Leyenda de Los Romero, entonces y hoy The Legend of the Romeros, Then and Today

By Dr. Ofelia Romero-Motlagh

Dr. Ofelia Romero-Motlagh has written a book identifying and celebrating her nineteen-member family, from their humble beginnings as farm laborers to their lives as successes. Tragedies to accomplishments are highlighted. Information is presented with historical reference, cultural nuances, and photographic images accompany them. Their daily life from their "raíces," or roots, to family recollections and memories, an honest story and look into the Romero legend is presented. These pages acknowledge and teach the complexity of their world and life and show the meshing of their world while they remain unique yet embedded in the American Dream and Romero practices.

Their ancestral background is highlighted with struggles along the way and with the gains in their American Dream. They helped create the American Dream, with Romero generations serving in the United States military, making sacrifices to achieve excellence in education, continued with focus of the Dream with great determination, and always worked hard.

At times she tells her story with bilingual terms identified as spoken in their life among each other, with English translations.

This book was written over time, years, due to work, furthering her education, and events happening in her life that became prominent. Thus, she wrote.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Oct 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638811336

Book preview

Chapter 1

Los Romero, The Romeros

The Romeros

This is a story about my life. I have wanted to write a book about my life experiences, especially as related to my family. You see, I have much respect, pride, and love for them. Let me explain where this comes from.

Raíces Family Roots

Family Roots

Our paternal grandparents, abuelitos Paz Romero y Regina Zermeño, were born in Encarnación de Díaz, Jalisco, México. They lived during the years 1881–1940 and 1891–1954, respectively. There was a ten-year age difference between them, typical of the times. Paz’s parents, our paternal great-grandparents, were Feliciano Romero and Felipa Romo. Regina’s parents were Pedro Zermeño and Guadalupe Romo.

Our maternal grandparents (abuelitos) were Jesús Pérez y Regina Gutiérrez. Regina’s parents were also born in Encarnación de Díaz, Jalisco, México. Jesús was born in the year 1896 and died at an unknown date, and Regina’s dates of life are unknown. While I have not gotten dates for Regina, I have found that her parents were Porfirio Gútierrez and Apolinar Casillas.

After further researching the names of our familia, or grand—and great-grandparents, I found their names had been changed or recorded inaccurately sometimes, possibly due to persons recording baptismal or marriage documents. I discovered that some tombstones, including my father’s were not accurate. This possibly could have been the case of insufficient funds to write complete names, so a shorter or abbreviated name was used. Examples of name irregularity include: Paz or José de la Paz Romero, Regina or María Regina Gutiérrez, and María Apolinar Casillas. Also noticeable is a common practice seen then (and even now) of starting newborn male names with José before other names the child is given and María before other names a female newborn will be given. Interesting to me is that in my family, siblings were given names without the José or María. These names honor Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesús.

Paternal grandparent tombstones.

Regina Romero, Paz Romero, Romero Family Tombstones (Manuel Romero project photos 83, 81, and 84, author’s collection).

Paz y Regina were born in a small town, or should I say rancho, not far from each other. How they got to even get to know each other is a story in itself. My understanding from family interviews and conversations with our parents, tías, and tíos is that they lived in neighboring ranchos and possibly knew each other because they sometimes worked in the campo, or field, together. When they discovered love—or who knows, maybe abuelo Paz discovered it and decided to make Regina his bride—they were married in the parish church of Encarnación de Díaz in the state of Jalisco in México. Later some of their children were baptized and even married there. The church remains standing today, and their priests continue to perform marriages and other religious rites as they did in the days my grandparents and great-grandparents had rites performed on them. These records are available in their parish archives as well as Ancestrry.com and MiParentela.com. They, my grandparents and father, headed for the United States of America and made the border crossing from Mexico to the US in El Paso, Texas, on October 29, 1910. (Ancestry.com border crossing and later the USA 1920 Census archives indicate my father was then ten years of age.)

Before I proceed further, I should clarify what the name Romero means in Spanish, the root of our lineage. I am still trying to get this information on our roots, but for now I am relying on what I’ve learned from interviews, family conversations, and, I hope soon, researching our ancestry through different methods and sources where this type of history can be found. For now, I can say we were told, and we believe our roots go back to Spain—what area, I don’t know yet. Our name, Romero, means both wanderer and rosemary (as in the plant or in a botanical sense). The Velazquez Spanish and English Dictionary says it means a pilgrim or traveling on religious account. I find this information very appropriate because it really seems to describe the Romero saga, La Leyenda de los Romero.

The names Paz y Rejina (note that they signed their photograph Rejina not Regina and Sermeno, not with ñ as these names are commonly spelled) were possibly written like this when information was given orally and or due to illiteracy. This is an immediate insight to their possible background as far as when this was written and their level of education or literacy. As a young couple, they had goals for their future and that of their future family. They had a family of several males and one female. They lived on Main Street in Fillmore.

