INEZ ALVAREZ LOREDO
NOVEMBER 7, 1921 - OCTOBER 7, 2017
INEZ ALVAREZ LOREDO is an icon to many in the Pilsen community and those who had the privilege to know her and work with her, were truly blessed.
She was born on Nov. 7,1921 in Harlingen, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, along the Mexican border. Inez was the eldest of six children and was the first Mexican-American female to graduate from high school in her home town. In 1949, she married Antonio Loredo. They relocated to Chicago in 1958 to a small apartment on West Harrison Street seeking better job opportunities. One year later, they were forced to move once again to pave the way for the construction of the University of Illinois Circle Campus. She, her husband and two children relocated to nearby Pilsen.
Pilsen was an entry port to many immigrants - Germans, Lithuanians and other Eastern Europeans. Now, it was Mexicans who were the newest immigrants. The transition from one immigrant group to another was not easy. Not only were the newcomers immigrants, they were Mexican, many of them undocumented, they spoke another language, they celebrated a different culture and for the next ten years, it would be a struggle as the community shifted into a predominantly Spanish-speaking neighborhood.
Inez's children were enrolled in Jungman Elementary and in 1960 she became one of the first bilingual Mexican-American to join the PTA in Pilsen. Before long she was the translator for new families enrolling their children at Jungman and later became an officer of the PTA. Trust was built as she consistently created bilingual settings in which parents felt that their voice mattered concerning their children's education.
In 1963, Inez Loredo was offered a position at Jungman School and would become one of the first bilingual School Community Representatives (SCR). In that position, she began to work with Teacher Corps, fighting to bring bilingual teachers into the Chicago Public School system. In doing so, she encountered her first organizing campaign which was to remove a principal that the community had identified as insensitive towards the Mexican students under her supervision. This was evident since the principal refused to implement bilingual and special needs programs into the school.
The campaign to remove that principal introduced her to community organizing and the Pilsen Neighbors Community Council. In the following ten years, she spearheaded many changes in Pilsen such as: the fight to build Benito Juarez High School (serving as Chair of the construction committee to make sure the school opened on time), she was one of the founding member of the Fiesta del Sol which has since become the largest Latino festival in the Midwest. She fought the city to assure regular garbage pick-up, led a campaign to establish a community health center in Pilsen, fought for the construction of the Rudy Lozano Library and helped to win hot lunches for all of the schools in Pilsen. She served as President of Pilsen Neighbors Community Council who was responsible for the creation of the 18th Street Development Corporation, the construction of three new elementary schools, development of affordable housing and a moratorium on liquor licenses that is still in effect 30 years later.
If you ever met Mrs. Inez Loredo, you would encounter a gentle and sweet smiling woman with a fierce heart, strong love for her community and its people. She was trusted, beloved and mentored many current parent leaders. She loved her family, her church, her friends, her neighborhood and she loved life. She serves as a witness to what it means to be a good human being. Inez was endlessly devoted to the idea that all people are equally deserving of a good education and equal opportunities. Through her leadership, she set an example of what parents could accomplish when organized, focused and united for a common cause. Her untiring spirit still shines today and we are still benefitting from her contributions to the Pilsen community.
nity nnwibers piytusliiigfn'the creation c sc^for^ ' 'ConmunilyAcaiJatiii i FMamsunanmiwn ''
, BYlUDHmNO'SONNEU. ;
% StaffReporter/ :.'"-.;"5 ■■-:
I^i^o airiv^ in Chi-cago m the 1950s from a small town in -Texas; the daughter of a sharecropper--with :six kids who; all picked; cotton to make ends' meet : She came to.Pflsen toijoin'her husband; ympj^was; a ;migranf>TOriSr -1nM^:^aa^j>fH^.&r' bet-i^-paying raflftjad, construc-tion andfactoiyjoD^ ;•■*■' ;'By the ome sbe retired in thWlate 1580s j^m C^cagbk school system; she'd long been a v skifled? community orga-nizer. Mrs. Tyjredo had a soft ypice- that .belied her;shrewd strategizmg' and" stroig in-tuition, those; who knewher said !3Tfe'ra
talentinif^e parents she^mo-bilized, some who had been nngrant workers with; little
ftxpfiripnre iii rhnllpnging ait-
Mraloredo, who became president of-Pil&nNeigbbors Community Council, ■ walked picket lines and took part in candlelight vigils. to get a
. newtiigti school and. library for v-Pflsen: Benito ■ Juarez Community Academy, .which opejued in 1977,- and tJie Rudy Lozano' litraiy, ;.^unveiled in
.W89-Sh(l-helped found the 45^year-old ' Fiesta -; del SpL:
-bOled as the ^largest Latino fe^ihtBelifidwest; ^' i* • Her children, Maria Alicia Rodriguez and Natr^Jad Lo-redo, grew up to be educators.
