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This is Irene Reese interviewing Mr. Hector J Garcia. At West Branch Library on October 30th, 1978. Take 56A. Mr. Garcia is pastor of the Alta Vista Christian Church. Mr. Garcia, uh, would you give me the place of your birth and the date of your birth? Uh,

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July 1336 Aguascalientes, Aguascalientes in Mexico. All right. And uh what about the names of your parents? Yes, uh, my parents, uh, was Salvador Garcia. He was also a native of Aguascalientes, and my mother Paula Hernandez, and she was also a native of Aguascalientes. Alright. And about

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how many brothers and sisters do you have? Uh, I lost my parent, my father at the age of 5, and I got, uh, 3 brothers from the first marriage of my mother. Then my mother. Was married again and uh she had another 6 more more child

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so I have uh 1111 brothers and sisters and my family both my my. Money Mother and my stepfather are dying right now. Yeah, they're still living in. Oh, they're both dead. They are both dead now. All right. And how did your stepfather earn his living? Did

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he work or did he have a business? Yes, he was, uh, he was a businessman. He got a grocery store. He was nice man. My mother was always, she didn't have too much education, but she was always very childless on this. So, uh, she, she was

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the one who, who educate us and, uh, he, he was uh. Wise enough to to to educate us well and uh yes and uh she he and she well they both uh were very helpful to to us. That's stupid. And so you spent your early years

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all in in Aguascalientes. Yes, I went to elementary and to high school down there in Aguascalientes, and I lived in Aguascalientes till the age of 25. I missed 26, yes, 26, uh, right at the time when I married, I married also a native of Aguascalientes. My

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wife is also a native of Guascalientes, and what is her name? Rebecca. Rebecca Aleman was her maiden name. Aleman Garcia. And now they got, yeah, right. Now Garcia. All right, and um. So were you, were your early years, um, when you, in, in the elementary grades,

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for instance, did you have a chance to, um, be active as a youngster? Did you, um, take part in, um, children's things? Were there any organizations or activities that you were able to take part in? I don't recall any, uh, I don't recall that any organization

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led towards the children. Uh, I did have fun, of course, we have a swimming pool close by and, uh, we spent almost all Saturdays and having fun there. And, uh, but, uh, as, as an organized group, uh, we didn't have children's games and playing with other

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other youngsters. Did you have a hobby though, as a child? Did you, was there anything in particular you like to do, whether it was a sport or reading or anything like that? I love baseball all the time and uh we used to play baseball a lot

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and uh that was as a child and afterwards as a teenager. I don't know how I got involved into the English, and I love that and uh actually I consider that as my as my hobby. I never learned to come to this country. I never, I

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never, never dreamed that I was that you were coming here, but you did like the English. Oh yes. And you, I, I studied it. I began to study it at, at the age, oh, I don't know, like in high school or yes a little after, after

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high school, 1819, 20 as a hobby actually. I was working in the morning and I have all the, uh, all the evenings, afternoons free and you know when you have some time free then you look for to do something helpful and we have a good English

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school down there and I was studying so I took it. Were, uh, were you planning some kind of career then, or did you know at an early age what you wanted to study, or, I was, I was studying accounting and I was, I studied accounting and

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uh. Uh, this time, uh, turning point came in my life. You are aware of that already, so that's what I get, uh. Getting to the church and I have this, This experience and so everything changed. Everything changed. Then it was my dream to go into a

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religious life. Uh-huh. Yeah, to go to the seminary. Uh-huh. Was that, uh, right before, no, that was before you married, right? Yes. Uh-huh. Before I married. Now, had anybody else in your family ever been in a, a religious life? Was there, were there any relatives or

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a relative that might have been in a. No, I didn't, I didn't have it. Well, my, my mother. Was not a very religious. Woman she was religious, of course she trained me as a mother as as she would as anybody could do my grandmother, she was

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a rather religious woman and uh I recall that I had some influence from her and uh. But still, uh, something was missing. Something was missing in the eye, When I get a get a chance to read the Bible. That's when that was my turning point, the