Family of Paz and Regina Romero, my paternal grandparents.

Familia Pérez-Romero, Pérez-Romero Family

La Familia Pérez-Romero started with my parents, Germán and María del Refugio Pérez Romero. They were both born in Encarnación de Díaz, in the state of Jalisco in the central part of México. We do not know if they had ever seen each other before. We don’t think so, but whatever the situation was, I believe we were blessed with this occurrence of our parents meeting. Germán went to Mexico for a family visit. At the time, the area was known for its mining and railroads. Papá’s interest did not lie there. Today, the area continues to have the same forms of employment, but in addition to mining and working, there is agriculture: beans and other basic crops including corn, onions, and chili peppers along with mesquite and nopal cactus vegetation. Livestock includes cattle and horses, and handcrafts include embroidered clothing as well as tablecloths and more. Mamá embroidered, and our abuelo(s) worked the fields and had a few livestock (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encarnación_de_Díaz). Today, the area holds memories of our roots, and the rail line built in 1883 still connects Mexico City and Ciudad Juárez.

After visiting family and meeting Mamá, Papá returned to America to work and plan his next step. He asked Refugio’s mother for permission to meet and speak with her. Her mother finally allowed them to speak at the window of their home and they saw each other at church. Their meetings were limited and brief, but I guess this could be considered a courtship. He told Refugio vengo por ti en un año y nos casamos, he would return to marry her. My father was living in the United States of America, working as did all of his family, los Romero. They had come to America with their parents, mis abuelos, to work and—as you have heard, I am sure—to reach the American Dream. They spent most of their years in Fillmore, California. About a year later, Germán returned for Refugio, and they were married, probably in 1937. When they married, it was understood she would join him and move to make their life together in America. Her mother was not happy about this because Refugio was the eldest child in her family and her mother was a widow. Refugio helped her mother support and provide for the family from a very early age. She would also be far away, and they did not know when they would be able to see each other. My tía Lola, one of my mother’s sisters, recalls this and shared how sad the family was when Refugio married and left their home.

Upon marriage, Refugio joined Germán y los Romero in 1937, with permission to live in America, as he had applied for and gotten a green card for her. To my knowledge, she never wanted American citizenship and at times spoke about returning to Mexico when her children would be grown, especially after Papá died.

They worked the fields and did it with honor. It was a privilege to be able to have this opportunity, as many other people they knew did not have the same opportunity. Through, literally, the sweat of their brows and strength of their backs, they were able to eventually help their parents provide for the family and, in later years, get other types of employment.

What do I mean by other employment? Some of mis tíos, my uncles or my father’s brothers, became workers in a plastic factory (Robinson Lamey). Another became a worker at the Port Hueneme Naval Base. One, Tío Benjamín, became a hospital attendant or custodian. Tío Alfonso worked doing landscaping and other jobs. A sister, my tía Esther, worked as a classroom aide. And I also believe one, Tío Hemeterio, was even able to create a niche for himself and became a barber with his own shop, Scissor and Comb Barbershop. Mi papá became what they could today call an entrepreneur of sorts. He was a foreman for the Fremlins, recruiting laborers to do the picking on their ranch and for Charley Mills on his walnut ranch. Later Papá turned to working with his children, doing jobs picking walnuts and tomatoes in Moorpark. He had us collect empty soda bottles; he would get materials from the Dewey Garden Center to do work for people in town such as home repairs, yard maintenance, pruning trees. Other building materials came from the dump, such as galvanized pipe, aluminum, and iron. He would sell them by the pound, as we also did with walnuts, to buyers from Los Angeles. These would in turn be sold to bakeries and other places. But as I recall, one of the biggest sources of money came from our family’s mutual endeavors: la pizca, working in the field picking fruit, walnuts, and the like. But there were many years before that time: years of youth, love, matrimony, family, and work. Si, esos años de juventud, amor, matrimonio, familia, y trabajo,

Back in the year 1937, Papá, Germán Zermeño Romero, went to México on a vacation with a plan of visiting familia, getting immersed with the cultura, and who knows, maybe even seeking a good woman to take as a wife. This courtship practice was common. Their parents were from Mexico, so that made logical sense. He went with mi tío Benjamín. My tío Benjamín was the younger of the two, but both were happy in each other’s company and excited about the adventure. Papá was the eldest of la Familia Romero. Mi tío Benjamín was a few years younger but they got along well. They set out for México, I figure, approximately at the ages of 27 and 19, respectively. I estimate this because 1920 US Census data indicates an eight-year difference between them.

