Avelar, Lupe, 1946-

Lupe Avelar was born and raised in the State of Durango, Mexico, and since she was little learned from her parents the love for farming and hard work. Lupe relates her childhood with nostalgia and happiness, highlighting how her childhood moments were some of the most beautiful of her life. She grew up in a poor family that solely made their living from the farming of corn and beans. She witnessed her parents make ends meet in any way possible through hard work while staying together as a family and caring for each other. She worked in the farm helping her father plant seeds since she was eight years old. They always found a way to help each other as a family and to help many of the neighbors and people around them with food, clothes, and money.

When she got older, Lupe dreamed of working and getting her mother a new stove since her mother cooked with firewood in homemade ovens. Lupe decided to move to the United States where she had a brother who lived in the State of New Mexico. She reflects on the difference between the lifestyle in the United States and Mexico, on how rich in resources both countries are but that the differences in government provisions for their people. Lupe returned home and turned her dream into reality when she was able to get a new stove for her mother.

She then met her husband in the same town where she grew up. Her husband then decided to migrate to Los Angeles, California. Lupe stayed, and her husband would visit often and send her money. They had two children together before Lupe decided to move to the United States to join

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him. She tells of her apprehension before moving since she had a lot of farming animals and all her belongings. With a lot of doubt and just as much hope in her heart, she sold everything she had and came to Los Angeles.

Having lived in New Mexico, she describes how different both places were from each other. Her husband worked and lived in Dos Palos, California, a place Lupe describes as isolated. Her husband’s job was in the cotton fields at that time. Lupe remembers dearly how her husband’s boss then was a very kind gentleman that only spoke English. Although he could not communicate with Lupe, he helped them get groceries and helped with housing as well. Lupe became pregnant and her husband and her moved to Los Angeles for a short period of time but decided to return to Dos Palos to work under “Mr. Bryan”. Unfortunately, when they returned to work to Dos Palos, they ended up living in a rented home that was in very bad shape, but they made it work as a family.