La Familia Lopez del Valle - English version

A letter from "YiYi", (Virginia Iribe. )

Thank you Yiyi. - Ramon

This is the history of our family, which I have begun from our great great grand parents until our own parents. Most of this I was told by persons who I love very much such as my grandmother, my great grandmother and my mother. Other portions I have remembered since I was very young. I thank God I have a very good memory. This is really the history of the López del Valle family, our grandparents, their parents and their children. First, I will tell you about the Lopez family.

Abuelo’s dad was named Esteban Lopez. He was born in Cuba from Spanish parents. When he was very young he married a young Cuban lady whose name was Agueda Izquierdo. These were our bisabuelos (great grandparents) on abuelo’s side. They soon had three male children. The eldest was Arturo, our abuelo. Soon afterwards two brothers were born, Esteban and Amado. When the children were very young, possibly 4, 3 and 1 year old, the mother, Agueda, acquired tuberculosis, became ill and soon after that died. They were very poor and one of Esteban’s sisters, in other words the children’s aunt, took them and raised them all their lives. Abuelo loved his aunt very much since she was good to them. A while after that Esteban married again and lived with his new wife elsewhere; the three children remained with their aunt. Since they were so poor abuelo would tell me that at that time trains would pass by and people would throw coins outside the train to the children. They would then go and try to make some money that way. He would also tell me that they were so poor that many days the only thing they had to eat was cornmeal, but they were very happy. This occurred in Marianao, a city close to La Habana where all of them were born along with the rest of the family. When abuelo Arturo was very young he began working out of necessity. What he would do was what they called a “pipero”, a water seller. Most of the homes at this time did not have running water. This was in the 1800’s and he would take a cart with a “pipa”., This is what they called the large barrel or container of water. He would fill the containers with water and would sell it. Abuelo was very thrifty and even in that job he was able to save money. Even when he became wealthy he would still would spend money wisely. In his house a new car was not bought until the old one was in bad shape. It was the same way with clothes. We had everything but we would not squander money. With his seven children he was very generous and he would give them everything he could and helped them all their lives until the day he died. When six of his seven children married, he gave each one of them a house in which to live in.

Now I will tell you about abuela Maximina’s family.

Her name was Maximina del Valle y de la Vega. Her grandfather was born in the Canary Islands, which is a part of Spain. His name was Juan de la Vega and he was our tatarabuelo (great great grandfather). When he was young, he went to live in Cuba and there he married a young Cuban girl and with her, she had 12 children. As incredible as it sounds all 12 children died. This may seem strange but when one considers that in the early 1800’s there were not as many medicines or medical care then it is not so strange. All 12 children died of different causes and childhood diseases. The mother also died, possibly during childbirth, this I really do not know. When some time passed he felt so badly that he decided to go back home to the Canary Islands. While over there he fell in love with young girl named Carmen. She would turn out to be our tatarabuela (great great grandmother). He married her and decided to return to La Habana. Carmen bore a baby which was born in the ship between Cuba and Spain. This baby would the become our bisabuela (great grandmother), she was named Petronila. Later while already in Cuba they had one more child and named her Carmen. She was known as Mita. All her nieces and nephews would call her tia Mita(aunt Mita). I came to know her when she was very old. Well lets continue with our tatarabuelo, Juan de la Vega. He passed away and left his

