gone by, and for me (like others) it feels like much longer. I wish I could have spent more time with you Peter before your departure. I remember 'Hail-Bop' Comet streaking through the autumn air and the smells of sulfur hot-springs, all of us holding hands in a big group, and you Peter acknowledging the profound nature of it all. Thank you for teaching us kids that such things were/are important. I really enjoy reading other folks tributes to our friend Peter. I miss and long for those bygone Taos days, when Peter was in his chante 'by the highway'. We did out first latin classes there, before he began teaching at Chamisa Mesa full time. I'll never forget our lunch runs to Rita's for burrito's de pollo y mole. Love 'ya Peter. As mentioned by someone else, hugs out to everyone lamenting the loss of our great friend, or celebrating his life, or a bit of both. I feel it. Much Love.
December 10, 2019
December 10, 2019
I met Peter in the back of the psychedelic shop in its first incarnation on Haight St. a couple of days after I arrived from Texas in early 1967. Peter was hovering about 2 feet off the ground and although the shop was full of people there was a "thunderous silence" as we embraced in recognition--two ancient bodhisattvas meeting again.
He was packing up some boxes and moving what he called the Hip Job Co-op to its new home on Cole Street. He asked for my help with the project--but of course as many of you know-- it was his help that I needed. Yes I was a Teacher and a Bodhisattva too---but whenever I was around Peter I was definitely his student.
You can read a bit of that story in my 2015 remembrance.

The next time we were packing up boxes was when the story of the hip job co-op had come to a close and Peter was heading to the desert and I was heading to Humboldt County. He almost came with me and I almost went with him. But the work we were to do together in this life had been accomplished.
The last time I saw him was at Hippie Hill as he was disappearing into the fog along the trail deeper into Golden Gate Park.
He was a magnificent man---a true Bodhisattva--what Osho would call a Zorba the Buddha.
The next time you are 2 feet off the ground and a thunderous silence takes your breath away----remember His eternal presence.
yoga1don@yahoo.com
December 3, 2019
December 3, 2019
Missing you ...
until we meet again ...
Hugs to everyone thinking of you today ...

