Kate and Katie part 1

*** I was going to post this piece second, but in honor of my grandmother's birthday ... she would be 106 today if she were alive... I am going to post it today.
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Maybe I am a little dense or it says something about the power of stories. All my life, my grandmother, whose beautiful name was Enriqueta (the one I was to be named for, if I was a boy?!), went by Katie. Everyone has always said it was because "Queta" became Katie.

Now I am pretty sure it was the name that the nuns gave her when she got to St. Catherine's. I wonder just how many orphans that ended up at St. Kate's became Katies. Her sisters had names that were easy to translate, so they became Maggie and Cori (from Margarita and Corina).

It's not clear if my uncle Pete (yeah, prove that the nuns didn't give him that name ... from Aureliano) was at St. Kate's before he ran away and started working to be able to support his sisters... but with the name like "Pete" it's sure that someone rebaptized him.

Here are some pictures of my grandmother.

This is the only photo I have from my grandma's time at St. Catherine's. At least, I imagine it has to be from that time because there are no other photos of her life before her parents died... that I could get my hands on, anyway. This was in a shoebox in my dad's closet with a few of his favorite things. Since he put me in charge of the family history he can't really get angry at me for esculcando...


This is my grandparents with their new grandson, my brother, aka the golden child. He's the original.

I love this photo... in fact, I have been carrying it around with me since last summer. It is my grandpa, my brother, my mom with sister as bun in the oven, my aunt, my grandma (Katie) and my other grandma. I love the look on Katie's face as she is watching my mom and brother and grandpa. He (the golden child) was her favorite for a long while... no one can deny it.


My grandparents, my mom and my sister in El Paso on a family trip... guessing my dad took the pic, not sure where my brother was, but I am pretty sure he was getting into trouble.

Grandma and grandpa (?) with my aunt, my brother and a "cousin" from El Paso.

My grandmother with all her grandchildren through 1967... there would be at least five more to come including me.

Here is my grandma with her children at a family reunion circa 1980...a few years after my grandpa died and a few before my grandma would leave us too.

This is as close to Uncle Pete as I can get with the photos I have. This is his house, his front step, and my brother and I sitting next to his great-grand daughter ... who I don't even remember but my mom informs that is who the other little girl is in the picture. [Circa 1971]


[All photos scanned from my mom's collection ... since they are in a box, I feel it is OK to swipe them, scan them and share with my siblings and cousins.]