wife Carmen with two daughters in Marianao where they went to live. She would wash clothes for families that would pay for it and the daughters would help her iron the clothes. My bisabuela, Petronila, told me that she liked the novelitas (romance novels) very much when she was a young girl. Her mother, Carmen did not like her to read them. These novellas arrived in parts, every week one chapter would arrive. She would save some of the money she would earn by ironing clothes and with that she would buy the novelita of the week. Later at night while everyone was asleep she would read the novelitas by candlelight since at that time there was not electricity and everyone had to read by candlelight. These novelitas she collected and many years later, when abuela Maximina was already married with abuelo Arturo, she had them bound into three very beautiful antique books. These were precious and she gave them to me as a gift. My bisabuela told me that she wanted me to have them. I saved them and kept them for a very long time but when I left Cuba, as with many other things, I had to leave them behind. Petronila, when she was very young, fell in love with the one who would later be our bisabuelo, Nicolas del Valle. They were married and had two children. The older one was Maximina. She had a brother named Nicolas del Valle and we would call him Nikito whom I also came to know. Then while Petronila was expecting for the third time, Nicolas, our bisabuelo became ill with viruela (smallpox) since there was a bad epidemic in Cuba at the time. He died. He left her as a young woman with two children and expecting another one. This last baby, a boy, was born ill and died before he was two years old. Petronila went with her two children to live with her mother, Carmen. From then on she lived with Carmen since she would take care of the children while Petronila went to work. Her job was always as a janitor, cleaning the school. In that way she raised her children, but our abuela Maximina who was always intelligent, determined, studious and a very good pupil, when she finished school wanted to study teaching. She graduated as a teacher. Abuela never came to work as a teacher because when she was very young she fell in love with abuelo Arturo and they were married. Since he had his money he preferred that she would not work and between the both of them they opened and operated a small cafeteria or café as he would call it. Both of them would wake up very early in the morning to prepare milk and other things for those who would come in to have breakfast and they would also make different foods and sandwiches. Abuelo all his life would know how to make leg of ham and the best sandwiches. Abuela Maximina knew how to cook better than anyone else. In the meantime, her mother and our bisabuela, Petronila, took care of her children who were arriving every two years. Working at the café, abuelo and abuela continued saving money and began buying properties which they would rent. Later they bought bigger properties, parcels of land, a farm and commercial centers and many other things. The café which they originally owned they eventually gave as a gift to abuelo’s brothers, Esteban and Amado. They would live on this income. Abuelo did not sell it to them, he gave it to them. Abuelo was a very special person. He would help everyone he could. He was also a very complete person and compassionate. God helped then and as more children arrived they would continue prospering. Abuela’s mother, Petronila ( I would call her abuela la vieja) always lived with them and helped them raise raise all the children and incredibly lovingly. According to my mother (tia china) She lived us until she died and was the first great sadness I felt in my life. I was 24 years old when she died. Abuelo and abuela began having children. The first was Amalla, whose actual name was Amada, afterwards a boy was born named Arturo and they would call him Coito. Aftewards my mother was born, Ernestina, whom they would call la china. Abuelo nicknamed her China because she had straight black hair and brown eyes. He said that she looked like a china (she looked Chinese). Later Futty was born whose real name was Ester; then Guedy whose real name was Agueda after abuelo’s mother. Then they had a second boy, tío Lulo whose real name was Fausto. At this time something very sad occurred. Abuela Maximina was expecting the birth of tío Roberto, the summer began. Usually the whole family would vacation in Baracoa, where abuelo had bought a large and beautiful house. The house faced the sea and there the family would spend the summer. Everyone went including the cook, the nannies and the chauffer. Thie beach was located around two hours from where they lived in Marianao. That year the oldest boy, Arturo, had to go to summer school for a time. The family decided to go on vacation with all the children to the beach and leave Arturo with his grandmother, Petronila in the house in Marianao. When summer school was finished, he would also be taken to the beach in Baracoa. One day Arturo came home from school with pain in his stomach. Petronila, thinking that it was irregularity (extreñimiento) gave him a laxative. The pain increased so much that the whole family returned from the beach with a very good surgeon, since he needed to have emergency surgery; he had appendicitis. He did not survive the surgery and died in 1925 on the operating table. Many people would tell me that there was no way to describe the sadness that abuelo and abuela experienced during this time. They could not overcome the sadness. Some time later, tío Roberto was born. Since they had so many children to raise; abuelo sold the house in Marianao and built the house where I was born. They moved to that house so the memories would not be
so painful. Abuela would take me every year to the cemetery to put flowers on her son’s grave on his birthday. After tío Roberto then tío Eduardo was born and he was the last child they had and eight years later, I was born and also went to live with them. Abuelo always would tell me that I was the youngest of their children. I lived with them and slept in his room in a small bed. Abuelo and abuela adopted an exemplary way of life. They lived for their children whom they loved tremendously. They also had a huge number of friends who loved them dearly. There were always people visiting the house and many would stay to have lunch or dinner. When their children were married there were six couples. Every night of the week one of the couples would go to the house to eat but on Sundays all the couples would have lunch there. In that way the whole family would get together. Nochebuenas (Christmas Eves) were incredible. Starting early in the morning there was a lot of movement in the house. All the maids and the cook would help in preparing the meal but my abuela, who at the same time was just as good a cook as she was enthusiastic would do and direct almost everything. It seems like I am watching her now preparing the lechón (pork) and