Aloha, Mutchi
December 11, 2018
December 11, 2018
Robert and I met Peter and Ann in 1978 in Llano Quemado at a critical juncture in our lives, and Peter was very influential in our crazy decision to move our little family to Taos to practice chiropractic. We had a box on the wall and soon knew everybody in town, their babies, goats etc. Peter said Taos was the largest outdoor insane asylum in the world. Peter had the biggest laugh and wild sense of humor right up to the last time we saw him on the Earth plane. I could say more but, we didn’t know Robert would swiftly join him on the other side of the veil. Missed and loved dearly 1-800-OuterSpace our buddy. Reality is for people who can’t handle drugs (Peter Mackaness) Love you.
December 4, 2018
December 4, 2018
77 years after you were born ...
happy the day
you are near
you are here
....you are shining around us ....
arms open
heart wide
everything, everything smile
blessed for all our hours
blessed for the dance
blessed for the muse
blessed to walk beside you
blessed to have you, my friend
our friend ...
I love you..... Love, Dorothea/Mutchi
December 3, 2018
December 3, 2018
Dear Peter - I hope everything is great for you on the other side and that you and Steve are having a blast! Miss you both. Keep looking out for all of us.
Love, Amy Quintana
December 10, 2017
December 10, 2017
terra, terrae, terrae, terram, terra
terrae, terrarum, terris, terras, terris.... first declension feminine noun declension(s), you stuck in our heads all those years ago. Miss you bro. Much Love. Wish you were here, but know, you are still around in so many ways. Thank you for touching our lives.
December 10, 2017
December 10, 2017
Dear Peter - has it only been 3 years? It seems that you have been gone for a lot longer than that. I miss you, Steve, all our great conversations and meals together. Keep them going between the two of you, Love ya both!
December 11, 2016
December 11, 2016
Thanks Sylvan for keeping this Memorial to our good buddy Peter Mackaness alive and in the now. I think of Peter almost every day and miss him terribly. I wish I could leap into Heaven and bring him back down here. I know he is guiding us but it's not the same as having him right here. He always said "I am a field representative for the intergalactic command" and by God he was. I bet he is very busy especially with the ways things are going in the US of A. I will always marvel at how Peter kept to his mission even when he was in the most desolate of nursing homes. He would rally the gang and make it a better place for all. What a great man. So I am wishing you a Happy Birthday Peter my old Sagittarian friend. My advice to those on Planet Earth is to hang out with the people you love as much as humanely possible because when they are gone, they are gone. I love you Peter and Ian and Sylvan and all the great, wonderful Mackaness Clan. Sending lots of love to you all. Julia
December 4, 2016
December 4, 2016
Peter miss those great stories you shared with everyone. One of the best story tellers of all time. Wish you were here to share one of those great stories with us.
December 3, 2015
December 3, 2015
To Peter or anyone I met through Peter, my name is Smitty.
There is not more than a few days that pass before I think of Peter and I know that as long as I have left, Peter's courageous and kind spirit that he shared so freely, even as he lived at the hospice at Albuquerque, will help me get through my own personal trail, but it is hard to witness what goes on in our country without Peter's wisdom and healthy anger at tyranny. So, I will add what I'd be saying to Peter here: Peter, What the f is going on? We are watching 50% of our country embrace the likes of Donald Trump,Carly the Planned Parenthood hater, Cruz crusin'for a brusin', and a horde of fascist leaning dumb-downed people who have been conditioned to accept that we can no longer act humanitarian? We stopped being humanitarian to our own refugees, never mind foreign refugees. We've let money become speech and corporations people! I would love to hear Peter's voice that carried over the Sange De Cristo's! So, I do hear it! I feel it! He would not be silent, so he is not silent! We need to know that we deserve better and act like it and vote like it. Peter Lives..... in all of us who got to know him.
November 3, 2015
November 3, 2015
I met Peter in 1997 when we both were volunteers for the Taos Talking Picture Festival. He had a huge impact on me. The two of us were film runners and would drive the large reels of film to the various movie theaters. We talked for hours and hours. He made me laugh and think. I miss Peter.
August 28, 2015
August 28, 2015
Today I drove to Taos determined to find a man I hadn't seen since the winter of '69. I'd been dismal after Judy left, and Peter scooped me off the plaza and took me home. I, the lost young English puppy, and he the old psychedelic dog. At least, that's how it felt. I stayed two months with him, in that little shack by the highway. He opened up so many doors to me. And then he left, quite suddenly one day. "Where are you going?" I asked. "San Francisco," he laughed. "So long, baby!" I never saw him again. Today I went looking for my friend, and in the plaza, someone told me: "Peter died." Oh shit, I was too late, I thought, and cried, but then ... I heard his voice inside my heart! "Hey, man, good to see you." So I got to meet my friend again, and say what I came to say, which was: thank you, brother, for your many gifts to me ....
May 27, 2015
May 27, 2015
haight ashbury friend and hip job co-op partner on cole street and sharer of so much adventure in those days i do not know where to start with the stories. chinese food on acid with that crazy waiter? romps down haight or in the park where our feet never touched the ground? fellow bodhisattva bringing kids down from bad acid?
   fun with me and bonnie? fun with liz and dancing in the waves?
long walks chanting? big sur? good god peter i think of you-us every day and the fog and the eucalyptus smell and the rooftop of the straight theatre watching the dead? i wish i had found you before you went on to the next "trip".......but words do not work for what we shared in those days old soul. see you soon.......don
p.s. anybody from those days e-mail me at yoga1don@yahoo.com.
December 22, 2014
December 22, 2014
peter had called into my salon for a haircut and ended up with Suzanne. I first met him as he appeared at the front door and ducked his way in. my cutting chair was at the front door. after he was directed to miss wearSuzanne; she ,shortly thereafter came to me in a tizzy. she was "scared", he was so big. poor thing. I quickly accommodated him and proceeded to cut his very very long locks OFF. ...of course ,at his request. what a charming pussy cat he was. after finishing he asked to "purchase" the cutting cape I had draped over him. when I inquired as to why, he told me"it's the color,(a brilliant purple). I need this thing to wear when I marry people." we made a modest deal, as he just had to have that thing! I felt bad charging him,but he insisted. I asked"peter, how is it you are gonna"that thing?" he tossed it over his head, wrapped it around his neck(with the long side on his back); and "flew" out the door! what a man!
December 16, 2014
December 16, 2014
Peter, my big brother was always bigger than life in my world. We shared many choice experiences. I never ceased to be amazed at his ability to captivate, inspire and promote self-reflection in people from all walks of life. He could make me grin, he could make laugh and he could make me say 'ouch'. While he walked this earth, he tried everything that it had to offer. I'm tickled that the spirit world can now enjoy the taste of vintage Peter.
December 16, 2014
December 16, 2014
Peter, Ray Kallman, Su Small and I started Wheeler Peak Group, a sort of Taos Lyceum in which we invited lecturers and discussed ideas, events, politics and culture. Having been educated by Jesuits, Peter was intelligent, erudite, and had more Latin than the rest of us. I especially liked the talks he gave on Thomas Paine and the Founding Documents. He was a good friend, and I hope he had a good death.
December 15, 2014
December 15, 2014
I was hitchhiking to Taos and a rugged white pick up stopped and a big jolly but straight forward guy greeted me and offered a ride. We spoke of history and politics and when I was getting out I handed him a copy of an old map of his state, New Mexico, which I was lugging around trying to sell. We became fast friends. I guess that was 1980 or so. He invited me to visit his woodworking shop which was across the street and back off the main drag near "Michale's". It became a habit to visit and drink strong coffee and meet other people who enjoyed Peter's strong rooted views of this life that we share;how to improve the lot of humanity was not lost on Peter. To me he was the older brother I never had, the friend I'd call when John Lennon died, or a black man became president, or some poor individual got screwed again by this system we endure as it chips away at our rights and freedoms. Peter loved the whistle blowers, the agitators, the trouble makers, the sacred clowns of all nations, of which he was a very colorful one himself. I have no doubt that he is an ally still to all of us who knew and loved him. With love and kindness, Smitty
December 15, 2014
December 15, 2014
I first met Peter & Ann in the spring of 1978 - we became good friends and spent most Friday nights playing scrabble while Ian & Sylvan watched tv and played video games. Peter married Steve & I on February 14, 1981. We took turns pet sitting for each other and spent many a great meal together. Steve and Peter loved to take long drives exploring wherever there was a "No Trespassing" sign, talking about any and all subjects. Peter was part of our family and will be remembered fondly, always...

