Yesterday I went down to San Jose to participate in a fundraiser for a friend’s film she is producing called “Baile”. We did a staged reading of the script and there were also dancers!
I asked my mom today if she participated in this type of dance growing up– she didn’t. My abuela wasn’t that into it, but grandfather’s mother was the one who was more into the Mexican culture.
Great Grandma Hortensia with my grandfather and granduncle in San Francisco, 1925
My only “Mexican memory” of my Great Grandma Hortensia was her making fresh tortillas at my grandmother’s house when I was a little girl. She put just butter on the tortillas, and they were soooo good.
Today I went to my parent’s house in Martinez and of course I continued to dig through photo albums and ask my dad questions about the Irish side of the family since they have been in the Bay Area the longest. I keep hoping to unlock some memory he may have that can help me piece together my family tree. And then my mom gave me more family documents and records of her side of the family as well. My abuela kept an address book and some of her cousins are listed in it. I think it will definitely come in handy!
Happy Mother’s Day!
The family circa early 1980s.
Theresa Donahoe 