Carmen L. Padilla

Single mom who worked hard her whole life revered by 5 generations that followed her

It’s not clear exactly how Carmen Padilla and her family traveled from her birthplace in Arizona to Tecate, Baja California. It might have been by covered wagon or by horse and buggy. She celebrated her 101st birthday on July 16 and took that journey when she was just 7. But it is certain the trip was difficult.

“Nana Carmen told me that when they were moving to Tecate, they slept on the ground and her mother would have blankets that they would shake out, checking for snakes,” said her granddaughter Nikki Perez, a Chula Vista elementary schoolteacher. “They’d hit the snakes to scare them away.”

Things didn’t get much easier for Padilla, who married in Mexicali at age 15 and moved to Brawley with her husband. She had her first child a year later, three more by the time she was 26, and picked cotton in the fields of Imperial Valley. After her marriage disintegrated, she moved to San Diego County, where she has lived ever since.

“When Nana Carmen came here with her kids in tow, the first thing she did was to go to the beach and put her feet in the water,” Perez recounted. “She said it was magical and made her so happy. After being in Brawley, with all the dust, it must have been like coming to Oz.”

Padilla, who never remarried, raised her four children in the South Bay, working in packing plants, sewing her children’s clothes by hand and generally scraping by.

“I didn’t buy Barbie clothes for my girls because Nana Carmen would make them,” Perez said. “She would make beautiful ball gowns for their dolls. They looked like they were right out of the Academy Awards shows in the 1940s.

“Actually, Nana Carmen looked a little like that. She was tall and slender, often dressed in two-piece suits that she made. A stunning woman.”

Padilla’s oldest daughter, Minnie, 85, is retired and lives in the South Bay. Daughter Mollie, 79, lives and works in Riverside County. The matriarch outlived her son, Eddie, and daughter, Tillie. Padilla has 13 grandchildren, 21 great grandchildren, eight great-great grandchildren, and one great-great-great grandchild, totaling six generations.

“I’m definitely happy about it,” she said of her multigenerational clan. Many family members celebrated with her at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Chula Vista on her birthday.

After being independent most of her life, Padilla lives with her granddaughter Lila Romero, who previously resided in Madera. They share a home in Carlsbad with Romero’s spouse, Monica Mascareno, and Mascareno’s mother, who is in her late 80s.

“I have been taking care of Nana Carmen since she turned 97,” said Romero, who spent several childhood summers with her grandmother. “A caregiver, who worked just a few hours a day, found her after a fall. The doctor suggested she get a full-time caregiver, and I retired about the same time. When the family told me about it, I said: ‘Of course, I’ll come and take care of my Nana. I don’t mind getting out of the Central Valley.’”

Romero and Perez proudly noted that their grandmother was skilled in crocheting doilies and tablecloth runners, and excelled in other arts and crafts. She had a large art collection of elephants, which she had to downsize when moving in with Romero and Mascareno. The last few years have seen another change: Padilla has returned to her first language.

“She spoke English with me when I was a kid,” Romero said. “She still understands English, but she prefers talking in Spanish.

“She is a strong-willed woman and wants to do things for herself. She still gets herself ready in the morning.”

According to Perez, Padilla never let the hardships she experienced get her down.

“As a little girl at family get-togethers, I remember her having such laughter and joy in her heart,” Perez recalled. “People would gravitate to her. She was such a good, fun person to be around.”

Now in her second century, Padilla continues to enjoy life.

“She walks 30 yards every day,” Romero said. “We take her for rides in her wheelchair. She knows her plants. Her admiring the landscape helps make me more aware of my surroundings.”

Among Padilla’s highlights are the household’s weekly trips to a nearby casino. Romero said her grandmother is a big fan of breakfast at the Pala Café, as well as playing the slot machines.

When asked if she is lucky, Padilla responded in Spanish: “Not really, but I enjoy pushing those buttons.”