carving the grease to make the chicharrones (pork rinds). The whole day all would work preparing the meal and at night the dining room table which had 12 chairs to the patio. Remember that in Cuba it was not very cold so we could eat very comfortably outside in the patio. Always good friends would drop by to celebrate nochebuena with us. Abuela Maximina liked to travel, my abuelo did not. When she traveled was the only time they would separate. Abuela would take me with her since I was two years old. She would stay in a beautiful old hotel just like in the movies. This small town had a spring and was called San Miguel de los Baños. We would go two or three times a year and she wold stay several days since she had a bad gallbladder and there the waters that they drank were also medicinal. She would always take me with her and my nanny, Juana. When I was eight years old World War II ended. Abuela took me to Miami for the first time. We would travel in a ship named Florida which would leave La Habana at 6:00 in the afternoon; we would sleep in the ship and arrive in Miami at 8:00 in the morning. The ship would embark and disembark next to a bridge in the middle of downtown Miami. Tía Guedy would always travel with us. We made several trips to Miami and to Tampa to get to know my bisabuelo’s family who lived there. In Cuba she took me to see the sanctuary of Caridad del Cobre. The longest trip we took was from La Habana to Key West by plane; then in bus to Miami. De Miami we went throughout the Gulf of Mexico and we rested in several places such as New Orleans and other cities. We then crossed the frontier into Mexico, traveled throughout Mexico and then returned to La Habana. The trip lasted a whole month and was an excursion organized by a Catholic teacher from La Habana who was friends of abuelo. I was 13 years old when I went on that trip. I have always believed that abuela Maximina loved to travel but I think she did it mainly so that I would get to know different places and learn from the trips. She loved to spoil me since I was born. Abuelo only came to Miami once to see a house that he was considering buying but in the end, he did not buy it. This was around 1948 or 1949. A large group of us came to Miami, which consisted of abuelo, abuela, tía Amalla, Aristides, Aristico who was one year old, mami, papi and me. That short trip only lasted a couple of days. With abuelo, I would travel around La Habana. He had to go on different errands and and attend to business; he would take me with him. Fidel Castro took 43 houses, a variety of land parcels, the house from El Reparto Nautico and a farm in the country. When we would travel his chauffer, Demetrio Perez would always drive us. He was my abuelo’s chauffer since I was born. Gomez as we called him was a very good man who loved the whole family very much. And the family loved him very much as well. He was the one who brought me home from the clinic when I was born. He died of some heart ailment when I was 22 years old. I felt his passing, as I would that of a family member. Abuelo would also take me to his farm every afternoon, this was his hobby. The farm was very large with a beautiful house in the center. There lived a gentleman with his wife and daughter. They took care of the farm. Also in a small house or shack there lived a little old man whose name was Luisito who was the one who would milk the cows and took care of the animals. Gomez would take us at around 3:00 in the afternoon and we would return at around 6:00 in the afternoon. I would run throughout the fields and I would see how they would feed the chickens and the pigs and how they would milk the cows. There I had a doll house which was so large tht I actually fit in it. It had a living room, bedroom and a porch. It also had a glass, above the door that said “Villa Virginia”. Abuela had it made for me when I turned 4 years old. That birthday they celebrated it for me at the farm. Another thing that I liked very much about abuela is that she liked children a lot. Even when she was elderly, 92 years old or so, she told me “I like that children always be happy” Abuelo and abuela would also throw costume parties at the farm for all the grandchildren. The sons and daughters who were married but did not yet have children would celebrate new year’s eve there in the farm. They would take me as well and take me to sleep early. The farm had several terraces where they would place tables and there was always a lot of music. They would invite many friends and the parties were large and a lot of fun. When my uncles were growing up they would study in different schools such as the Apostolado, Belen and LaSalle. When they became young men some of them would be sent to the United States to study. Tía Futty, tía Guedy and tío Lulo attended las Ursulinas in New Orleans. Tia Futty did not like it and she wanted to return to Cuba right away. Tia Guedy and tío Lulo stayed several years in the boarding school. They were the ones who later on spoke the best English. I was 3 years old during that time. Years passed and their sons and daughters grew up in the same house that abuelo built in general lee ( a street ) in Marianao. Tia Amalla, who was the oldest, was the first to get married to Aristides Agüero. Then my mother Ernestina was married to Alfredo Guim. When they were 3 months married and my mother was 3 months pregnant, my father passed away from a typhoid epidemic. My mama went to live again with abuelo and abuela where I was born and I was raised. When I was 2 and ½ years old she married Dr. Mario Sanchez Solis. Afterwards tía Futty married Heriberto Triana. It is curious that all of them married in order since after that tío Lulo married Mercedes Sanchez, whom was also called China. Then tío Roberto was married to Rosa de la Vega and tio Eduardo married Irene Lopez Alpizar. Her father had been the mayor of the City of Marianao. The only one who never married was tía Guedy. She had a boyfriend for several years to whom she loved very much. His name was Humberto Bruigas. They broke up, I do not really know why. I believe he was not liked by abuelo and abuela. Tia Guedy was a very good person and she was very obedient.

Many years have passed and as all of us know all of the uncles have died except for mi mami who still lives and I thank God for that. She is very old and lives with my sister Alicia.

Abuelo and Abuela had a total of 8 sons and daughters, 22 grandchildren, 37 great grandchildren and 24 great great grandchildren.

I know that all of you know the exceptional abuelos we had; whom we loved very much and are very proud of. No matter the problems that present themselves in my life, having had them as abuelos, mami as my mother, and Lalo as my husband, allow me to overcome anything that I must face. A person’s life is measured by the memories that remain in others when they leave.


It is my hope that the history I have narrated to you about our family has resulted interesting and entertaining.

With love from your cousin who loves you

YiYi