Shown is the final resting place of Carmen C. Guerra (inset), who her granddaugther Carmen Martinez has been searching for. (Staff photo by Francisco E. Jimenez)
By FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com
San Benito native Carmen Martinez has been looking for her grandmother for years.
Her grandmother, Carmen Cantu Guerra, passed away 11 years ago, and now Martinez is simply trying to do all she can to learn more about the circumstances surrounding her passing.
“I was just trying to get some information, because my mother was a migrant worker, so we moved from place to place. I could never get any information, and she would never tell me any information about her. I went to a foster home when I was 11-years-old, so I didn’t really have anything,” said Martinez, who group up living with her grandmother.
According to Martinez, who now resides out of state, the last time she saw her grandmother was when she was 10-years-old. She had no idea that it would be the last time she would ever see her.
“It was right before I was put in a foster home,” Martinez, 32, said. “When we lived in San Benito, she had been the one taking care of me, as far as buying me school clothes and things like that. It was a good visit. She took me to Mexico. We just had a good time down there.”
Carmen would go from foster home to foster home, mostly throughout the state of Michigan, and each time becoming harder for her to keep in touch with the woman who had shared so much love and memories with her.
“She lived in San Benito her whole life. I talked to her a couple of times when I was in a foster home. I was still young, so it wasn’t like I could just go down there and visit her,” said an emotional Martinez.
The devoted granddaughter was finally old enough to try to reach out to her former caretaker, but by that time it was too late.
“I found out about two years ago. That’s also when I found out that my father had passed as well,” Martinez said, growing more emotional with every word she spoke during the course of the interview for this story. “I was just doing some research on the internet, and I found my grandma’s old address. I thought I would write a letter to it just in case someone living there knew her, or just to get any kind of information. My father’s brother called me and told me.”
Martinez has since contacted the San Benito News and asked for help in finding out more information regarding the circumstances of her grandmother’s passing, including her final resting place. With the help of Albert Vega, Funeral Director from Thomae-Garza Funeral Directors, Inc. and Elsa O’Gwynn, Family Service Counselor of Mont Meta Memorial Park, the News was able to locate and provide Martinez with the information she had been searching for.
Now it is all up to Martinez, who currently resides in Nesbit, Mississippi, to finally make the trip back to the city where her grandmother lived for what she called some much needed closure. Until then, she is one step closer to completing her journey.
“I just remember how she took care of me, and how she really cared about me,” Martinez said weeping. “She was the only person, at the time, who really cared about me.”
To see this story in print, pick up a copy of the May 29 edition of the San Benito News. Or view our E-Edition by clicking here.
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