Recuerdo - Julian Garcia by Mary Holguin

Recuerdos - Julian and Isabel Garcia

Stories of my Ancestors
By Mary Lerma Holguin
Corrales, New Mexico

My Great Grandfather Julian Garcia

Julian was a very polite gentleman. He would always take off his hat when a lady passed by. When he was courting Isabel, they corresponded by letters. When he came to town, she would quietly place a letter inside his horse’s saddlebag. One time she accidentally placed the letter inside the wrong saddlebag. When the other gentleman pulled out the letter and was about to read it, great grandpa Julian noticed it just in time. He immediately grabbed it from the other man’s hands and said simply, “I believe this letter is mine!”

Eventually he won Isabel’s heart, and they set a wedding date. His two sisters, Severa and Juliana, since they didn’t have an oven, stayed up all night making wedding cookies a few at a time in a skillet.

My Great Grandma Isabel Chavez Garcia

Great grandma Isabel would wear bonnets and hide her face when she went in public. She claimed witches could cast a spell on her. Her husband, Julian, spoiled her. Her sisters-in-law, Severa and Juliana, were required to wait on her every whim.

One time she wanted some fresh milk and she ordered Juliana to go get it for her. Juliana, by now past the breaking point, told her, “Get it yourself.” Isabel let out a loud cry

and told her mother-in-law, Simona, what Juliana had dared say to her. Simona, like her son, seemed to be under Isabel’s spell, so she ordered Juliana to do as Isabel insisted.

Another time she wanted some atole. As Juliana was preparing it, she kept tasting it. She “tasted” it so much that there was not much left, so she added water to refill it and served it to Isabel. When Isabel tasted the watered down atole, she started her spoiled-brat crying, and told her mother-in-law Simona that from then on she only wanted Severa to wait on her.

Dolores, Julian’s brother, did not like to see his sisters forced to serve as Isabel’s maids, so he moved the family away from Julian and his spoiled wife -- only to have Julian and Isabel move next door.

As her own daughters got older, Isabel relied on them to maintain her pampered life. They did all the cooking and household chores. Relatives remember Isabel being always on top of the bed being treated like royalty. She calculatingly maintained the appearance of being in a fragile state. She would look out for her husband and once she saw him

approaching the house, she would quickly climb into bed and appear to be weak.

Afraid of losing her pampering, Isabel did not want her daughters to marry. At the wedding of the only one of her daughters who dared to defy her and get married, she cried. But she did not cry like mothers cry at weddings. Instead, she carried on as if at a funeral.

Even though family members would tell Julian that she was fine whenever he wasn’t around, he cared so much for her that he never stopped worrying about her “frail” condition.