Left to right: my paternal grandparents and father Paz Romero, Germán Romero, my father, and Regina Romo Zermeňo Romero. Germán Romero was about two or three years old in México in the early 1900’s (photo courtesy of Tía Margarita Morones Romero). After researching and accumulating further documentation, I believe this photograph was more likely probably taken in the United States after immigrating here.

Chapter 2

Familia Pérez, Pérez Family

Pérez Family

I have often thought and actually mentioned to some of my family and students in my classes, that for some reason, I believe I may have been Jewish in another life! This may not be so far from the truth. If I or we are descendants of other Pérez people, this could very well be the case. They could have been Jewish, not Catholic as we are today. I recently thought to look up the name for the heck of it and discovered the following:

Origin: Perez. Hebrew family originated as a family name in Spain (1318). Perez was son of Tamar and Judah and also is a name of the Messiah in Rabbinical literature. Other surnames derived from this include Peretz, Pritz, Pretz, Peres, Prats, Pertzki, Perezvou. (www.surnameweb.org)

In recent times I have been told that I am Jewish. I ask why. They usually answer something like You look like it. Go to Israel and other places with great numbers of Jewish people, and you are what you see! If they converse more, they comment on the fact that my/our mamá’s maiden name is Jewish! Pérez is a very common Jewish name. Investigating our maternal lineage, we know our raíces (or roots) come from Spain. As time passes, I am researching this. It is not a done deal yet.

Recently, we were given a gift regarding ancestry from our sibling Irene. It indicates that we have 82 percent European background in our ethnicity, with the Iberian Peninsula 25 percent of this. At the time, my great grandparents and their parents would have lived in the Iberian area. This was similar to the time of the Spanish Inquisition of 1478–1834. This could have affected our lineage, which possibly included a Jewish background for los Romero. That is another measure of the possibility I/we have Jewish background. According to Wikipedia, Pérez is a Spanish and Jewish surname popular with people of Sephardic Jewish descent. Also, a DNA study by Nicholas Wade, December 4, 2008, shows 20 percent of the Iberian population has Jewish ancestry (https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/world/europe/04iht-gene.4.18411385.html).

Romero Family Book photo database number 142. This page shows our paternal lineage (courtesy of prima Susana Romero Preciado).

Chapter 3

Valores de familia, Family Values to Live By

Family Values to Live By

Religión, religion; respeto, respect for others (especially elders); la educación y educación, education and manners; and tradición, traditions—these are but a few of our values. A testament to this is a few photographs and memories we have from past times.

Religión, religion, for example, surfaced then in our lives and continues to be a great factor in our lives today. Whether we accept and believe or not in all we were taught, religion and faith live on. As Roman Catholics, we were raised to follow the Ten Commandments, prepare for and follow religious rites, and pass our religion on to the next generation. Faith was and has been a big part of our upbringing and religious core. Honoring religious celebrations and feast days continue to be a part of life observed by most of us. Religion was also stressed as a possible vocation. Consequence to all of this: we had a sister go on to take vows as a nun and had a tío, tío Rubén, who took his vows and became ordained a priest. More about Consuelo, our nun, and Rubén, our priest, later.

Religion: Baptism of Joaquin Anthony and Lucas Francisco with parents Drs. Anthony C. Romero and Charish Barry Romero (photo courtesy of author Ofelia Romero-Motlagh, Canon 500, Dec.–Apr. 10, 2013, number 254).

Left to right: godparents Carla and husband (unidentifiable), parents Drs. Anthony C. and Charish Barry Romero, paternal grandparents Francisco and Francisca Romero, and unidentified priest.

Respeto, respect, was evident in almost everything we did and continue to do to this day. Examples of this include how we address people. In Spanish, opposed to tú, we say usted, meaning you in the formal form of salutation. We politely acknowledge others when meeting them or seeing them on the street. We honor and do for our elders. We speak like educated people not to show off but to give honor and respect to others as we believe all people have worth. When speaking, we try to be polite and let others have their say. Although we may not always agree on matters, we try to allow for this. Much of what we do many people do: we wait our turn, do not interrupt others when they are speaking, do not take advantage of others, and we help others, young or elderly. This shows what we refer to as educación, manners, different from education, or textbook learning.

Education: high school graduation of Gloria Pérez Romero, the youngest Romero sibling. Siblings, tíos, nieces, in-laws, and friends attending. Our parents not in attendance as they were already deceased (1980).

Educación, education was also highly valued and encouraged. Education was the avenue to a better life, economically speaking. In the end, I believe they got the balance correct: both educación and education were and are necessary to get ahead and be one in peace with our surroundings and the world of people around us.

These values continue to be taught, promoted, and passed on to our growing generations. As for the typical education many people know and recognize as prosperity and becoming something in life, this was very important to our parents, but so was educación. As a family, I believe we have lived up to our parental expectations and model. Nice job, hermanos, siblings.