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Bible, and said it become real. Rather a drastic change took place, you know, my attitudes changed, my hopes, my vocabulary, my behavior. Everything changed, you know, this happened at the age of 27, 24, 24, and mainly because of the, of the teaching of the teaching of

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the Bible that San Jose. Yes, mhm. Did you, um, then, uh, from there decide to go to Mexico City, uh, on your own, or did, uh, somebody invite you? How did you get to Mexico City, right, um, our church, uh, has, uh, This is a Christian

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church, of course, when I began to read the Bible and, and this experience took place, I, I began to attend the Christian church. And uh. the Christian church is, uh, an organization to help young people, any people that we like to go to the seminary. So

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I went to Mexico City, where, where our seminary was located, and, uh, the church, uh, helped me with a scholarship. You know, small scholarship. You know, all the scholarships are small, so any, any student in a with a scholarship has this didn't cover everything, but at

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least, oh yes, it, it took us very, very good. So I went four years to, to Mexico City for, for my, my degree there. I got this was around what year was this? This was in '63 through 67. And uh 4 years in Mexico City for

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for theological training and I guess I got my master in. Definity degree that is the equivalent here over there is called something else but it's. The same, OK. And then about that time you got married, right? Yeah, I got married right before going to seminary, you

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know, Aguas, right, our church, the Christian church, they They don't believe that the minister has to be to be single, you know, so I got married and then I went to the seminary. So we both went to Mexico City for 4 years. Two my two first

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daughters were born down there in Mexico City, Mexico City, and they're how old now? Uh, one is 13, almost 14, and the other is almost 12, and the other just 6 to 6. All right, now, and how did you from there, how were you able to

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come to New York or did you choose, or again did they give you the opportunity to come to New York, the church itself? No, uh, how it happened was this way. I was assigned, not actually assigned, but, uh, they give me the, the, the, the choosing.

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Of one location, of one location. So rather stay around Aguas Caliente, Zacatecas, and San Luis, where we have a fairly large number of Christian churches, or open a new, a new church in Reynosa which is bordered with Texas. And so it was kind of a natural

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way, you know, very gradual way my coming to the United States because when I went to Reynosa I already knew how to read and write, speaking, speak English. So I relate a lot with people in in the Texas in the Texas border and in a new

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world, and I stayed 5 years in in Reynosa that's across from, uh, from McAllen, Texas McAllen, Texas, right? So it's a large community. So 5 years I spent there in McAllen, Texas, and it was a wonderful experience. I, the people from Reynos are very, very nice

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people and very often when you. want to teach them moral and religious things, they are very open. They're very open minded, so in 5 years we were able to establish a church and to build the church and. And then now that was a brand new church

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then that you established there. That was the thing that's correct. We, we had a few, few families down there, just a couple of families, and that's what start. What was the name of the church there, uh, same Christian church. No, no, but any other name? No,

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no, just Christian church. We in Mexico, we don't, we don't, we don't call any, any other name, just Christian church uh-huh. So when I was in, in, in Reynos and after 5 years I I received the call of this church in Brooklyn, New York. So after

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five years, more or less, that's the thing, the time normal when we usually change churches, you know, 456, up to 1015 is 15 years in one place is unusual, and after that it's very unusual. How, about what year was this? It was in '71, 7, around

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71. And then I accepted this, this, this call in Brooklyn, New York, and I went to, to, to Brooklyn, New York. Now was this a church that was already established there, or yes, that was, that was an established church and, um, Spanish speaking church, I would

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say mainly. Formed by Puerto Rican people, I did. We didn't have any Mexican there, any, not even Mexican. That was one of my desires. I never, never have any, any Puerto Rican or were there any others from any other children, I mean, or people from other

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Spanish speaking countries you had from we have, this was a, you know, not so big, uh, 150 member church, and out of 150 we had, uh. People from 11 different Spanish Spanish speaking countries Cuba, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Argentina, and you name it, we, we

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developed out of this diversity. We made up a program which was very successful. We, we took the approach. Listen, we are from different countries and we speak the same language and we share many diff many. Many cultural similarities but still there are some differences. So why

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don't we get together one day and we and we have uh uh what we call the international night and we share with each other our culture, our history, our national anthem, our flag, I mean the flag of each different, different, different countries down there and so

