Daughter Sees Big Difference Mom Made in Small California Town

In honor of Cesar Chavez Day, the Henry Madden Library at California State University, Fresno has partnered with StoryCorps to record and preserve the stories of Latino families in the San Joaquin Valley. 

We’re airing excerpts of some of those conversations on The California Report Magazine. We hear octogenarian Doris Ceballos tell her daughter, Cathleen Lozano, about her life working at a general store in Malaga.

Doris Ceballos grew up in the small Central Valley town of Malaga. Of the 11 children that her Mexican immigrant parents had, only Doris and her younger sister went to high school.

That education paid off when Doris was hired to work at the general store in Malaga after she graduated in 1949. She worked as a cashier, postal clerk and interpreter for Malaga's many Spanish-speaking residents. Doris says she would translate letters from loved ones in Mexico or serving overseas in the military for customers who couldn't speak English.

"They would be so grateful that I had read the letter that they would bring a piece of fruit and give me a piece of fruit or a candy bar," Doris says. "They were so grateful and thankful. I would say, 'You don't need to do that,' and they would say, 'I want to.'"

Doris' daughter, Cathleen Lozano, is overcome with emotion as her mother tells her about her working life in a StoryCorps interview.

"I'm so proud of you and everything you've accomplished," Cathleen says, trying to hold back tears. "I'm so thankful that I have you."

The project was co-sponsored by the California State University, Fresno Office of the President, the College of Arts and Humanities, the College of Social Sciences and Valley Public Radio.