Bingham died Wednesday at her home in Santa Fe at age 88, according to the New York Times. Clara Bingham, a niece, told the Times the cause was a stroke.

Bingham’s last novel, Taken by the Shawnee , told a fictionalized version of the story of her great-great-great-great grandmother, who was taken captive in 1779 and held for four years. The book drew a bit of attention locally when Bishop's Lodge abruptly canceled a speaking and book-signing event she had planned to promote the book.

In addition to her more artistic endeavors, Bingham was a prolific writer of letters to the editor to The New Mexican . Her last, which ran a week before her death, expressed skepticism about cutting down the Siberian elm trees in Fort Marcy park. She also wrote for Pasatiempo

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