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it turned out to be very good and in 4 years we, we had to invite actually. We had to invite the whole community. We close the block and we have a nice party and very nice. The Italians used to have down there in that community used

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to have a big, big thing, and we hope and we dream that we will have something similar to that, you see. We acknowledge every, everybody, it's identity. You are Colombian living here so you have something good to share. Share me, and I have something good to

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share with you less, less than communicate and less educate each other, learn about each other's um. Well, you had certain similarities because the language, for instance, but then of course the religion, but, um, and they also learned each one of you learned about the other person's

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individual because as you say, each country has its differences and its own distinct culture and customs. It was very good, you know, the music, the poetry, the the. Highlights of the history was very enlightening, very, very enlightening. So then you had this once a year and

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you did this for over a period of the 4 years that you stayed here. I stayed. Now, were there, were there other programs, I think you told me prior to this you had, what were some of the other programs that were already in existence or that

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you started and that you would like to. Perhaps carry out here too this, uh, this international land we we started it then of course we engaged in that in that program that the housing rehabilitation housing that, uh, I already spoke about you with you the, the

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community was really running down and, uh, and, uh, that is the, the, the houses, the buildings were the housing. Oh well, the thing was that the landlords were Italian. And they didn't care a bit, a bit for the housing. They, they wanted to, to take all

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the profit out of, out of the building and not put any money on it. We call it milking the, the, the building, you know. They were actually doing that. So we said, we, this, this community is, is, is going down. So we have to do something

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and, uh, we formed this, this corporation, about 15 different clergy. Tregiment and then uh we took over these uh these buildings and we hire a contract and we got money from the bank and from the city and this and that borrowed money or you just got

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some funding we borrow money and we we have some funding some grants and we got some help yes all over and then we of course uh whenever we rehabilitate one house according to the to the to the city laws, of course you know it was illegal.

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And it was very good so we sell it to somebody, you know, in the, in the thought that uh whenever you are the owner of your house you are going to take good care of it. And we took many, many, we, we had the property of,

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uh, about 200 different houses and each house was. It was 234 up to 6 apartments, so most of these were would be apartments, not, not not single dwellings. There were a few of those. No, most of them you couldn't. I was very fortunate to have a

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single house to live in close to the next door to the church, but those are very rare in that community, in Bushwick community. If you get off that community, then you can find in Queens and. Staten Island, all those those larger places, uh-huh. OK. So you

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did, uh, in other words, uh, repairs whether it was painting or it was roofing or plumbing, electrical, everything, and you'd be surprised that sometimes we got into an emergency situation in which we, the clergymen, actually did the nailing. Yeah, several times we got together and we

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said, listen, this is we have to be done because this and that or whatever, so tomorrow we're going to, and we roll our sleeves, you know, in other words, it was like you said prior to this, you said they were about 1213 now. Protestant or ministers

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and then there were about 3 Catholic Catholic priests so combined combined effort we have a wonderful relationship down there because how long did that project last then at least. Before I, I joined it, uh, it was, it had already started, and, uh, it, it, it had

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probably a couple of years before I ran into there, and then 4 years that I stayed there, and they of course continue because it was a major enterprise. It was, it was a major. I haven't, I haven't. Heard any news about it, but I, I knew

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that's still going on there. So then, um, Your your years that were spent there were profitable and that you were able to do things for the community as well as did your, did your number of parishioners grow too? Did you have more people coming into the

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church while you were there? The thing there is that since you were doing such positive things you probably get well let me tell you that the mainly the Puerto Rican people, they always have the dream to go back to the island to Puerto Rico so. They

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always say us living here in the United States, I'm just, just for, for a few times and sometimes they stay 1015, 20 years, but still the dream is talking about going back and they actually do so we have a but do they go back to stay

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in Puerto Rico or do they go back and forth because sometimes some of the young ones do go back and forth, but don't they come back to New York most well, as, as, as in many, in many, in many. Many aspects and you, you can speak

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of generalities, you see, you, I would say that. Out of 100% that are talking of going back to the island, probably 75%, they actually go back. And out of that 75%. Probably 40% stay and they come back mainly because of the economic situation in the island

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in Puerto Rico is is rather difficult. The unemployment rate is 1517, 18, 20%, which is high and and the. The standard of living is way much expensive and the inflation is hitting. Higher, so some of them they cannot make it and so they have to come

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back. They have to come back now the youngsters, probably 50% of them, they are talking of going back at 50% they say forget it. I don't, I'm here. I'm here and I belong here, so. Uh, that means the, the second generation. So that, that's the situation.

