My name is Melinda Carrillo-Stone, and I am from the family of Leandro and Paula Escobedo.
They were my grandparents, my mother's parents, Lucia Carrillo, her husband was Wille Carrillo-Señor,
and they were from Barrio San Cudo. They lived at 1437 Ash, and there was like three families
or three siblings or more that got married at that small house on Ash, and they had 13 children.
My mother was one of the older ones. It was a big family, and so my mother and father's
restaurant, Wille and Lucia Carrillo, they had a restaurant on North Tenth and Grape,
and it was called Little Mexico, and they opened it in 1973, and I believe they closed it in
1990, and so they closed it, and then they passed it on to my brother, Wille Carrillo-Juner,
and he had it for a while. I don't recall when he closed it, but I know that when my parents
died in September of 1995, so we closed it, we sold the restaurant. We continued with
the booth at the fair, West Texas Fair and Rodeo, and that is Little Mexico, and that's
the only place that came from my mom and dad, Wille and Lucia Carrillo. My birth certificate
says I was born at 2241 Green, Barrio de Péngamo. I just found that out. But I was raised
in Barrio de San Cudo, because I know that we moved, and lived at 882 Cottonwood for
a long, long time, so I was raised at Cottonwood. My fondest memory was when I was younger,
and we had our fiestas there at Barrio de San Cudo, and we had our dances there at the
basketball court, and we had booths all around the basketball court, and we had a group of
girls that did the, they called it the Caracol, but there was a dance, there was a music to
that dance, and we all wore white dresses with a sash of Mexico, the red, white, or red,
yellow, red, green, and we danced to that music. If not, then they would ask me to be
a flower girl for one of the other queens that were older that got picked for the queen
for the 16th of September, and that was, that was one of my fondest memories. And now that
I'm older is when I have, when I have the reunion of San Cudo, and I always cry. Because
it reminds me of my parents when they were young, when they used to be there, and now
it's just us, and, and that's why I'm really, I really, really want to continue the Barrio
de San Cudo reunion, because a lot of our parents are not here anymore, and so we need
to stay together, and that's what I feel that we should do.
Looking at pictures that I just saw a while ago, I saw pictures of my, my brothers, and
the football team, and, and whatever else is out there, that it's really, it's dear
to my heart. Because I'm never going to be ashamed of living where I lived, and was raised
by the Barrio de San Cudo. The Barrio de San Cudo had our church, St. Francis, and St.
Francis was our church because there was no St. Vincent, and I don't know about Sacred
Heart, but there was no Holy Family, so everybody went to St. Francis. We all went to St. Francis,
and when we had our fiestas, it was all there, there, you know, and it was a big, big time
when we had our Hamacus at St. Francis, and there's a picture that I just brought that
is from one of those Hamacus where my parents are, and they had boots built from, from card
boards, that's how they were built, but it was a lot of fun. I've enjoyed my life being
at St. Francis. I can't say it's all the time, but, you know, because a lot of priests come
and go, there's always different priests, but the priests that we had back when I was
younger, which was Father Thomas Leahy and Father Michael, that's all I remember from
him is Father Michael, and they were really good priests. And as a, as a matter of fact,
Father Thomas Leahy was buried here at Cedar Hill Cemetery. He was from Ireland. I got
baptized at St. Francis, made my First Communion and Confirmation, and then I also got married
at St. Francis. My parents, William and Lucia Carrillo, were real big fundraisers. They loved
doing fundraisers for St. Francis, and when we had Guadalupe Hall, which we don't have
it anymore, but a part of it is still there, and as far as the concrete, because they built
the new one on that concrete. And so my mom and dad always loved to raise money for St.
Francis, and so they had, they had a big dinner honoring them for doing that for St. Francis
in St. Angelo. William and Lucia Carrillo, they, they honored them with that, and I'm
really proud of that. When St. Angelo diocese had their 50th anniversary, they were picking
families from each parish, and I was picked as one of the pioneer families due to my parents
and my grandparents for being the pioneer there at St. Francis. So I got to go to St.
Angelo and sit with all the bishops, and so that was very special to me because I know
that my parents were proud of me for being there.
When I was about six or seven, the GI Forum here in Abilene was really big, and they had
a competition where they had three girls compete against each other, and we were supposed
to raise money. So the one who raised the most money won. So I raised the most money,
and I won. Olga Curiel was one of the girls that ran for Queen, and her mother and her
grandmother had a store. Her grandmother was an Edina, and, and she had a panaderia, and
she made good Mexican bread. And then the other one was Tony Herrera, who her grandfather
had a store on Cottonwood, also there from the Battle of the Zangulu. The GI Forum had
made a cape for me because of, that's what I was going to wear. Of course, she had made
a dress also for me, and when she saw the cape, she said, my daughter's not wearing
that cape. So she made another one, especially for me, and that's the one I have. And Liz
Herrera can, can testify to that because we talked about that one day. I remember your
mom, she didn't want you to wear that cape when you weren't Queen, but she made a really
nice one, and I said, yeah, she wanted the best for her daughter. I attended Houston
Elementary for maybe two or three years, and then they, that's when they segregated, and
then they closed it, and then I went to College Arts Elementary, and then Franklin Middle
School, and then graduated from Madeleine High in 1972. So yes, in 1969, we had the
walk out. They used to call, the Spanish speaking was monkey language. That really didn't go
very well. And we all got together in a big group. We walked to Sears, and then, of course,
we gathered there, and, and we walked to the ad building on Mockingbird again, and so for
nine days, we did not go to school. We were all there at, at Sears during that time. But
I cannot exactly remember what, what happened that we, we finally decided we were going
to go back to school. So a lot of people, we would hear that those, those kids that are,
that did the walk out, they're not going to graduate. Well, I did graduate. I know I'm
not the only one, but there was quite a few that did graduate, even though they walked
out. But it was due to the, to the fact that there was a lot of prejudice and to me, it
was just, it just wasn't right. And so my mom was involved in it too. So she said, you
do what you got to do. So we did, we were invoking our freedom of speech. My mother,
Willy and Lucia Carrillo had four boys and I was the only girl. And so by the time they
finished with the boys, there was, I just couldn't go to college or anything. So I was
really, they were really glad that I graduated. And I'm glad too, even though I didn't go
to college. After I graduated, I, I got married to Mr. Dior García Sr. And I had two beautiful
children. My son's name is Ted García Jr. and Sonia García. So, and then I have seven
beautiful grandchildren. And through the years I've worked at different places. Of course,
at the beginning I didn't work and then I got jobs with the city of Abilene and then
with the school system. And then I also became a religious education coordinator at St.
Francis at one time. But then after that, I got sick. And by the grace of God, I got
hit by a softball. And I found that I had water in the brain that I did not know. And
so I had surgery. And so since 1999, I've had this mechanical machine that helps me
continue with life. So I know there's a reason why I'm here. And God has me here. Because
when I was born, this is what I remember from my mom and my dad. When I was born, they had
told my dad, it was either you or your mom. So I had to say, well, save my wife. And I
was real sad because I wanted a girl. And then I wasn't going to have my girl. And
he said, and I was sitting there waiting for them to come and tell me if, if your mom was
going to be okay. And so he said, all of a sudden here comes this little girl crying
and you lived. So okay, that was one I lived. God gave me life. And then when the ball hit
me and I found that I had this, I thought, okay, that's two. So okay, God, what do you
want me to do? So my purpose in life, I feel like this is what I'm supposed to do. I'm
supposed to be me. And I'm supposed to be what he wants me to be and to try to do whatever
I can for our community and for our Hispanics and my family, my grandchildren and continue
with what I have to continue with until he calls my name.
