Latino Voices of Lawrence, Massachusetts / Voces Latinos de Lawrence, Massachusetts
Ester Aparicio - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar Interviewed by Sandra deVita on January 27, 1997. Ester, an immigrant from Argentina, talks about her early life in Argentina, the political situation under Péron, and how she became a U.S. citizen.
Margarita Arias
Interviewed by Jamiel Adames on January 12, 2009. Margarita is from Dominican Republic and speaks about being an employee at Southwick for 27 years.
Ana Reyes Cárdenas
Interviewed by Joan Kelley on April 17, 2008. She speaks about her childhood memories as an immigrant from Cuba and about her journey to Lawrence and the Merrimack Valley. Her family left Cuba in 1969 when Ana was five. She had a difficult adjustment when she came to the United States and came to this area because of her brother, Rev. Jorge Reyes, at St. Mary's Church.
Ralph Carrero - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Joan Kelley on November 11, 2008. Ralph was the first Hispanic to be elected to the School Committee in Lawrence. He speaks about his role in school administration, including the Greater Lawrence Vocational School and Lawrence Family Development Charter School.
Dalia Díaz - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Sandra DeVita on February 20, 1997. Dalia came to United States from Cuba in 1963. She shares her struggles right after her arrival and her path to success as a writer, entertainer, and founding editor of Rumbo, the bilingual newspaper of the Merrimack Valley launched in 1996.
Francisca DeGarcía
Interviewed by Nakaly Salcedo on January 12, 2009. Francisca is from Dominican Republic and was employed at Southwick in Lawrence at the time of the interview.
Carolina DeJesús
Interviewed by Joan Kelley on October 17, 1995. Carolina immigrated to the United States in 1988 from Dominican Republic. She speaks about the difficulties of being a single mother of three little children at age 17 and her plans for the future.
Máximina García and Gloria Fernándes - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed on May 2, 1993. Tomás Guzmán Interviewed by Jim Beauchesne on January 26, 2009. Tomás was born in 1951 in Dominican Republic, moved to Manhattan in 1979, and has been in Lawrence since 1986. In 2009, he was employed by Southwick and president of Local 187, Unite Here.
Marie Heyer - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Mariely Brito on July 26, 1998. She was born in Dominican Republic but grew up in Puerto Rico. She and her husband came to the U.S. in 1996.
María Javier
Interviewed in Spanish on January 12, 2009. She was employed at Southwick.
Mercedes Johnson - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Yadira Betances in January 1997. Mercedes is from Dominican Republic and arrived with her husband in the United States on January 1, 1963.
Rev. John J. Lamond, O.S.A. - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Jeanne Schinto on April 1, 1992. Rev. Lamond was an Augustinian priest at St. Mary's Church.
Morella J. Lombardi
Interviewed by Yadira Betances in January 1997. Morella came to the U.S. from Caracas, Venezuela in 1984 to further her education. She earned her master’s degree in city planning from Boston University in 1987 and reflects on work and life in Lawrence.
Elsa López - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Elsa López (her daughter) on July 12, 1998. Elsa, an immigrant from Dominican Republic, shares her thoughts on Lawrence, education for her three children, and her own educational pursuits in her home country.
Lucy Mane - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Joan Kelley on October 18, 2001. Lucy was born In Puerto Rico and came to the U.S. in 1972. She speaks about coming to Lawrence and her family business on Essex Street, Henry’s Jewelry.
Yamilis Maracayo - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Joan Kelley on September 26, 1995. Yamilis was born in Manhattan and moved to Lawrence when she was thirteen with her mother, sister, and brother because “… it was a safer place to live.” She speaks about the challenges of dropping out of high school and having a baby, her participation in the Young Parents Program and pursuing her GED, moving out on her own, and her observations about Lawrence and its Dominican food and culture.
Misael Martínez
Interviewed by Joan Kelley on March 25, 2009. Misael, a therapist with his own private practice, describes the evolution of Movement City, part of Lawrence CommunityWorks.
Sylvia Mejía - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Rosemary Blessington on February 23, 2000. Silvia arrived from Puerto Rico in 1968. She began her teaching career as the first bilingual teacher in Lawrence.
Isabel Meléndez - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Margaret Hart on October 27, 1988. Isabel co-founded Semana Hispana in 1979.
Lourdez Muñoz - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Marilenin Vásquez on July 13, 1998. Lourdez was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in Dominican Republic. She moved from Miami to Lawrence with her husband.
