| Straight From My Heart: Journey to the top of the mountain |
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When Connie Gallegos was a young girl, she had a recurring dream that she was climbing a mountain on her hands and knees, but she could never reach the top of the mountain.
Gallegos has lived a long life, and celebrated her 89th birthday this year. Recently, the retired educator shared her journey and what it took to get to the top of her mountain.
She was known as Connie Romero growing up on Canosa Ct. in West Denver. Her parents, Felipa and Pablo had many mouths to feed. It's hard to believe in today's world that Connie was one of fourteen children and they all lived in a four room house with an outhouse.
She remembers that all the girls slept sideways on one bed and all the boys slept on the floor. This was the 1920s, and jobs were hard to come by, but Pablo Romero used the resources he had to support his large family.
Connie reflected on her father’s survival skills, and shared his thoughts on traditional roles for each gender. “My dad didn't think girls needed an education when I was growing up, because girls would get married and have children,” said Connie.
Every year, from April to October, Papa Pablo would take the girls out of junior high school to help him pick beets and cucumbers and pack tomatoes.
Connie remembers that she and her sisters would rise at 5 o'clock in the morning and go to the farms with their father. “We girls would have to leave school in April and work all summer and we wouldn't be able to start school until the harvest was over,” she explained.
When Connie was in the sixth grade, she cleaned house for a Jewish woman every Friday morning before school started. She paid Connie 25 cents an hour for her work and would give her a glass of milk and cookies; which was a treat for her, as Connie’s family could not afford those extravagances.
“When I started West High school, I asked my mom to tell dad to hire some men to help him with the farm work. Being a teenager, I was embarrassed to be working in the beet fields. My mom talked my dad into hiring some men to help in the fields so my sisters and I could go to school,” she said.
“While I was growing up, I always dreamed I was climbing a mountain but I could never get to the top,” recalled Connie. “I knew there was something at the top of the mountain for me, but I didn't know what it was.”
As a youngster, Connie was athletic and interested in sports, and her favorite class was physical education; she thought she might like to be a gym teacher some day. After Connie graduated from West High School, she began working for the City and County of Denver in the Parks and Recreation Department and remained there for 25 years; she worked at various locations including Rude Park.
Connie lived at the family home on Lowell Blvd. until she was 25 years old and got married. She raised four children, Garry Gallegos, Diane R. Cisneros, David Gallegos, Jr., and John Gonzales from her second marriage; she also has 11 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
Connie continued to work at the Rec Centers while she was married, until someone told her Denver Public School District (DPS) was hiring teacher's aides. Her first job at DPS was in early childhood development at Remington Elementary school. She loved working as a teacher's aide and continued for 7 years.
Connie was promoted to a head-start teacher and took advantage of a scholarship to Metropolitan State College of Denver and earned a teaching degree. On her first day as a head-start teacher, her twenty-two-year-old daughter Diane suffered third-degree burns from an explosion in her house. Diane was in the hospital for six months recuperating. Those were trying times for Connie as she continued to teach everyday, attend classes at Metro and visit her daughter at the hospital.
Within four years, the ambitious mother graduated from Metro State College with a Bachelor's Degree in Education. An interesting thing in Connie's life is that after she obtained her degree, she stopped dreaming about climbing the mountain. She had reached the top and achieved her goal. Perhaps it was her father’s attitude towards education; Connie was the only one in her family who obtained a college degree. It's also a fact that in the early 1900s, education and especially college education was a luxury poor people couldn’t afford.
After receiving her degree, Connie taught bilingual classes at Edgewater Elementary School to students from kindergarten to sixth grade. In addition to the bilingual classes, she taught English as a second language at three different schools throughout her career. She retired at 65-years-old while teaching at Thompson Elementary School in Jefferson County.
After Connie retired, she moved to Francis Heights Senior Apartments and has resided there for 26 years. Two of Connie's sisters, Ann Gent and Caroline Crume also live at Francis Heights making it a family affair. At 65, Connie was still very active and volunteered her services as a receptionist at the front desk. She swam twice a week at the resident pool and joined the Peace Corps at the Highland Community Center where she was active for 23 years sewing blankets for the homeless, unwed mothers and hospitals.
One of Connie's most memorable activities was joining the drama group. Sister Lynn, a teacher from Loyola and Sister Joan Wageman, Francis Heights Resident Service Coordinator (for 12 years), led the drama group with an ambitious agenda. Sister Joan still resides at Francis Heights in the South Building.
The acting troupe created memorable performances that included, Little Orphan Annie featuring Connie as little orphan Annie, The Christmas Carol, The King and I, Sister Blandena's Billy the Kid, and Dastardly Dan starring Fr. Madden, who was the Chaplin at Francis Heights; however, the plays ended after Fr. Madden passed away.
Connie is now 89-years-old and arthritis has slowed her down. She relies on her wheelchair to get around and spends much of her time reading. Despite her change of pace these days, she cherishes a lifetime of memories. “I can't complain,” said Connie, “I've lived a full and happy life.”
Magdalena Gallegos is a writer, playwright, historian, and publisher (Southwest Magazine).
© 2011 The Weekly Issue/El Semanario, Inc.
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