This is Part Two of Two Parts of six notable people from San Antonio, Texas, for a total of twelve outstanding individuals. Through the encouragement and persuasion of my good friend, brother historian, and mentor, Dr. Félix D. Almaraz Jr., I joined the Bexar County Historical Commission in the 1990s, and served as Chairman of the Oral History Committee. We met on a monthly basis to discuss potential candidates who have made a positive contribution to the social, cultural, historical, political, and educational development of San Antonio and Bexar County. The purpose of our committee was to interview people whose recollection added a human dimension, and a certain richness and flavor to our knowledge of important events. Otherwise, this valuable information would have been lost forever. During my tenure as Chairman, these are some of the notable people I personally interviewed:
(1) Archbishop Patricio Flores
He was born in Ganado, Texas, a very small Coastal Bend town and grew up in Pearland. As a young boy he traveled with his family to do migrant work throughout the state, from Corpus Christi to Lubbock. He was ordained a priest in Galveston in 1956. Early in his pastoral career, he directed the Christian Family Movement and the Bishop’s Committee for the Spanish Speaking. In 1969, he joined forty-seven other Mexican American priests to create PADRES, an organization dedicated to addressing church, economic, and societal issues of the Mexican American parishioners. A year later, Father Patricio Flores was named auxiliary to the archbishop, and then he became the first Mexican American bishop in the United States at the age of forty, and nine year later, he was elevated to the post of Archbishop of San Antonio, a spiritual and religious position he held until 2004. In 1972, he established the Mexican American Cultural Center in San Antonio. He helped organize and endorse the Federation of Guadalupanas in 1981. And, in the same year, he founded the Catholic Television of San Antonio, the first diocesan television station in the United States. I interviewed him on October 9, 1991, in his office at the Catholic Chancery in San Antonio. Five years later, he co-founded Teletón Navideño, designed to benefit abandoned women with children, the senior citizens, the unemployed, and the sick. Archbishop Flores received numerous awards, such as the Medal of Freedom, the Hispanic Heritage Award, the Ford Salute to Education, and the American Jewish Committee’s Human Relations Award. In addition, he was presented honorary doctoral degrees from three major universities. Archbishop Patricio Flores passed away on January 9, 2017, at the age of 87.
(2) The Finck Cigar Company (Bill Finck Jr. and Rafaela G. Sánchez)
When I called Mr. Bill Finck Jr. to schedule an appointment for an interview, he suggested that I should also speak with Rafaela G. Sánchez, and that I could do both of them in his office. When I walked inside the factory on Veracruz Street, located in San Antonio’s West Side, I noticed that most of the workers were women. I interviewed both of them at the Finck Cigar Company office on May 15, 1991. Rafaela Sánchez had worked for this company for seventy-two years and she was in her eighties. As a matter of fact, all the workers had been employed for several decades and started working when they very young, which speaks volumes for their loyalty to the Finck family. Bill Finck Jr. is the owner of Finck Cigar Co., a family owned business since 1893. She explained the process of making hand-rolled cigars, which she had been doing for decades. Since 1963, parts of the process became automated. He stated that their tobacco leaves come from North Carolina, Virginia, Connecticut, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and Brazil. He credits the success of the company to a combination of tobacco blends and other techniques. At one time the factory had seventy-six employees who operated the whole process for making a cigar. He said that they produce millions of cigars a year. Now, with the new technology, they have a website and also have a mail order service. The Finck Cigar Company is the last original cigar maker in Texas.
(3) Sister Mary Boniface O’Neill (Healy Murphy Center)
She spent sixty years working at St. Peter Claver Catholic School/ Healy Murphy Center. The school was established in 1888 by Margaret Mary Healy Murphy to provide an education for Black students from San Antonio’s East Side, who during this time were not getting an education due to segregation. While the school was in operation, she worked as a teacher and then as the school principal. It was during this time in the 1960s that I visited the school and their small gymnasium to play basketball against them. I attended St. Augustine High School in Laredo and we played St. Peter Claver twice every season. We were the Knights and they were the Trojans. In 1970, due to a decreased in the enrollment due to integration, the school was in danger of closing. Sister Mary Boniface O’Neill had the vision to start a nonprofit corporation and change the name to The Healy Murphy Center, the first alternative school for teenagers who were at risk of dropping out of school. She became the director of the center. Then, she opened a Child Development Center and clinic designed to help pregnant teenagers. I interview her on September 12, 1991, in her office at the Healy Murphy Center in San Antonio. She retired five years later. And, on Wednesday, April 23, 2003, she went to her eternal reward at the age of 87.
