By Andy Lyman/The Paper. Photos by Roberto Rosales.
Anyone living in Albuquerque who doesn’t at least recognize Don Schrader either hasn’t been around long enough or isn’t paying attention. His usually barely clothed, tan body is nearly as recognizable as the city’s skyline. There are few whose faces are plastered on postcards. Some might know him as the nearly naked guy who walks everywhere. Longer seated residents, though, probably know him as Don, the guy who has strict and outspoken views on diet, taxes and lifestyle. With long enough conversations, Schrader emerges as Don, the guy with a big heart, a deep belief in forgiveness and a love for everyone—even those who stray far from his way of living.
At 78, Schrader still maintains his decades-long and self-prescribed lifestyle of eating a raw vegan diet, naked sunbathing, urine drinking, conscientiously avoiding paying income tax and living a simplified life that rivals many religious leaders who aim to do the same. But in the past five years or so, he tells The Paper. over a series of conversations in the sunroom he’s made his home, he’s been planning for the one guarantee in life: Death. Having seen a long list of friends and relatives die over the years, death is something he’s always been prepared for, but only recently has he begun to make actual plans. In the past year, he has also softened his stance on riding in cars—something he had adamantly avoided for more than two decades until a still-unidentified person hit Schrader with their car and left the scene. He’s softened his stances on other key doctrines he had previously held for much of his life, but some are more practical and others are products of having an open mind…