By FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com
San Benito has lost one of its most respected educators, a woman whose name will be immortalized with the building of a new elementary school.
Angela Gerusa Leal, the namesake of the new Angela Gerusa Leal Elementary School to be located on FM 732, passed away at a Harlingen nursing home on Monday, June 6 at approximately 5 a.m. She was 88-years-old.
“She’d been the constant in my life for as long as I’ve been around,” said Leal’s daughter, Sylvia Silva. “She was a major encourager to me and my sister.”
Leal’s name was selected to don the new campus at a school board meeting held on Tuesday, January 11. With Leal’s passing, plans for the school’s dedication may now include intentions to honor her memory.
San Benito CISD Superintendent of Schools Antonio G. Limón expressed his condolences to Leal’s family.
“We are very saddened by it. She was told by her children that a school had been named after her,” said Limon. “We only wish that she could have been present when we planned to dedicate the school at the start of the new school year. Our condolences and prayers go out to her family.”
According to Silva, Leal had been looking forward to attending the dedication.
“We’re so honored. Here she is in this remote corner of Harlingen, thinking that she’s not relevant anymore, and then all of a sudden it’s like the hand of God touches her shoulder and says, ‘hey little lady, I’m going to honor you.’ She just said, ‘Thank God,’” Silva said.
Silva said that she had promised her mother that she would get her ready for the dedication ceremony, and push her around in her wheelchair so she could take in all of the festivities of that day.
Silva also recalled the memories of a woman whose soul was in education, but her heart was in the success of her children.
“She loved us. She would get short tempered, but it was only fueled by her love for us and desire to see us fulfill everything that we are capable of,” said Silva. “That constant knowing that I knew that I was loved by my mother was paramount to me.”
While Leal was honored to have a school named after her, Silva said that she never gave any real thought to being the first Mexican-American administrator. Everything she did, she did for her love of education.
“I hope that she will be remembered for her dedication to see children learn,” said Silva. “She felt that children can learn if they are exposed to education. She did everything possible to make that happen, to make the learning experience fantastic so that children would want to learn more and be inquisitive.”
She added, “A man asked me, ‘How did she feel being the first Mexican-American to be an administrator?’ Really, that was never in her thought process. What happened was that she was called into the superintendent’s office, and Mr. Barron told her, ‘Angela, I need you to go back into the community, and I need you to be the principal there. Those people need you and trust you.’ That’s all she needed to hear, never thinking that years later that would be a distinction. She did it out of duty.”
To see this story in print, pick up a copy of the June 8 edition of the San Benito News. Or view our E-Edition by clicking here.
1 comment
My grandmother was an amazing woman. I love her and miss her dearly.