It was my mother who taught me to love Laredo. From Mexico City, my mother said she loved Laredo because in Laredo she felt like somebody. She said that here she was not one of millions. Here, she was Mrs. Frank, a businesswoman, mother of four daughters, well known, and admired.
Like her love of dancing, she felt that in Laredo her energy and efforts were reciprocated, and she reminded me always, “En este mundo, nada mas dejas un buen hacer.”
I came back to live in Laredo 24 years ago with my husband, Frank, whom I met in NYC at architecture school. He had never heard of the place called Laredo. I told him about the border city where I learned to speak two languages fluently, and where you could feel a kindred spirit with Europe, Central and South America, and even New York City because, although a tiny city by comparison, Laredo attracted people from all parts of the world.
Stories about growing up on both sides of the border made him want to visit, but it was homemade tortillas and slow gin fizzes from the Cadillac Bar that made him want to stay. We both graduated from Pratt Institute with degrees in architecture and soon after completing our Masters from Columbia University, I came back to Laredo. Together we raised two intelligent and beautiful children, Xavier and Julian. They, too, did not escape their grandmother’s insistence that they not complain about Laredo, but that they see the opportunity to do something good here.
To love Laredo is to dance with it.
For the last 24 years we have danced, Laredo and I.
While teaching architecture at UTSA, Frank and I used project sites in Laredo to inspire our students about urban and building design. We established the first woman-owned architecture firm in Laredo and have received local, state, and international recognitions for numerous of our projects.
When my parents first arrived in Laredo, it was less than 50,000 large, but in many ways it offered far more diverse opportunity than a larger city. Today, my parents would probably not have settled here because they would not have seen opportunity for their unique talent and brilliance in the Laredo landscape. It is the same for many who grow up here, leave for college, and do not come back. It is the same for those who have to stay, but leave every weekend.
I worked with my mother for 24 years, and she passed to me the reins of my family business, which will pass to a third generation.
My mother, a matriarch with wits and brains of more than a thousand, would say that in Laredo you are not one in a million, but somebody who can make a difference and leave good things behind. And in a way, for all that she was grateful for, that lesson was given to those who knew her.
That was her love letter to Laredo.
….AND WE ADORED ADELE!
Adela inspired us all, as did Jaque… I carry them in my heart! Thank you Viviana, for carrying on in their Spirit and to Frank also, for all you both are doing to improve life in our beloved Laredo!
Yes, Jaque was also an inspiration to many ! Thank you for mentioning her !
Yes indeed, my sister has captured the spirit of our mother in a precise and loving way. Thanks to both Mauricio and Adela I am proud to always come back to Laredo, a magical city with the most beautiful sunsets in the world.
Anna Frank-Fisher
Viviane, daddy’s girl!! I had the awesome privilege of meeting your parents because we lived down street Rosita Ramirez my dad had the Texaco Service station your dad was one of our customers…I became good friends with your sister Linda we hung out a few times…one day I will tell you how we really met (a funny story)….
What I truly remember of both your parents was they were hard working people and I remember Ann, Jackie(RIP) Linda and you the cutest little sister ever!! Bibi!!
Your mother was a lovely sweet mother always striving to make her daughters become loving successful women. Your family has a warm place in my heart because I was welcomed in your home…..many blessings and very fortunate that you, your husband, n family stayed in Laredo..
Respectfully,
Rosa Ramirez Angon
Lovely thoughts about a lovely person. I for one am happy you share her love and passion for “Laredo Lindo”
I just today happened on to these replies in their long form. Thank you for remembering my family and my mother’s special energy. Even though Laredo is is 1/4 of a million large, we are all still pioneers.
Viviana