From President’s Desk

Dear CIDA primos, prospective members and friends,

As we prepare to launch our 2025-2026 term, my thoughts surround how best to honor our ancestors. I think about their decision to leave their beloved homeland and all that was familiar to them. They chose to begin anew, and in doing so, they would learn to adapt to their new surroundings while keeping their beliefs and customs near to their hearts. I wonder what things made them smile and what things made them scratch their head? I wonder what, besides family members they left behind, they yearned for so intensely that their hearts hurt.

In some ways, I can empathize with their hardships, but I am also fiercely envious and proud of their adventurous spirit. I see it in the generations that followed them, and I see it in many of you. As the founders of the first civil government in la Villa de San Fernando de Bexar, they would lay the groundwork for a footprint of what the government would look like even today in San Antonio.

They would serve as alcaldes and other officials. They were presidio soldiers in and around la Villa de San Fernando (San Antonio) and Presidio La Bahia. They would become ranchers and would be honored today as patriots of the American Revolution for providing beef at General Bernardo de Galvez’s request for his hungry troops in Mobile and the Gulf Coast. I wonder what our ancestors would think about that today. Many of you have joined Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution, as a result. The contributions of our ancestors are undeniable.

Again, I have been thinking a lot about the best way to honor our ancestors as an association during the coming term. It seems to me that our ancestors are calling out to us to keep their names alive, locate and welcome their descendants, and keep their adventurous spirit alive by telling their stories wherever we are able. To that end, I hope to hear your ideas regarding what you think our priorities are in the coming months. I want to hear how you honor your ancestors and how you are walking that walk. Of course we are a 501(c)3, an association with Bylaws and responsibilities – but we are so much more than that my dear primos, we are familia!

 

Con Cariño,

Julia Lopez
President
Canary Islands Descendants Association

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