She was born on the toll bridge which once spanned the Rio Grande at a point a few yards north of where the Old Town bridge is today.

The toll bridge was owned by Mrs. Yott's grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Post. They collected 10 cents from each person wishing to cross the bridge, and there were plenty of customers as the Rio Grande was quite trecherous in those days.

"My grandparents had their home and grocery store right in the center of the bridge," Mrs. Yott said. "I can remember a big apple orchard they had just north of the bridge on the east bank of the river.

Mrs. Yott was born in her grandparents home on the bridge on May 24, 1885. Five days later, on May 29, spring floodwaters washed away the bridge and the home and the grocery store on it, and the Posts lost all their possessions.

Some of the ruins of the old bridge remained on the site for years afterwards.

The Posts had one daughter, Miquella, who married Max Stein, a traveling salesman who came to New Mexico in about 1883. Mr. Stein went into partnership with Mike Mandell in the pelt and hide business in Los Lunas.

Mrs. Yott, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Stein, came into the world while her mother was visiting her parents, the Posts, in their toll bridge home.

Floods, such as the one which washed away her home, were nothing new to Mrs. Post. Mrs. Yott recalls that her grandmother often spoke about the difficulty she had getting to the San Felipe de Neri Church for her first communion as a young girl because of the floodwaters that covered the entire plaza. That was about a century ago.

Mrs. Yott spent her early childhood in Los Lunas. Her grandfather was Solomon Luna, prominent Los Lunas sheep rancher. Stein later took his family to El Paso, where he died in 1891.

Post died several years after taking over the hotel, and Mrs. Post closed the hotel but rented out rooms there. Mrs. Yott said that she and her mother moved in with grandfather Post after the death of her father.

In 1897, Mrs. Yott's mother was married to Charles Bottger, member of a wealthy New York family who came to New Mexico for his health. A daughter of this marriage, Mrs. Julia Gallegos - a half sister of Mrs. Yott told of some of her recollections in this column early this year.

Mrs. Yott said her step-father re-opened the Post Exchange Hotel in about 1899 and made it into one of the show places of early Albuquerque.

She recalls how early Albuquerqueans dined under the trees in an outdoor patio at the hotel and listened to the music of a band which gave concerts every Sunday evening.

"They used to have cock fights there at the hotel too," Mrs. Yott recalled. "They wouldn't let me watch -- but sometimes I peaked through the fence."

Mr. Bottger also opened the first bowling alley in Albuquerque at the hotel, Mrs. Yott said.

"A number of teams bowled there regularly," she said, "but the only clubs I can remember were the Sandia and the Sauerkraut teams."

Mrs. Yott operated this business for a while after the death of her husband in 1919.

After studying at a beauty school in Los Angeles, Mrs. Yott opened a beauty parlor in 1924 in the old Simms Building at Fourth and Gold.

"My beauty parlor was the second one in Albuquerque," Mrs. Yott said. "There was one other before mine -- a shop operated by a Mrs. Hawker."

Mrs. Yott introduced many innovations in hair styles and care to Albuquerque women -- including the permanent wave. In 1947, after 23 years in the Simms Bilding, she moved the shop to her home at 734 Menaul NW. She also opened a small neighborhood grocery there.

Mrs. Yott spends most of her time with the grocery now, leaving the operation of the beauty shop to her daughter, Mrs. Martha Kastelic. She still has her license, however, and works in the beauty shop occasionally.

Monday will mark the 30th anniversary the opening of Mrs. Yotts first beauty shop. And although she is in semi-retirement now, she is proud of the fact that she has been engaged in the hairdressing business longer than any person in New Mexico.

I interviewed Mrs. Yott more than 25 years ago and she told me many things about her life and family background.

She told me she was born on a toll bridge that spanned the Rio Grande west of Old Town, that she opened Albuquerque's second beauty parlor, and that she introduced the the permanent wave to this city.

THE TOLL BRIDGE was owned by Mrs. Yott's grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Post, and it stood just north of where the Central Avenue bridge is today.

Mr. and Mrs. Post had their home and a grocery store in the center of the wooden structure, and collected 10 cents from each person crossing the bridge.

Mrs. Yott was born on the toll bridge on May 24, 1885. Five days later, Rio Grande floodwaters washed away the bridge, with the home and grocery, and her grandparents lost all their possessions.

POST WAS a pioneer stagecoach driver who settled in Albuquerque in the 1860's, married an Atrisco girl, and built the toll bridge. After the bridge washed away, Post bought an old mercantile building just south of Old Town Plaza and opened it as the Post Exchange Hotel.

The Posts had one daughter, Miquella, who married Max Stein, a traveling salesman who came to New Mexico in about 1883 and went into partnership with Mike Mandell in the pelt and hide business in Los Lunas.

Mrs. Yott said she was born in the bridge home while her mother was visiting her parents. She said she spent her early childhood in Los Lunas, then moved with her family to El Paso, where her father died in 1891.

SHE AND HER mother moved back to Albuquerque, and in 1897, her mother married Charles Bottger, member of a wealthy New York family who had come to New Mexico for his health.

Bottger reopened the Post Exchange Hotel which had been closed since the death of Thomas Post, and built an elaborate home that still stands on San Felipe N.W. just north of Central in Old Town.

The pioneer beautician was married in 1905 to Frank Yott, a prominent University of New Mexico athlete, who in 1911 opened Albuquerque's first dry cleaning business at 211 Third N.W.

HE DIED in 1919, and Mrs. Yott operated the business for a while before attending a beauty school in Los Angeles. In 1924 she opened a beauty parlor in the old Simms Building ar Fourth and Gold S.W.

"My beauty parlor was the second one in Albuquerque," Mrs. Yott said. "There was just one other before mine -- operated by a Mrs. Hawker."

Mrs. Yott introduced many innovations in hairstyles and care to Albuquerque beauticians.

In 1947, she moved her beauty parlor to her home at 724 Menaul N.W., where she continued in business until her retirement in 1959.