Stuart McIntosh

Clifton Stuart McIntosh, born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Saturday, September 7, 1946, to Ralph Vinson McIntosh and Lydia Rosenberger McIntosh. He was raised amongst the elm trees and orchard groves of Albuquerque's Stronghurst Neighborhood, where families are still connected by generations of annual harvests, irrigation water, warblers singing beautifully, and frogs skipping between fences. Stuart lived in this neighborhood his entire life, where five generations of McIntoshes have lived. On Sunday, December 19, 2021, Stuart experienced one final sunset as the Sandia Mountains cast their pink hue onto the walls of his home. He was surrounded by his family in his own home situated on the land he loved.

Stuart courageously battled an aggressive brain cancer for five weeks, but it quickly outmatched the strongest man his family has ever known physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Formally trained as an educator at the University of New Mexico, Stuart taught Albuquerque youth for years, but eventually transitioned to a career as a passionate builder and creator. He provided for his family by doing what he loved as a successful contractor for 40 years running McIntosh and Dutton Construction, Inc. with lifelong friend and business partner Eric Dutton. Focusing exclusively on quality and pride in their work, they were blessed with exclusively referral business and repeat customers and their masterpieces can be found sprinkled across the beautiful landscapes throughout New Mexico.

Stuart was a devoted husband and father to his wife and two daughters. Leaving before sunrise to a job site, he would write daily love notes to his wife. Returning at sunset from a long day of manual labor, he would often sing a tune and spontaneously grab one of his daughters to dance into the kitchen welcoming the evening of family time together.

In his later years, Stuart enjoyed ten years of retirement where he traveled extensively and enjoyed the wilderness of the southwest. He continued many building projects, now on his own timeline, creating beautiful walls, gates, furniture, and homes and working the irrigation system and ditch banks of his small parcel of land. His favorite activity was grandpa to his six-devoted grandchildren. He was known to make the best school lunches, always enclosing a love note in each one. His favorite days were the days his granddaughters got out of school early. He would scoop them up in his work pickup with fishing poles to enjoy fishing the Rio Grande banks or Jemez Mountain streams until dinnertime. More recently, he enjoyed his weekly lunch out with his high school friends or making soup on Tuesdays for his wife and sister as they meticulously sussed out the genealogy of their ancestors.

Stuart was the family hero and a living encyclopedia of not-so-trivial knowledge. He would often deliver poetic and poignantly resounding prayers of thanks. Stuart possessed seemingly endless energy, filling every day with purpose. He would never hesitate to offer help to anyone who needed help moving across town, across the country, or with an impromptu project, from leaky faucets to broken water mains. He helped move his children, grandchildren, and extended family to-and-from universities and new job locations across the US countless times over the decades. He loved fruit pies from the harvests of his orchard, classical music or Jazz secretly streaming from his hearing aids as he worked on projects. He cherished every grandchild's sports event, summer swimming pool games, raking leaves for the grandkids to frolic, or snowball fights in the winter. He loved to dance with anyone who would jump up with him especially his dog, Storin. His capacity to love, see the beauty in life in its infinite mystery was immeasurable. Our monument of a father, grandfather, relative, and friend has left us with broken hearts wishing for one more game, project, love note, or dance around the kitchen.

Stuart is survived by his best friend and the love of his life and wife of nearly 50 years, Julia Walker McIntosh; daughter, Amy McIntosh Aldrete and son-in-law, Horacio Aldrete; grandchildren, Annalisa, Isabel, and Stuart Aldrete-McIntosh; as well as by daughter, Hope McIntosh-Trigg, and her daughters, Chey Lee Anderson, Tayler, and McCarley Trigg. He is also survived by Alice McIntosh Vogel and her children, Josh Vogel and Alicia Vogel Pottoff; along with hundreds of cousins, aunts, uncles, and extended family members and a very devoted and heartbroken Doberman Pinscher, Storin.

Please help us celebrate and memorialize our family hero on Saturday, January 8, 2022, 10:00 a.m., at FRENCH-Lomas. In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family asks that you consider donating to one of his favorite charities: Saranam https://saranamabq.org or New Mexico Wild https://www.nmwild.org/donate/