María Teresa Nárganes - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Yadira Betances on February 1, 1997. María was born in Spain and moved to Havana, Cuba with her family when she was very young. She speaks about coming alone in 1960 to live with her ‘adoptive’ family in Newburyport, MA to get an education. She also speaks about the culture shock her parents experienced when they came to the U.S. six years later. In Lawrence, María met her husband (Francisco) at the Spanish Mass at Holy Rosary Church. He was also from Spain and taught Spanish at Central Catholic High School. When interviewed, María was the principal of the Tarbox School in Lawrence.
Fernando Nolberto - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by his son, Rodney F. Nolberto, on June 13, 1998. Fernando was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 1959 and arrived in the United States in 1986. He holds a master’s degree in accounting from DR and owned a grocery store in Lawrence.
Daniel O’Neil - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Thomas Mofford on June 22, 1979. Daniel was born in Puerto Rico in 1938, arrived in New York City in 1961, and then came to Lawrence in 1975. He and other community leaders formed LAPA - Latin Association for Progress and Action in 1978.
Marina Ortiz - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed in Spanish by Rosa Del Rosario on July 1, 1998. Marina came to the United States from Dominican Republic in 1990 to “… live the American Dream.”
Ana Pichardo - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Eculides Pichardo on July 12, 1998. Ana was born in 1945 in Salamanca, Dominican Republic.
Marta Montes Rentas - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Rosalind Pastran on October 24, 2005. Marta left Puerto Rico for the Bronx in the late 1970s. She arrived in Lawrence in 1989 where she was educated at the Adult Learning Center. When interviewed she was a Spanish teacher at the Lawrence Family Development Charter School.
Rev. Jorge Reyes, O.S.A.
Interviewed by Joan Kelley on April 11, 2008. Rev. Reyes tells his childhood memories of communist Cuba. He left in 1969 for Mexico before coming to the United States. He was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1996 and, at the time of the interview, he had been at St. Mary of the Assumption Church for twelve years.
Daniel Rivera - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Joan Kelley on September 24, 2003. Daniel is of Puerto Rican and Dominican Republic background. He tells of his service in the first Gulf War. Daniel went on to serve 7 years as mayor of Lawrence. In 2017, he was appointed by Massachusetts Governor Baker to the newly established Latino Advisory Commission. In late 2020, he was chosen to lead MassDevelopment as President and CEO.
Diego Rodríguez - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed on May 3, 1986. Diego is from Dominican Republic.
María Dolores Ruiz
Interviewed by Sandra DeVita on January 24, 1997. María, an immigrant from Cuba, shares her views on Hispanic male-female relationship, divorce, and family.
Ana Santos - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Leonel Nunez on July 17, 1998. Ana immigrated to the United States from Dominican Republic on December 30, 1970. She spent eleven years in New York City, but then returned to Dominican Republic for another eleven years before coming to Lawrence “… because it is a quiet place and I thought it was a better place to raise my children.”
Julia Silverio - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Joan Kelley on September 10, 2002. Julia immigrated from Dominican Republic at age 15. Her father left DR seven years earlier due to economic and political reasons, right after the death of dictator Raphael Trujillo. Julia was interviewed at her business, Julia’s Travel Agency and Silverio Insurance Agency, at 525 Essex Street in Lawrence.
Manuela Su - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Joan Kelley on March 18, 2009. Manuela is of Chinese-Cuban background. She speaks of her journey from Cuba and about her role as director for bilingual training for The Community Group in Lawrence.
María Taveras - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Yuderka Taveras on July 1, 1998.
Francisco Ureña - Click to listen / Haz clic para escuchar
Interviewed by Joan Kelley on September 11, 2007. Francisco was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 1980 and came to Lawrence when he was 4 years old. He went on to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom, is a Purple Heart recipient, and was interviewed while Veterans’ Services Director at his office in Lawrence City Hall.
Juan Yépez
Interviewed by Wannaly Rivera and Luis Pagan in 2009. As President of Mainstream Global, Juan speaks about his involvement with the Union Crossing project on Island Street, along with his brother Luis.
Luis Yépez
Interviewed by Elio Navarro and Jennifer Pagan in 2009. Of Ecuadorian descent, Luis was born in Brooklyn, NY in 1970. When interviewed, he was Vice President of Mainstream Global, and he felt that “… Lawrence has turned a corner from some of the problems it’s had and has an excellent future.”