I thank all the volunteers that have made this year a resounding success.

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1 Los Portales Newsletter December 1, 2009 Dear Members, I thank all the volunteers that have made this year a resounding success. Our First Thanksgiving conference was well attended and the speakers did a great job. We had maximum audience participation. The audience evaluated our 19th conference as one of the best. We have submitted our application for funding from the Texas Humanities that will assure our speakers for next years conference, which is scheduled for April 24, 2010 Our Founders Luncheon again was handled very well and it also was a great effort to honor our elders, descendents from our founding families. Our Veterans Day Parade and presentations to our decorated Veterans as you read the Veterans section of newsletter, surpassed our past veterans day events. We have improved operating capability by adding a new PA System which was demonstrated to be very efficient. We acquired a new podium, and new office equipment which includes desks and a computer equipped with a Family Tree maker for our members. We have installed more efficient security cameras as the previous cameras were vandalized. We now have a well-developed web site which we hope to improve even more. We plan to digitize our exhibits so they can be appreciated and studied by tourists and our members. Moreover, perhaps we could include well developed Family Histories and post them for public review. This will allow us to educate our public of the fascinating stories through our web site. Our members can download color pictures onto our newsletter. In closing, our new budget has been approved and our new year begins 10/1/2009 to 9/30/2010. With our new year we are preparing for the Luminarias/Posadas event on December 19, 2009 so we plan to see all of you at this joyful event. Thank you - lets keep up the good work! Miguel A. Teran

2 Veteran s Talk After having several fund raisers, many meetings, lots of planning, discussions, preparations and work, the Veterans Committee held the 13th Annual Veteran s Day Parade and Patriotic Ceremonies on Saturday, November 7th. Committee consensus and feedback from attendees was that the event went great and was very successful. The Committee will always work on improvements and our goal is to make the Veterans event better and bigger each year. For 2010, we hope to have more floats, more participation from Ft. Bliss, decorate the parade route and continue our plans for a Veterans Day Queen. The Committee plans are to try new methods of raising funds, such as seeking donations and sponsorship from big businesses and corporations, and other ventures to raise money. We will continue to promote the Veterans Memorial Walk brick sales which are doing real good at the present time. For Information regarding the Memorial Walk and purchasing a brick: contact Al Borrego at or call him at or We will also do another raffle next year as this years was very successful. The sale of fruit cups was also profitable. We are looking into possibly selling military caps, shirts, patches, flags, pins, etc. We are also looking into ways to recruit new members into the Committee, especially high school and college students. We want families of those men and women currently serving in the Armed Forces to join our Committee. Remember that you do not need to be a veteran to join our Committee Our major goal is to find a new and bigger location for the Veterans Museum. We have visions of a Veterans Museum of which the people of San Elizario and the County of El Paso would be proud. The museum would have not only photos of veterans, but military memorabilia like: uniforms, boots, military gear & equipment, weapons and other artifacts. Several people have already offered to donate memorabilia to the Veterans We had a very successful Veterans raffle and we conducted the raffle after the Veterans ceremonies on Saturday, November 7th. The winners were: First Prize: Sony LCD HDTV David Nunez, Austin, Texas Second Prize: Kenmore Gas grill Maria Elena Gonzalez, San Eli Third Prize: Craftsman Tool Set Martha Villegas, San Eli Fourth Prize: Cannon Digital Camera Diane Hernandez, El Paso Congratulations to all the winners On Thursday, November 19, 2009, the Lower Valley Water District Board of Directors, presented to the Veterans Committee of San Elizario Genealogy & Historical Society, the Eagle Award trophy, for the Committees involvement in the community, for working with veterans, for promoting patriotism, and for maintaining the community spirit, values and tradition of honoring veterans. 2

3 For information about joining the Veterans Committee, Please leave your name. and phone number with Eloisa Levario at Los Portales Museum or call Ray Borrego Thanks to all who attended the meetings and helped with the fund raisers and especially those members, volunteers and students for making our 2009 Veterans Day Event very successful. America is number 1 thanks to our Veterans! 3 Korean War Veterans: left Roberto Pedregon, Ramon Nov.19, 2009 Eagle Award presentation Correa, Manuel Lopez, Eduardo Avila, Alfonso Borrego Jr., center facing other side Photos by Raymond Borrego September Event Founders Day Luncheon was held Sunday, September 27, 2009 at the L.G.Alarcon School cafeteria. Thanks to everyone who attended and contributed to our Founder s Luncheon. About 120 people attended and 11 members made donations and they were: Raymond G. Madrid, Felicitas Dominguez, Tony & Ernestina Alarcon, Alma Giron Pellado, Guadalupe Alarcon, Natalia M. Martinez, Gloria Flores, Ida Alba, Joe Parra and Magda Flores. Many members contributed with numerous volunteer hours: Ruth Vasquez, Lupe Gonzalez, Transito Macias, Marta Garcia, George Hevner, Aurora Bustos and Eloisa Levario. Patricia Macias was an outstanding Mistress of Ceremonies. Tito Lujan and his son serenaded us with their songs. There was a display of Benedicta Telles Maese s wedding dress (1940) and an impressive power point presentation of the Loya Family History. Traditionally SEGHS members bring a gift to be raffled with the lunch tickets in addition to the formal raffle. Everyone had a great time. See you next year. Raffle winners: 1st prize VCR/DVD combo W.D. Apodaca 2nd prize Afgan Amelia T. Rueda 3rd prize MP player Ruben Gonzales

