Sonora

Juan Carlos Gonzales

By Lindsey Craun

As a child, Juan Carlos Gonzales felt destined to fight for his country. He grew up in a home surrounded by a father and four uncles who were World War II veterans, and he remembered feeling that patriotism and strategic instinct ran in his blood.

Vicenta Sanchez Lopez

By Mary Mejia

In 1938, Vicenta Sanchez Lopez became the first Mexican American woman to graduate from her high school in her predominantly Anglo home town of Sonora, Texas, about 200 miles west of Austin. Just one year earlier, the first Mexican American man graduated from Sonora High School.

From the 1920s to the 1940s, she said, Anglos controlled Sonora and discriminated against minorities.

Leova Tellez Urias

By Amy Bauer

By the age of 20, Leova Tellez Urias had already experienced segregation, the affects of the Great Depression, battle at the front lines during World War II and imprisonment by German soldiers. Now, at age 76, he looks back on his experiences.

Born Sept. 28, 1925, Urias grew up in Sonora, Texas, with his parents, Jesus and Leocadia, and a house full of sisters, four to be exact. Urias, known to his friends as L.T., said this was quite an adventure. "At times it got pretty hectic," he said laughing.

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