Welcome to week 3 of 52 Ancestors which was developed by Amy Johnson Crow.  You can read about my past weekly posts here: Week One and Week Two.  This weeks prompt is Longevity.  Well that word is synonymous with one of my aunts, Jessie Diaz.  My aunt Jessie was the oldest of my dad’s 11 siblings.  Although she is technically my Dad’s and his 11 other siblings half-sister, she is the one that helped raised the younger kids.  My grandfather was married to my aunt Jessie’s mom, Antonia Hernandez and sometime before 1918 her mother passed away.  Before my grandparents immigrated to California via Texas and Arizona, my grandmother and grandfather got married.  At the time of their marriage, my grandfather had three daughters, Simona, Eufemia and Jesus (my aunt).  Sometime before the immigration, Eufemia must have passed away.  At least I haven’t found her yet.  My grandparents, Simona and my aunt Jessie immigrated to El Paso, Texas.  Unfortunately approximately 2 weeks after immigrating, Simona passed away.

My aunt Jessie is synonymous with Longevity because she lived until she was 103 years old.  When I attended her 101st birthday, she said that dancing has kept her so young!  When I first started researching my dad’s family, it was hard to communicate with her because of the language barrier.  She spoke spanish and I didn’t.  Thankfully my dad would translate for me.  Once she realized what I was trying to do, she fully supported me with researching the family.

Sadly, my aunt passed away one week after her birthday and a little over a month after my dad passed away.  Another aunt, my aunt Ruth, also passed away two weeks after my aunt Jessie passed away.  2016 was not a good year for our family but we braved through it!  Do you have an ancestory that you think of when you hear the word “Longevity”?   Comment below and tell me the story!