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December 11, 2023
December 11, 2023
Joseph your message reminded me of one of the "walking conversations" Peter and i had and this one was in 1967 probably early fall. We were walking from Cole and Haight down to China Town to a place famous for the crazy waiter who would yell at people coming in to stop where they were----or to the people leaving to stop where they were---and wait for permission. If it was their first time it was intimidating----but once you were in on the "joke" it was great fun!
Anyway we were walking and Peter was telling me about the difference between big L Love and little l love.
I think when he told you you would Love your current Lady "forever" he meant the big L Love which once experienced in a relationship never dissipates---like where could it go---ya can't "lose" it. It is ever present and timeless. So he was right about Love in that sense. Since it was not "born" (always been there) it will never die.
Now...relationships are often "romantic love" which is actually a fairly new concept in terms of evolution. It changes and you can "lose" it---it can die and turn into the opposite! Don't we all know that one?
Joseph----take a look from big L Love . If it was there "then" it will be there Now. I think this is what Peter was sharing with you. He taught about both levels---but all ways from Love.
December 10, 2023
December 10, 2023
Aloha Peter.......... sending love to you and everyone ....                 

Blessed soul, blessing soul ... miss you ...
Peace, faith and love all around ... bless. <3<3<3
November 23, 2022
November 23, 2022
Having recently turned 80, I’ve been digitizing some precious old tapes, and found these tributes after doing a quick online search for a guy I remember being present for a friend’s recording session in the Goose Hollow area of Portland Oregon in 1968. I used to run into Peter now and then in the years I inhabited the Portland counterculture. I don’t remember him having a fixed abode, he floated around the community keeping his own hours and making his bed wherever he ran out of gas.

At this time Peter had a lyre made by a luthier patterned after the instruments wielded by the ancient Greek poets who sang and chanted their works in performance. He would improvise a toga using a white bedsheet and rampage through the rainy streets of Portland in his gladiator sandals brandishing his lyre and singing lustily in Greek.

Peter only let me down once, when he assured me that my then-girlfriend was meant to be my love for life. This turned out to be inaccurate, otherwise he was immaculate. You don’t forget a guy like that, and that’s why 50 years later I finally find out where he landed. I’m so glad he found a community cohesive and expansive enough to contain his joyfulness for years on end.
Recent stories

My (exceptional) friend, Peter

March 22, 2015

Peter introduced us to 'Alaska Thunder-Fuck', because we did a good Latin class.

I met Peter because us kids wanted to learn Latin. That winter's night, attending class in his Valdez home I heard a great gurgle come from a big vat of fermenting fluid. Chokecherry peyote wine it was.

We teenagers marvelled at a man who was an adult, but was one of us. Somehow Peter transcended the barriers of age and such. It seems whomever you were he looked you eye to eye as a person.

Peter had the magic. He did what came his way.

When I was a kid he told me he and a friend would take long drives in the fall to see the colors on mushrooms. I loved this. We talked of all-wheel-drive subaru's and optimal road-trip vehicles with great zeal. When I got my little 2.6 liter 4wd truck he expressed his admiration. He asked- 'What size gas tank does she have?'. We estimated how many miles I could go between fill-up's, in my vehicle of new found freedom.