4 4 SEGHS Gift Shop You can own a San Elizario And Socorro Commemorative Coin International Coin Club of El Paso, Inc. has produced commemorative coins of San Elizario in observation of our long history and contributions. The coins have the San Elceario Church on one side and the map of Texas on the other. These bronze coins of the churches of San Elceario, Socorro and Ysleta are of outstanding quality. We were able to obtain a limited quantity of these coins which we have for sale at Los Portales at $10.00 each. This year ICC introduced the Ysleta Mount Carmel Mission coin. Also available is The Salt Warriors by Paul Cool ( tax). Membership This year 2009, we are happy to report that we have registered new member to our organization. We welcome Margarita Thornton, daughter of Felipe Gomez and Lilia Quezada. Margarita resides in San Elizario. Reminder: Don t forget to renew your membership if you haven t done so already. Your membership helps us keep the history of San Elizario alive! Ruth Vasquez, Membership The Simplicity of Christmas The simplicity that is Christmas will be presented December 19th by the SEGHS in the annual Luminaria Festival and Pageant. The live Nativity scene is truly a reminder of the reason for the season. A young girl will be mounted on the donkey being led by a young man towards the stable at the Plazita, illuminated by a thousand luminarias. It is truly a sight to behold. It s like being part of a large southwestern Christmas postcard. We want people to be part of this wonderful, traditional event. The focus is on the birth of Christ, a gift to us from God. A gift that God knew we needed. An undescribable gift that God wrapped in human flesh. I hope a lot of people come to see and be with us on the 19th for the event and not take their kids to the mall to see Santa. I applaud the tremendous effort put forth by the groups responsible in putting this program together. Thanks, specially, to the youth groups that sing in honor of the babe in the manger, our gift from heaven. The Lamb that Mary had. Sam Sanchez Sr. Volunteers for LUMINARIAS/POSADAS Event Dec. 19, 2009 Areas that we need volunteers are in: the kitchen, preparing the tamales, making the red chile, preparing the hot chocolate for the kids and we need people to help decorate with Christmas decorations, prepping the luminarias bags, etc., etc. Prayers For the Sick Let us pray for the following members who are ill: Mrs. Margarita Ramirez, Richard Sambrano, Livorio Correa and Esperanza Cedillos.

5 5 News The new walking tour brochures have been published and they are in the museum. When you get a chance, come by to see it. The newly installed P.A. system at Los Portales worked for the first time with the Veterans Event and it sounds great. To all SEGHS members, Veterans, families & friends of Veterans The Veterans Committee of the San Elizario Genealogy & Historical Society, along with El Paso Mission Trails Association and through the support of Al Borrego of Golden Eagle Art Gallery and Main Street Gallery, have started a Veterans Memorial Walk Project whereby you can purchase a brick, have it engraved and it will be placed along the sidewalk on Main Street San Elizario (area where Simon s Bar used to be, a long time ago) The Project has already started and a plaque has been placed and several bricks have since followed. You may dedicate a brick to any veteran, from anywhere, from past, present or future. You may also dedicate a brick with a patriotic saying. The bricks sell for $30, and may contain 12 characters on three lines. Al Borrego has allowed $15 from each brick sale to go to the Veterans Committee. Applications can be obtained from the Main Street Gallery or at Los Portales Museum. Cash, money order, or check for $30 with each application or you may order online at Make checks payable to EPMTA. You may mail the application to: SEGHS P.O.Box1090, San Elizario, TX or EPMTA PO Box 1010, San Elizario, TX Update on Cookbooks There have been some problems getting the 2nd edition of the 2009 San Elizario Cookbook printed. If any of you have connections with a print shop, please let us know. There are so many beautiful pictures that some print shops want to charge us $25.00 per book, which is way too pricey. We want to keep the book under $ t Genealogy Workshop on October 15th and 22nd was attended by Tere & Miguel Teran and Aurora Bustos, our secretary. It was held at El Paso Community College. George Sanchez represented SEGHS at the El Paso Historical Commission last month Los Portales office hours: Tuesday Saturday: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday: 12 noon-4 p.m. Closed Mondays Phone: Fax: sanelizario@sbcglobal.net Web site:

6 6 San Elizario Genealogy/Historical Society P.O. Box 1090 San Elizario, Texas 79849