These two young girls are Helen Wildman and my mother, Flossy Wilson, taken sometime in the late 1940’s at the ASARCO Avalos Colony. In the background is the entrance into the Colony where the gateman stood guard. The girls were standing in front of my grandparent’s home, Quinta #21. They are standing in front of my grandfather’s Chevy.
On the left, Helen Wildman and next to her Flossy Wilson
Seeing those photographs of the colony brought back so many good memories of my childhood years growing up OUTSIDE the colony. The names mentioned in the photos were frequently mentioned in my home by my parents, Enrique Lobo-Guerrero and Tola Ramirez de Lobo-Guerrero. Names like “el ingeniero Navarro” were mentioned as was Dr. Calvete who operated on my father right before we left for the U.S. and Sacerdote Antonio Gonzales who became my youngest brother’s God father and was the second priest of the church in Avalos. My parents were often invited to some of the functions inside the colony by friends that they had inside but as children we never got to see inside. We could only imagine. My brother and I used to walk right past the side of the colony where the pool was situated on our way to impromtu “pic-nics” on the way to the railroad station in Morse. I was born at the clinic and if I am not mistaken, Dr. Gutierrez delivered me. We lived at cuadra 14 numero 7. My grandparents lived closer to the entrance of the plant at cuadra 15 numero 21. It was refreshing to view all those photographs even if I did not know the people mentioned but I did recognize the names from hearing them mentioned by my parents…many of them. My father worked for ASARCO in California when we left Avalos and then at ASARCO in El Paso until his retirement. I have so many memories from the outside of the colony and I must say that they are wonderful. An innocent time. We did attend some functions at the club outside the colony. For us we simply knew your colony as “Las Quintas” and it looked beautiful even from the outside. So now after so many years I cannot believe I actually saw the inside at the ripe old age of 64. Avalos will always be beautiful in my heart. And the colony is now a real image in my mind.
Hi, I used to visit Avalos once a year as a child from 1970 to 1979 usually for the summer and I can tell you those were by far the best times of my life. I have quite a few photos that I would like to share in the future so keep checking in.