Carlos Almaguer

	I don't remember a lot about Carlos when he was a teenager. He left home when I was 7 years old. I know it was real hard on my Mom. She use to worry a lot about him being away. When I was in the 2nd grade, Carlos gave me a Texas A&M sweatshirt. When I wore it to school everyone wanted to know where I got it from. I was the only one in my class who had a brother in college. I was a student in the Migrant Program and migrant children weren't expected to graduate from school, so having a brother in college was a big surprise to most people we knew..



		As a teenager growing up as a migrant worker. This is a photo I copied from my Mom's photo album.
				Group picture of cousins. Getting together and going to dances was very common, even when I was growing up. Most of the time there was a large group made up of cousins with a few friends mixed in. The groups usually consisted of cousins who were within a few years of each other. Lt. to Rt. - Teresa Almaguer, Carlos, Rosa Romero (cousin from mom's side of the family), Olga Almaguer, and Berta Rosa Rodriguez (friend). The picture was probably taken in Piedras Negras, Coah. Mex.

			After our family left Mexico they spent the next 15 years as migrant laborers. They family use to travel to California to pick oranges, to Colorado to hoe beets, pick potatoes and onions, Montana to hoe beets, Florida to pick oranges, and northern Texas to pick cotton. Jose Almaguer, Felix Almaguer and Carlos in beet field possibly in Colorado.
Hanging out a one of the clubs in Piedras Negras, Coah. Mex. The photo is from the mid 60's. Ignacio "Nachin" Almaguer Jr., Carlos Almaguer ( 2nd from right) and two of Nachin's cousins from his mom's side of the family. When Carlos was a teenager we had three other teenage family members at home. I remember they always had tons of records. I grew up listening to their music. Some of the groups were Los Apson, Manolo Munoz, Enrique Guzman ( my sisters said he looked like Carlos), Sonia Lopez, Los Hermanos Carrion, etc. They even had a record of Neil Sedaka singing in spanish.					Hoeing beets you were paid by the acre. Here they are working with the long handle hoes. They use to have to use the small handle hoes which required the worker to be bent over all day. Workers would suffer from back injuries because of this. Those hoes were prohibited in the mid 60's by the Great North Western Sugar Company which use to buy the beets from the farmers.
				Carlos and Lupe Esquibel. I never met her but I remember her name from hearing Maria Elena talk about the days when they were teenagers. Having a dance was simple then, you just got a record player called lots of friends over and you had a party.
	His senior portrait. This picture use to hang in Julia Alcala's house when I was growing up. Julia was my mom's sister. She never had kids, so Carlos spent a lot of time at her house when he was little. After Carlos grew up, I spent lots of time at Julia's house. I had my own room there and was kind of spoiled by her and her husband, Tranquilino.

				Maria Elena, Carlos and Olga in front of our house in Eagle Pass, Tx. They were bridesmaids and Carlos was an escort. There were few houses in our neighborhood then.
Carlos at the Royal Gorge in Colorado, circa 1964. Check out the hair!

While Carlos was at Texas A&M he came home for the Christmas Holidays one year. He took me and my cousin, Maike, to go see "Mary Poppins" at the Cinelandia. The Cinelandia was a theater in downtown Piedras Negras. We must have been eight or nine years old. Before the movie started they showed a Disney Nature Film. That was the first time I had seen stop motion photography or slow motion photography of birds flying. I never forgot the excitement I felt.					At Texas A&M University. He still had short hair. He was also the first Almaguer to wear long hair. My grandfather "Chendo" always had a problem with that. He was totally against men with long hair.

Carlos with Aide "Gabi" Almaguer in Downy, California, in 1970. Jose was married and living in California when Carlos started going to UCLA.
					Graduating from Texas A&M University. Carlos in front and his friend Lynn in back. Lynn was the first white person ever to visit our house as a friend of a family member. All the people we knew were Mexican. See his hair...that was too long. He looked like a hippie!! I know my mom heard an ear full from some of our uncles, aunts and from our grandparents.


			Carlos graduated from UCLA in about 1972. Our whole family went to Los Angeles for the graduation. My dad had a new Chevy pickup truck with a big camper on it. It took us about 24 hours non-stop to get there. We even had two of our cousins with us and a lady from Piedras Negras, who needed a ride to California. Rojelio, Rodolfo (cousin from mom's side of the family), and I stayed with Carlos in his apartment one night. I thought that was so cool. UCLA was huge! The graduation was held at their football stadium. All you could see was a huge sea of black on the field. We didn't see Carlos until after the graduation. This picture was taken at Jose's house where we had Carlos' graduation party.

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