Respect for elderly and family: attending our cousin’s funeral mass.

Our prima Nicandra Gutiérrez, María N. Cuevas, 7 de noviembre, 1946–12 de abril, 2013, fecha de nacimiento. San Sebastián del Álamo, Jalisco. Entró en descanso eterno, Yuma, Arizona (photo from author’s collection).

Before our prima Nicandra passed away, I called her. She was already very ill. She shared that she was happy with her life, her children, her work. She said, "Ni un centavo me dio mi papá por todo el trabajo que hice. Eso me molestó mucho pero ahora tengo mi trabajo, amigas del trabajo, y me gusta mucho". Basically, she was sad that in all her life while at home, she had never been paid a cent for the hard work she did and she felt unappreciated, but that changed. She was happy she had worked after marriage and had money she earned for making her life as best she could for her family and children. It was sad to hear her say these words. Following is her funeral mass information including prayers, an estampa announcing her date and place of birth, death, time of rosary and Mass, pallbearers, place of internment, etc.

Estampa/prayer card for my cousin, Nicandra (photo from author’s collection).

Tradición, Tradition: Jesús making his famous gravy!

Left to right: my husband Abbas, sisters Josie and Lupe, Jesús, brother John, and brother-in-law Richard Guerrero (courtesy of author, Frank’s project, circa 1990).

And the tradition continues, but sadly, with new gravy makers: my sister Gloria, nephew Carlos, and me… Happy at least the tradition continues (November 2013).

Thanksgiving traditions passed on to newer generations. Left to right: nieces, sobrinas Lia and Stephanie making quesadillas as we wait for Thanksgiving dinner 2003 (courtesy author’s family collection).

(Photos courtesy author’s collection).

Carlos and Sarita’s Wedding Day, 7-12-08

Top Left: Sarita and Carlos.

Top Right: parents of the groom, Richard and Josie Guerrero.

Bottom Left: Familia waiting for Carlos and Sarita’s Wedding to begin.

Front to back: sisters Katy, Annie, sister-in-law Frances, Rosie. Standing to the right are brothers Richard and Robert.

Bottom Right: Familia waiting for Carlos and Sarita’s wedding to begin. Left to right: our brothers Robert, Richard, Frank, John, brother-in-law Darryl, my husband Abbas, and brother-in-law Dan.

Educación, Education: Carlos J. Guerrero’s graduation from University of California, Berkeley. Left to right: Lia, Josie, Carlos, and Richard Guerrero, 1995 (photo author’s collection, Frank’s project, number 178).

Chapter 4

Dichos de nuestra familia, Sayings We Live(d) By

Sayings We Live(d) By

Humans communicate by expression of words, body language, example, storytelling, and more. As other families, we thus communicated. It happens that we also communicated bilingually, Spanish and English. As we exchanged ideas, we sometimes referred to long-learned wit and sayings, terms and phrases, forms of talking often only known to our family or those close to us.

Our familia had its own sayings that some of us still use today and that we sometimes have to inform others of regarding their intended meanings. For example, I remember one Mamá used to say, y con frequencia: "El que tiene hambre, come" (The person who is hungry will eat). Simple enough! No special dishes prepared just because one of us didn’t particularly like what was presented on the table!

"Se entretienen con la cola del gato (You entertain yourselves with the cat’s tail). Interesting—we never had a cat—. But I again recall Mamá saying this. I take it to mean, You have fun with the simplest of things." This was true. We made our own fun and games, and our best friends were often each other. We also had friends, other children from the neighborhood or who happened to be in classes with us.

"Cada loco su tema, o como comúnmente se dice: Cada loco con su tema". (Each crazy person has his own theme). Everyone goes about his/her business as they see fit.

"Tienen la calma del mes de mayo" (You have the calmness of the month of May). I think this was our parents’ way of letting us know that we were moving as slow as molasses, and from what I recall, it was mentioned when we had chores to do and/or when we had to get up early! In retrospect, I think we followed our parents’ requests. And to this day, many of us march to the sound of their drum, meaning we continue to do as we were taught and expected to do, and we usually did these chores or other requests rapidly and quite efficiently. I still have a difficult time just allowing myself to do nothing or, better said, doing what I want to do even when I know I could be taking care of some things that need taking care of. Old habits are hard to break!

"Cada quien tiene su gracia" (Everyone has their own grace…their own uniqueness/gift). I remember Mamá saying this. I believe she believed this. In this way, I am similar to Mamá.

"Todo con medida" (Everything with measure). For us, this meant eating with measure or not in excess. Mamá often said this.

"Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres" (Tell me whom you are with, and I will tell you who you are).

"Como te vez me vi. Como me veo te verás" (The way you look, I looked. The