That year at Chamisa Mesa high school we went to the Bodhi Manda Zen Center in Jemez Springs on a 'retreat'. The Hail-Bop comet was burning across the night sky and Peter was the magical Jester reflecting its cosmic illumination here on Earth. At the end of the retreat he told us he really appreciated his time with us kids, and the comet, amidst the sulfur smell of springs, Zen rituals, and 'hippy-high school 'repertoire. I felt what he was saying.

What began as our 'independent' Latin class with Peter led to him teaching at the high school. His class became part of the curriculum and he a fixture at school. We would drive down Blueberry Hill Road to Rita's to scarf down chicken mole burrito's. Herb and visine later we'd go back to school, Peter slinking in with the rest of us kids.

He is probably the smartest person I've ever met. His mental acumen was razor sharp. Remembering Latin declensions, events and dates in history, botany, lay-lines, books and poems.

He was a true radical. Walls of convention did not restrict him. He did what came his way, peacefully, and with Love.

Thanks for everything, big brother Peter. Big Love to you and your family. I think I'll pray to you from time to time. Love, your student, your friend.

December 19, 2014

I settled in Ranchos in 1972..a brand new refugee from the east Coast.  The Universe must have wanted me to be initiated quickly into the Taos mystique because Peter and Anne were my nearest neighbors and the first people I met here.  What an initiation!  We all became great friends.  Annie was pregnant with Ian at the time.  Peter truly was king of the hippies. rumor had it he used to drive a horse drawn buckboard to town back in the days just before I met him.  Two years after my arrival, I bought property in San Cristobal with Juan Sisneros and our two families with Iris and Marrc, continued to share many more iconic moments together. We would trade construction help…one week at our house one weekat Peter and Anne's. tall tales and adobe mud were slung in great quantities. Ian and Bess were toddling amongst the bricks and cement mixer and Sylvan was gestating.

Those times defined me and made for the greatest memories of my life…building our house with good friends in the NM sunshine..it just doesn't get better. Within it all, Peter was warning us about the dire times to come…he was very far ahead of others in his accurate prognostications. Because of him I squirreled away 50 lbs of brown rice and lentils to hold us over during the apocalypse! The only thing he was incorrect about was the timing…he definitely sharpened my awareness of the coming times. what a larger than life character! Imagine he and Bill Gersh are watching over all of us…what a pair of guardians! with their cosmic infusions we'll all take leave of our sanity (a good thing) and have a LOT more fun. I am sending him telepathic heartfelt deep gratitude for his huge influence in my life. again I say, what a character…he gave us all permission, with his huge personality, to be wilder, and freer. Deepest blessings Peter wherever you are. 

Peter the Great, and the outrageous...

December 16, 2014

Peter was one of the first people I met when I came to Taos. A hitchhiker guided me first to Taos, and then to an alternate cafe, run by an SF refugee named Rick. When I staggered in from the cold, I was penniless and fearful. (I had just deserted the army) And there was Peter, stoned out and gut-laughing. His resonant, baritone voice filled the room, and quickly won my heart. I was drawn into the stories of this former digger from the early SF days. I found myself laughing with him. I had just met a man who was joyful in these scary times. Suddenly I had forgotten my personal problems. Peter was unaware of the gift he was giving me. Peter was a natural leader for me.
To know Peter then was to get high with him, talk with him, and listen to him.
His life was, to modify Shakespeare,
"a tale told by an idiot,
full of sound and fury,
but (in Peter's case) signifying everything"

Peter the man then, lived it balls out, lusting after every experience, all beauty, all passion, with a child's wonder. Peter was profoundly sensitive to other people. He could communicate with and bridge the gap with all peoples he met. Peter was wonderfully unself-conscious. Why he wore his goddamned sombrero on plane flights for 30 years! I envy a man who can be so totally free like that. Peter made me feel uptight and rigid, and not many people can do that. And with Peter's freedom, I felt more free to say and do whatever I wanted to. For those of us who knew Peter, he was such a marvelous example of the grandeur of the human spirit. And if you knew Peter, you know exactly what I am saying. This was a profound gift from Peter.
I continued visiting with Peter every few years until his passing. Taos, for me, will now be more empty. For as Peter leaves us, we have only our grand memories, and some sorrow of the time passing about us. Yes, we are getting old. Our dearest friends are dying. 

As much as anyone I have known, Peter lived Dylan Thomas' great lines
"Do not go gently unto thy good night,
rage rage rage against the dying of the light" 

Carry on, Peter. You will rage on forever in our memories.   

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