A Life of Service: Remembrances From a Teacher’s Daughter

A Life of Service: Remembrances From a Teacher’s Daughter

Deena J. González

Dossier Section, Aztlán 31(1)(Spring,2006).

Our mother, Vidal Trujillo González, exited the world peacefully in January 2005. A rosary at our parish church in Garfield, New Mexico, drew a crowd of over five hundred people, mostly former students of hers; one identified himself as probably her oldest student. She would have been enormously surprised and touched, and full of praise for the accomplishments of those who gathered in her honor. For years, my mom served the rural areas of Garfield in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, and Arrey in Sierra County, New Mexico, as teacher, advisor, confidante, and also resident community historian. She volunteered in her retirement years for the local parish councils, for the committees of the archdiocese, and for museum boards, and continued her commitment to Al-Anon to help others recover from the devastating effects of alcoholism.