Hermila Gonzalez
Maria Ermila Gonzalez was born on July 13, 1910, en Villa de Salinas Victoria Nuevo León, Mexico, to parents Jose Maria Gonzalez (Gutierrez de Lara) and MA. Elfega Morales Arambides. Ermila (later changed to Hermila) was the eleventh child born to the couple – her mother Elfega, was 40 years old when she gave birth to Hermila.
Hermila was only two years of age when her father died. In August of 1915, her mother Elfega moved the entire family to Laredo, Texas to escape the Mexican Revolutionary war. There she lived as a happy-go-lucky child.
In 1926 around the age of 16, she met Virgilio Escutia. Virgilio was a messenger boy for the Western Union at that time and came by often to the school where Hermila attended classes (Central School). Hermila thought he was interested in another girl in the group but no, he was interested in her. The courtship went on for about five years. Hermila dropped out of school for economic reasons and worked at Kress Department store as a store clerk.
On July 31, 1932, she married Virgilio Escutia in Laredo, TX; she was 22 at the time. Two years later, they welcomed their son into the world, Virgilio Juan Escutia, Jr. (“Hilio”) on June 24, 1934.
A couple of years after the birth of Hilio, she developed an eye infection whose cause was unknown. The treatment in those days was to tackle the infection with acids, which burned out the infection but also burned the corneas of her eyes. The infection started in one eye and then went to the other eye. By the end of the treatment, she had completely lost her vision in one eye, and lost 85% of her vision in the other, only retaining some peripheral vision. Hilio was a young boy when she was declared legally blind.
When Hermila was approximately 32 years of age, a lump was found in her breast. For fear that it was cancer and treatments not being as advanced as they are today, she underwent a radical double mastectomy removing both of her breast. Ultimately, the biopsy of the tissue revealed it was not breast cancer.
A few years later, in July 1949, Hermila went to the Travis County Association for the Blind and lived in a Residency Hall called “the Lighthouse” for persons with impaired vision. This facility taught the visually impaired how to walk with a walking stick, read braille and learn tricks for personal hygiene and household maintenance. Her husband Virgilio and young son Hilio stayed in a Laredo and wrote to her often while she attended these classes. However, her stay there was short lived since neither she nor her husband could endure the separation, so she returned to Laredo to implement what she had learned.
She lived with her husband at 907 Santa Ursula Ave., Laredo, TX for many years. Her son Hilio married in 1958 and moved away, and occasionally, the couple visit their son wherever he and his family were living at the time.
On February 8, 1951, at the age of 40, she was Naturalized as a US Citizen in Laredo, Texas.
On the 7th of August 1974, her husband had a massive heart attack and passed away in Laredo, TX. Her son Hilio, who was living in Santiago, Chile with his family at the time, returned to Laredo with his wife Georgette, to bury his father, settle family matters, and pack up Hermila to take her back to Chile with them. She lived with Hilio and his family for several months, but her heart ache for losing her husband was too great, and in January 1975, approximately five months after her husband passed, she died in Santiago, Chile.
She was cremated and later brought back to the U.S. where she was buried next to her husband in Laredo, TX.
Birth Certificate
Gonzalez, Maria Hermila – Birth Certificate
Marriage Certificate
