My mother’s name is Maria Josie Gonzalez Guajardo Uvalle. She was born on April 21, 1946, in Poteet, Texas, the strawberry capital of the world. My mom was raised in McAllen, Texas and attended Sacred Heart Catholic school for eight years. She graduated from McAllen High School in 1965. My Mom was fascinated by all the stories they read in class. She soon realized that ELA was the ins and out of the English language and knew in her heart that she wanted nothing else but to become a teacher. She would play school with her little brother, Adolfo, every day. After she graduated from McHi, she attended and graduated in 1970 from my alma mater, Pan American College, with a double major in English and Spanish.

My mother was married by the time she graduated college. She was a dedicated woman to her family and believes that ambition and hard work are a powerful driving force because by the time she graduated from Pan Am, she already had two sons, my big brother Sam who was 1 year old and my late brother Santos who was three months old. She was also 6 months pregnant with my other brother, Salvador. Her first teaching job was in Zapata, Texas where she taught English for 5 years. My father was a very ambitious man, so he moved the family to Houston, TX to attend Texas Chiropractic College while he worked as an aircraft control specialist.

My mom taught at Port Houston elementary for 5 years. She often says the daily 1 and ½ hour commute was not easy, but it had to be done at the time. She had five sons by the time my father graduated as a chiropractor. He moved the family back to McAllen to establish his practice. My mother taught at Deleon Middle School for about 4 years then was relocated to Travis Middle School for the rest of her teaching career. She taught for 30 years. She loved it then and now that she’s retired- she still misses teaching.

It was during her Travis years that my mother became gravely ill. She currently has End-Stage Renal Disease and is in her 9th year of treatment. She knows that she can be called home at any time. One of her doctors calls her a “walking miracle” because she was read her death rights in January 2015 of complications to her kidney failure and a brain tumor. With the grace of God and the many faithful prayers from family and friends, she miraculously survived. She is a widow and has buried 2 husbands and 1 precious son out of her seven children. She’s a retired teacher of 30 years and lives with my sister, Sonia, and my brother-in-law, Rick, whom she calls her precious caregivers because they take care of all her many needs. She goes to dialysis 3 times a week for 3 1/2 hours. She expresses that she’s very content with the care she receives from Fresenius Medical. She has over 25 grandchildren and over 10 great grandchildren. She likes to joke that she’s lost count. My mom is at peace with herself at this time in her life, and it’s bittersweet when she says that she’s ready for the next stage of her journey, when the great Lord calls her home.