(4) Master Sergeant José M. López
When I was working as an associate superintendent with the South San Antonio Independent School District, the district’s purchasing agent, Robert Pedraza, besides being my colleagues, we became very good friends. In one of our many casual conversations, he told me about Master Sergeant José M. López. In particular, I found out that Robert was the son-in-law of MSgt. López and Doña Emilia because he was married to Beatrice, one of their daughters. Immediately, I thought that it would be a great idea to do an oral history interview with his father-in-law. I mentioned it to Robert and he wholeheartedly agreed and made the necessary arrangements. Consequently, I interviewed him on March 7, 1992, in the living room of his house. His wife, Doña Emilia, was very courteous and offered me coffee and pan de dulce. Master Sergeant José M. López was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, and when his mother passed away, at the age of 8 years old, he was sent to live with a maternal uncle in Brownsville, Texas. During World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in Company K, 3rd Batallion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, U.S. 2nd Infantry Division. He stood up from a comfortable position on the living room sofa to demonstrate to me in vivid details how he, during the Battle of the Bulge, single-handed took it upon himself to defend his unit (Company K) that was under siege from German troops. Using a heavy machine gun, he risked his life and killed over 100 German soldiers. For his valor and gallantry, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military accolade, and only one of twelve Mexican American soldiers during World War II to have received it. He also received the Purple Heart. He told me about his deep devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe and how he prayed to her many times when he was in combat. Upon his return from the war, he took his wife and two children and made a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Portions of Interstate Hwy 37 and 10 in San Antonio are named in his honor, as well as a street and a city park in Mission, Texas, a middle school in the Northeast Independent School District In San Antonio, and a statue was erected in Brownsville’s Veterans Park. In 1996, I persuaded Robert Pedraza to invite his father-in-law to be our special guest at the district’s celebration of Veteran’s Day. He graciously accepted and his presence made the annual event extra special and memorable. Master Sergeant José M. López passed away on May 16, 2005, at the age of 94.
(5) Carmen Perry
While working as the archivist for the Spanish Archives of Laredo at St. Mary’s University during the 1960s, she discovered the lost town records of the Spanish settlement of San José de Palafox, located north of Laredo along the Río Grande. She translated and edited the documents and publish them in a book entitled, The Impossible Dream by the Río Grande: A Documented Chronicle of the Establishment and Annihilation of San José de Palafox, published by St. Mary’s University Press. It was during this time that she hired me as her assistant in cataloging the Spanish Archives of Laredo. Seventeen years later, on a Tuesday afternoon, November 22, 1988, after I got off work, Jo Emma and I went to visit her. The apartment was not too far from St. Mary’s University. I also wanted Miss Perry to sign my copy of her new book, With Santa Anna in Texas: A Personal Narrative of the Revolution by José Enrique de la Peña, published by Texas A&M University Press. Two years later, on January 18, 1990, she moved to the Incarnate Word Retirement Community, and on several occasions I went to visit her. After we walked to the nearby Luby’s for lunch, we returned and took the elevator up to the thirteenth floor, Room 136G, and spent the rest of the time in her tiny room, reminiscing about our days at St. Mary’s University, her two books, current events, Mexican history, and the death threats she had received in the mail and by phone when With Santa Anna in Texas was published. Some people felt that she was dishonoring the memory of Davy Crockett, a Texas hero. I interviewed her on May 22, 1997, in her room at the Incarnate Word Retirement Community, and lamentably two years later, on Friday, June 11, 1999, I was notified that she had passed away in the morning at the age of 93.
(6) Remigio Valdez Jr.
I interview him on June 26, 1997, at his home in South San Antonio. He was born in San Antonio and a became a migrant worker. He knew the hardships migrant families have to go through every year to find seasonal work and affordable housing. Through his dogged persistence, perseverance, and persuasive efforts during the 1970s, in working with city public officials and the Mexican American Unity Council, the Bexar County Housing Authority, with financial support from the Farmers Home Administration through the United States Department of Agriculture, built a 75 housing unit exclusively for migrant families, the only one of its kind in the city of San Antonio. The rent was based on the tenant’s income. In 1981, the city of San Antonio inaugurated the housing unit as the “Colonia Remigio Valdez Jr.” The migrant families affectionately referred to him as “Don Remigio.” He always felt that migrant families endured many injustices. What brings a smile to his face is to know that the housing unit is always full and that there is a waiting list. The Colonia Remigio Valdez Jr. was built on the city’s south side.
Serving as the Chairman of the Oral History Committee was hard work, time consuming, but it was extremely rewarding. I had a wonderful time and I learned a lot about the people I interviewed and their contributions. It certainly was my pleasure and an honor to have met these outstanding men and women. The learning experience of conducting the oral history interviews was invaluable and added another educational dimension to my repertoire of knowledge for a better understanding and appreciation of these people’s accomplishments. More importantly, I will never forget them for as long as I live. These fond and indelible memories will live in my mind and heart forever.
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Copyright 2025 by Gilberto Quezada.