Voices in Spanish leave a La Conner legacy

Five Spanish-speaking families are being featured at the Skagit County Historical Museum with its new exhibit, “Voces Del Valle,” which means, “Voices of the Valley.”

One, the Hernandez family, established themselves in the 1940s in La Conner, raising nine children, all of whom graduated from La Conner High School.

Mercedes DeJesus Lopez and Morris Hernandez moved to Skagit County from Eastern Washington in 1948, following her father, Miguel Lopez, who had come here the year before.

Morris and Mercedes made their home in La Conner and were among the first Spanish-speaking families to settle permanently here. Morris worked as a farmworker, butcher and meat packer. But even though this was during a time when Mexican wives and mothers were not expected to work outside of the home, Mercedes wanted to pursue higher education.

With Morris’s support, Mercedes studied nursing at Skagit Valley College and graduated as a licensed practical nurse in 1968, the first of three Mexican women to achieve this distinction in Skagit County.

After graduation, she worked at Skagit Valley Hospital for 26 years. Mercedes, along with Celia Garcia and Guadalupe Guzman, were inducted into the Skagit Valley Community College’s Hall of Fame in 2010 for their accomplishments in this area.

Through their love for each other and their family, Miguel Lopez and Morris and Mercedes Hernandez successfully challenged the social customs of the times and encouraged each other to pursue their dreams.

Throughout their life together and while raising their large family, Morris and Mercedes were both extremely active in the La Conner community such as the La Conner Booster Club, Knights of Columbus, Habitat for Humanity and American Red Cross. They were both founders of the Guadalupe Club and the Mexican American Scholarship Fund.

The “Voces Del Valle” exhibit runs through Sept. 20.