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So according in, in, in the church we actually had new members coming in, but actually we were losing some that, that moved, moved down, and they stayed. I remember that out of the ones that went in 4 years, actually just one couple had to come back,

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but all the rest stayed. So it's, it's, uh, they are, they are talking, and they are, I mean, the first generation, they are talking and they are actually doing it, going back. Hm Now, for, for what reason then were you, uh, oh, before you, you had

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your church then you had gone to New York City and studied there and then got your master's there, right? I got, I went, I went into, into the seminary New York Theological Seminary again for a couple of years and then I got my master's. In theology,

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yes. Right. Um-hum. Uh-huh. In New York, because we'd mentioned it prior to this. Right. And I wanted to make sure that we got it in this. In this state. OK. And then, uh, what, for what reason was it then you were moved again, or what did

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you have a choice? The same, the same situation. Happened? Uh, yes, I, I had hoped that I was coming to the United States for a time. And my dream, you thought it was temporary, yes, and I was, I was dreaming of going back to Mexico to

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serve and to help the churches, of course, back in Mexico. So I received, while, while living in New York, I received a call from my hometown in Aguascalientes, my church hometown in Aguascalientes, and, uh, we actually came back there for a year. Oh, did you for

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a year and we were able, able to, to, to stay there for, for a year. Then after the year we, we came back. It was a very rewarding experience though, uh, was this like around 77 uh 75, 70, 76, 75, 76, uh. Probably we that have

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been in contact with the United States for. Sometime and that have learned English and we have acquired acquired a certain way of seeing things and uh certain way of thinking so that uh Whenever you, you go back to Mexico, it's not like what you thought it

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would be. You've been awake time, yeah, I, I have been awake for some time and, uh, I was frustrated to see so much time wasted, for instance, and some. Some of the things wasted, you know, um, city money wasted and Mm, probably what I'm saying here

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is the, the system you, you, you like the system and you want to be efficient and whenever you're going to out of this situation you are unhappy, you know, oh man, why do we have to to waste all this time and all this when we could

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do it but uh it's just the way it's simply a way of looking at things. So then you had a chance to choose to come here or were you looking for somebody after a year we, we make a decision then the, the education unfortunately in Mexico

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was lower and. And along with the with the. Here in the United States we see a need of Spanish speaking clergy. The young people, the young people are not. Are now falling falling this this this vacancy following the religious and in Mexico they are OK in

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Mexico they are OK so it wasn't me. Better they decide for a second it they need to to get better education for our children, our our. Daughters and unfortunately uh well in Mexico the same same thing you know lack of funds lack of uh lack of

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materials and so forth and so on so uh after a year we decided well we better go, go to the states and stay that so after we, after that we came to Texas to several other church in Texas and then we applied for our citizenship. We

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made it. You became citizens. And now you're both citizens of this country. Now what church were you then or what place was this in Texas the last time you were in Macau in Maca in Texas. Yes. And where was your youngest little one born? Oh yes,

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thank you. She was born in Brooklyn, New York. Oh, in Brooklyn. She's a New Yorker. Yes, she's a New Yorker, right? She's a New Yorker. Yes. So we have two born in Mexico City and one in Brooklyn Brooklyn, New York. Yes. And while you were there

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in Texas then you heard about this, uh, a place in Kansas City or that's right. I never, I never dreamed here our, our, our, our church in, in Kansas City is bilingual and uh of course I. Had you met the minister from here before? Oh, yes,

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you see, we have a conference. We have conventions, and here and there you meet everybody, you know, and, uh, of course I, I met the Reverend Reyes, the previous minister here, uh, 07 years ago, 6 years ago or something like that, and, uh. Then they, he

