The life and story of, Adeline Garcia Hisquierdo begins on the early morning of Thursday, August 18, 1927 at the general hospital in San Francisco. Just one year into her life, Adeline’s mother, Maria Saenz Garcia divorces her husband and decides to move back to Barstow. Maria only takes Adeline with her, and she leaves her son, Danny Garcia with their father. Adeline now joins her older sister, Lily Gomez, who is being raised by Maria’s parents, Sara and Felix Saenz. Two years later, a younger brother, Gilbert Cedillo, joins the family at grandma’s house. Shortly after, grandma Sara Saenz changes Adeline’s name to Gloria, and she changes all the children’s last name to Saenz. When they begin school, all three children were the Saenz children.
With money being scarce, the Saenz children were very creative and resourceful in gathering food and celebrating the Christmas holiday, a holiday they knew their grandmother loved. Occasionally food was gathered by donations from the workers from the grocery store and local town bakery. As Christmas passed, and January 3rd approached, Christmas trees were being discarded onto the neighborhood streets and alleys. The children would then select the biggest and best tree they could find, along with decorations and drag it home. Then they would decorate it together and celebrate Christmas Eve that night, their grandmother never knew the difference.
As time passed, sister Lily was the first to leave Barstow to create a new life in the City of Angels. Lily secured a position with Douglas Aircraft and found a job for her sister, Adeline, at Clifton’s Cafeteria. Adeline had an adventuress spirit, so at the age of 17, she was next to leave Barstow. At this time, the sisters were reunited with their brother Danny and Adeline finally met her father Manual Garcia. Not too long after leaving their hometown of Barstow, Lily and Adeline’s brother Gilbert joined them in Los Angeles. As Adeline was full of life, living in the city during the era of big swing bands and jitter bug dancing was perfect. The siblings enjoyed the roller coasters at the Pike in Long Beach during the day and headed over to Santa Monica to dance the night away.
The spirit of being a fighter was in Adeline, she spilled hot coffee on her leg while at home. The wound soon became severely infected to the point of developing gangrene. The doctors stated if the wound did not begin to heal, she would lose her leg. Lily began to help her sister care for the wound, and was able to save her leg. Soon after, Adeline headed back to grandma’s house in Barstow. This is when she met a young solider boy and became Mrs. Raymond Hisquierdo. On May 10th in 1948, the newly married couple were blessed with their first child and only daughter, Patricia, and Adeline’s sister Lily had the honor of naming her. As time passed on, seven more blessings occurred, all boys. The first son, following tradition, was given the name of his father, Raymond. The second son, Jose “Joey”, was named after their grandfather, Jose Hisquierdo. The third son, Edward, was named after a popular singer Eddie Fisher. The fourth son, Steven, was given a popular name during this era. The fifth son, Gilbert, was named after Adeline’s brother, Gilbert Cedillo. The sixth son, Orlando, she wanted a good Latin name. The seventh son, her last son, may his soul continue to rest in peace, was named after the Kennedy boys, which Adeline was fond of, Theodore Robert Hisquierdo.
At the age of 42, a mother of eight children, Adeline went back to finish her high school education, and obtained her high school diploma. She demonstrated various ways of being a crusader during her time by joining the Mexican American Political Association (MAPA); running for a Council Member seat with Barstow Unified School District; and most memorable was when she moved to Long Beach to join her brother, Gilbert Cedillo, and sister-in-law to help campaign for her nephew who was running for a seat as a California State Senator. When her nephew won, Adeline was overjoyed with his victory and their efforts.
As her life adventures began to slow down, Adeline lived her last years with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Her son, Gilbert, was her loving care taker, and he was the last to give, Adeline, our mother, aunt, sister, cousin, friend, grandmother, and great-grandmother, a kiss on the forehead before she left our world to join the heavens above.
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