, "I" became a teacher because of hbi£said her son, who in time was hired'to be'princi-pal of the high school that she helped to get built1
/Mrs. Loredo, 95, died Oct 7 at the University of Illinois Hospital from complications
of oldage/he said ■-' • > y::';;.
She/wasbbrhin Harlingen, Texas,' where her stijarecrop-, per' parents;Guadalupe ^and Ftehpav Alva^ scrap^^^^% gether enough fobuy a fmn. Her Guantguatp-borii father, insisted that 'young Inez be educated.' •_<;.' *
'"His thing;was, My daugh-. ter, has to go to school,' " said Nativida'd Lpredivlwhb said his mother wasI the only Mex-ican-American . in tier high school graduating class.
Sixtyreight years ago,: she married Antonio Loredo, a migrant rWorker.:whg moved north and tien sent-to Texas for his'wife r . )^ . ,.
In 1564, she started vol-, unteering at ba.,i0dtacli' school At tie time, Pilsen wasn't the -Mencan-T^eri-can enclave it is today. But the. Bohemian and Polish mothers who volunteered at Jungman School welcomed her, accord-ing to her children. -
"The ladies there, they sup-ported tier, they taught her how to run meetings, how to take notes,"-her son said; "As
the;neighborhood from Eastern ^European; she became " the Teader because she had a knovHedge of tiow. to run a meeting" ■'■'<?■
Mrs: 'Lorjedp^ landed, a: job
as a school-community repre-
sentative at Jiingman, where
she helped 'Sjjai^%wesjdng
fiai^esJwitM^enro
muhiz^on1 forms' anil■social
services. ry\'"*:
■? "That position served as a starting point," according -to the Pilsen Neignbors~Ck)mmu-nity Council, "She nienfored, she encouraged, she led'^ She : walked alongside hundreds of parents/and' became central to the campaign to win Benito Juarahigh schooL" • ;
- "Stie knew how to; pull out their strengths,"- whether it was lettering signs or giving speeches; her daughter said. One * woman she mentored, T^re^ Fragai, "was just'freMi. fftnr> Texas," ' tier daughter said. But^Mm 'iLoi^o^ bb-served; " 'Sbe 'has^albt of tat erit, and she's keeping it at homaWenejedit'" 1'
"When my child started at
Head Start" said Fraga; how a 75-year-old community br-ganizer, "She neyei let me ga . She was, the.first Spanish-speaking person , to work at /the schools in Pilsen."' , ■ ' Aid' 5a^/Solis (25ttir said that through Mrs. Lo? t redft ^learned a-Ibt;about;"
being' an ab^orato^She^was" ;^ere-at eveiy meetoig^^d-; pretest, tie said, in Pilsen-'my' ■'[downfowpjt ;>.'-, '• ;u^:
■:ers was ^ii^bi^-f'^j}.^ ■ .; ';?Tbe feet tie dibi'i oppose. ■ tier wdrk,"I ,think£ft" helped" ,p&er.;h)isba^ds/m^e;com-munhy acc^t ^theu;.; wives' activities," said. ti^:grmi: Jdaugfater, Inez Rc<lHguez.~ z r^ToMi^^redo^eyencTOk-.- ing could be a cbmmuiuty-pr- . , ganizing tooL She was known. ; for her tamales, fried chicken.; - arid enchiladas and adept at organizing other home cobto . . to pull together big lunctieons. ; ; After mterim sctiools Sup t r. Angeline Caruso came to ttie: ■Pilsen council for a Mexican -
i Solis recalled, Mrs. Lb-redo and others invited Caru-: sbtojomlhemforawaiktoa crammed school nearby.
"afe cbiiildnM; s)y, T'don't . have time,' but sjie had .time to eat" Solis said of Garusa : So they walked to ' tbe 8chpoV;.t^edby.W^^(^ as^^and saw the crewded con-ditions. Tbe Chicago Board ' of Education l^te^ 'vbfed - in . favor, of a relief plan for. the : cramped schboLSolis said! ' Mrs. Loredb ris;^a|so sutt yiyed by seven grandchildren and a sister, Jacirita Alvarez. LeaL Services have been tield
:modoaneB@sunlimesxbm