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was going to retire and they had the need of this new minister and and then he suggested my name so I got in touch with the with the people and I saw a, a very unusual opportunity to come here to come here. Did you have a

00:25:15.670 - 00:25:31.680

chance to visit them prior, I have, I have, I have a chance to, to come and uh. Then I, I met the church and I met the leadership and I saw the community and it wasn't a long stay. I stayed for 5 days only, but I

00:25:31.680 - 00:25:47.810

had the chance to, to come and see and to talk and to relate and I see that I saw that, uh, we had a, a good opportunity to, to serve the people and to serve the church. But what, what is your membership here now? About, uh,

00:25:47.839 - 00:26:09.060

90 members. And what as you look ahead to the future, what are some of the goals? I'm sure there are many, but at least roughly speaking overall since you're talking we have talked about it before, yes, with dreams. Well, I see. That, uh, Of course I

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would like to serve people and uh I the the situation I know most of most of course is the Spanish speaking people, Mexican people and that's the one I, I, I, I know most well so far we are hoping to to start a tutoring program we

00:26:29.020 - 00:26:51.920

know that. Our children, when the parents don't speak English at home or when they come recently from Mexico, they start back in school and we feel that they never catch up. So if we feed in actually with the reading and the math and. At the at

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the lower level 1st grade 2nd grade to put them in the in the highest classes, then they'll have a chance to make it so we're hoping to to start this we did that eventually we did that in in New York and it worked OK so we

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hope to do that here in in in in Kansas City and we also, we also would like. We also would like to to to work in uh. Helping the young people, the youngsters to, to stay out of trouble. Maybe, uh, we actually do not know how

00:27:24.699 - 00:27:41.979

we have an office in our headquarters. The church is headquarters. We have an office and we have a, a, a man that is, is specialist in needs. So are you talking maybe like a youth counselor or somebody? Something like, something like that, you know, uh, we

00:27:41.979 - 00:28:00.890

see that some of. Youngsters get in trouble with justice we want to help in that direction, prevent, prevent them or prevent that or orient them to other positive things so they will avoid getting into and and helping in any way we could another direction that maybe.

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Uh, just recently I have learned that there is an office that, uh, provide the services probably we won't get into this, but we were thinking of, uh, of job, job counseling, you know, getting trying to get our people into better paid jobs, you know, better. Increase

00:28:18.520 - 00:28:38.270

their their their income we're speaking especially in this in this industry of course another dream that I personally have is. That, uh, the, the, the undocumented workers, people that have come and don't have the, the, the legal documents, and actually I would like very much to

00:28:38.270 - 00:28:54.859

do something in this direction, you know, as a church oriented, having this complete confidence and actually help help these people I have seen. Such a sad situations in New York in this in along these lines. I know that this is difficult, and I know that many

00:28:54.859 - 00:29:10.459

people don't like it, but still I feel that, uh, as a minister, uh, uh, I, I could help, and it is my duty to do something duty to help us to do, to do something along that direction. The other day I was in the, in the,

00:29:10.540 - 00:29:27.229

in the, in the natural recession office and. I was, it was a case like that, and, uh, somebody has to do something. We have the trouble, you see, and we have to, at least myself, I feel addressed to this problem. I have to, to have to

00:29:27.229 - 00:29:45.510

address myself to this problem. So those are just, just dreams, you know, of course that the, the, the, the number one will be to, to keep talking about Jesus Christ, which I personally think is the, is the remarkable, the, the. The the amazing person that that

00:29:45.510 - 00:30:08.560

man can, you know, and telling others about this and of course, uh, I have seen and I know that whenever a person. His face with Jesus Christ. naturally. Believes in The whole thing changes for good. The, the, the, the, the marriage changes. The, the, the children

00:30:08.560 - 00:30:26.869

change. The job change. Everything changes for good. I have seen that and I'm convinced. So I have probably two boys in my lap. Tell others about Jesus Christ and serve them whenever I can. OK, Mr. Garcia, I certainly want to thank you for this interview, and

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unless there is something else you, you wish to add, this will conclude this part of the interview. I think that's about it. That's about it. OK, thank you so much thank you.