RAUL G. GARZA

Biography

Raul (Garza) Garza was born m Kingsville, Kleberg County, Texas on January 20, 1931. He is the son of the late Eulogio O. (Jimmy) Garza originally of Sarita. Kenedy County, Texas. His mother Francisca Guzman Garza was the youngest child of Gaspar Garza and Mariana Guzman Garza. Mariana came to Kingsville on July 8, 1904, four days after Kingsville was incorporated as a town.

Francisca, Raul's mother, died at the age of 27 when Raul was about 5 1/2 years old. Mariana, his grandmother, and Marcela G. Castro, his mother'ssister raised him. Marcela Castro worked at the Naval Overhaul & Repair Depot at NAS Corpus Christi during WWII and the Korean War until 06R was moved to California.

Raul has made 400 E. Lee his official residence since he was born in 1931, He has actually lived at that address for over 55 years of his life. He and another neighbor, Jose Angel Garcia are the only residents left from the old neighborhood. This neighborhood is centrally located and is three blocks distance in all directions to the school, the Catholic Church to downtown, and to 6" street once business highway 77.

Raul is a product of the Kingsville Independent School District. He attended elementary school grades 0 (Beginners) through L-8" at Stephen F. Austin School (formerly the Mexican Ward School). Raul was in the first class that went to Memorial Jr. High School in the fall of 1944. He was there one semester and went to H. M. King High School in January 1945 graduating in May 1948. He immediately enrolled at Texas A&I where he graduated in May 1951 with a BA Degree majoring in History, and minoring in government and education.

Raul taught school in Raymondville, Texas beginning in 1951. He was a member of the Naval Reserve then. After a recall into the Navy he returned to Kingsville, his home. Raul was employed by the Kingsville  I.S.D. until his retirement in 1989 as the Community and Adult Education Director. Raul had been an Assistant Principal and Principal well over ten years. Ironically right after he retired he ran for the School Board and served two terms on the board. He chose not to run a third term.

Right after his retirement from the school business Raul was recruited to work for the Kleberg County Human Services Department where he worked at the Senior Citizens' Center as a caseworker. Raul became very experienced in helping the Senior Citizens, the disabled and the poor in matters of Social Security. He specialized in representing the disabled at Social Security Administration appeals and hearings. Raul retired from the county after almost ten years of service.

Raul was always a very active person land spent the majority of his life helping others. He was a football, basketball, and baseball official for over twenty-five years. In school, his favorite children were the special education kids. He volunteered in many of their activities for years. Raul volunteered in the Boy Scout Program. Little League, and you name it. Raul will end his volunteer career as an Ombudsman for the residents of Nursing Homes this August after over 15 years of service. Raul has also been a Notary Public for over a dozen years. He has never charged a client for his services.

Raul has many awards of recognition for his volunteer and community service. He is one of three Hispanics to have received the Otis West Lifetime Community Award; He is on the Student Council Hall of Fame at his Alma Mater, H. M. King High School, and he is the only Hispanic in Kleberg County to have received the Jefferson Medallion for Volunteer Services awarded through the Corpus Christi Caller Times He is also the recipient of The EI Dorado Club Lifetime Achievement Award, St Martin's Catholic Church Mutualista of the Year, etc. etc.

Raul has been a writer for many years. Several of his articles on education have been published in educational journals. At the time Raul was a Community Education Director he was the editor for two years of the State Associations Newsletter which was distributed all over the state of Texas. Raul wrote and published a very controversial book (So part of the community thinks) titled I CAN FORGIVE, BUT I CANNOT FORGIVE. These are stories about what a Mexican-American had to live through in Kingsville only because of his second class status as a citizen. Raul is ready to publish a second book of Poems about people in Kingsville and Iraq.

Raul also had two or three articles published in the CIVIL RIGHTS DIGEST when he was working with a group out of The University of Texas called TEDTAC (Texas Education Desegregation Technical Assistance Center). This group traveled on weekends to many of  the trouble hot spots all over Texas holding seminars on racial issues. (Crystal City, Cotulla, San Antonio, Bay City, Baytown, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, etc.)

On the Military side Raul wrote a curriculum for the Commandant 5"' Naval District, Norfolk, Virginia. He and another school teacher Naval Officer fine tuned the curriculum which was to train Naval Reservists ready to go aboard ship during the NAM Crisis. This curriculum was later used in Philadelphia and San Diego, California. Raul also trained "boots' in a Boot Camp for Reservists going into the Navy during NAM. There were other assignments on three recalls. Raul was retired from the Naval Reserve in March 1980 during a physical exam for his last re-enlistment when they found out he was a diabetic.

Raul married a local girl, Angelica Garcia, whose family were all kineños. They had five children, three girls and twin boys. He lost one of his twin boys on the Chapman Ranch road as you come into Bishop in 1991. The twin was his namesake. Besides his five children he raised several more from the neighborhood who still keep in touch with him and his wife.

If you ask Raul, who is now 74, about his life he might just tell you, 'I never, expected to get past 60. I have already been given more time than I expected. I have had a very interesting life. I was born and lived through a Depression, lied about my age and worked for Western Union delivering telegrams during WWII. I lived through two other wars; Korea and NAM. I did what I loved most, teach kids, and serve my country when I was needed,. I acquired three retirements, school, county, and military. also devoted much time to volunteering. Finally, all these achievements are not really mine, I am very humble and proud to have been used as an instrument for the work of the greatest teacher of All, Our Lord Jesus Christ. All this I owe to HIM. Yes, I have had a very interesting life. This is the legacy I leave my family and friends."