Commemorative book and poster celebrate women in Laredo 's history

Laredo women in history are recognized in a book and commemorative poster created by artist Jorge Sanchez and distributed by the Jesus Hernandez Chapter of the American G.I. Forum.

With a forward by Webb County Commissioner Judith Gutierrez and an introduction by Laredo writer Jennie Leyendecker Reed, the book and poster feature 31 Laredo women, the Ursuline Sisters, the National Women's Suffrage Association, and the Sisters of Mercy.

Sanchez dedicated the book to all the women of this continent, to his mother, his wife, his daughters and nieces, and the women of Laredo .

Among the individuals about whom he writes are Andrea Castañon de Villanueva, a nurse who survived the Battle of the Alamo; teacher Francisca Benavides Farias; teacher Margarita Ramirez Haynes; actress and singer Mary Haynes Van Buren; schoool superintendent Nannie Emory Holding; teacher Julia Schultz; writer and poet Sara Estela Ramirez; writer Andrea Villarreal; teacher Margarita Gomez; teacher and nurse Leonor Villegas Magnon; journalist Jovita Idar; U.S. Customs deputy collector inspector Mary C. Devine; opera singer and teacher Courtney Proffit; Laredo physician Dr. Ruby South Lowry; superintendent of county schools Katherine Tarver; philanthropist Lamar Bruni Vergara; customs broker Jovita Perez; police officer Michelle G. Hinojosa; firefighter Annabelle Venegas; city secretary Hortencia Cano Gonzalez; former Webb County Commissioner Lily Perez; 341st District Judge Elma Salinas Ender; attorney Ana Laura Cavazos-Ramirez; former City Council member Consuelo Montalvo; archaeological steward Rose Tarver Treviño; Webb County Tax Assessor Collector Patricia Barrera; attorney Rosaura P. Tijerina; Senator Judith Zaffirini; Mayor Elizabeth Flores; Elizabeth García Flores, former mayor of Río Bravo; and Guadalupe S. M. Elizondo, former commissioner of Río Bravo.

Sanchez said that Nina Nixon Mendez, formerly the City's preservation officer, encouraged him to undertake the project, which had begun as a mural but eventually turned into a book project that now serves as an educational tool.

Luis A. Diaz De Leon, commander of the local chapter of the American G.I. Forum, said the Forum is proud to be a part of Sanchez's project which recognizes successful women in the area, women whose stories can serve as inspirations to young women. The past, De Leon said, allows us to understand the present.

Both the book and the poster are available for $20 through the G.I. Forum.

The forum has also published a commemorative poster for the City of Laredo 's 250th anniversary, a poster of the coat of arms of Don Tomás Sanchez, the founder of Laredo .

Jorge Sanchez works for the City of Laredo engineering department.