Toledo activist helps generations of immigrants

This wonderful woman has helped hundreds and hundreds of people in her community. Every community needs at least one person like her. DP

By ALEX M. PARKER, BLADE STAFF WRITER

toledoblade.com:For more than a half-century, she was known as the madrina - the godmother.

Ruth Garcia, now 87, fulfilled the custom by overseeing the baptisms of hundreds of newborns at the former Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission Church. But she also became the godmother of hundreds more: immigrants who came from Texas and Mexico in the 1940s, speaking little English and knowing little about the city.

"I felt it was my duty to help them," Mrs. Garcia said.

Since then, she has established "La Voz del Barrio," an organization of more than 200 local families. As a community activist, she led voter registration drives and spearheaded petition efforts to reform U.S. immigration laws and recently was given a lifetime achievement award by the Adelante Latino Resource Center.

Born in Omaha, she came with her family to Toledo in 1932 after a hailstorm devastated their community. She became involved in Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission Church, a church with a large Spanish-speaking congregation and an Irish priest, becoming the madrina or comadre - the godmother who witnesses baptisms, weddings, and other sacraments. In 1943, she became the church's president.

Through her involvement in the church, she met many of the immigrants when they came to Toledo in the 1940s, speaking little English and often forced to live in difficult conditions.

"So many didn't speak English," Mrs. Garcia said. "I wanted them to know what was happening."

Specifically, she wanted them to know that voting is a crucial part of being an American.

"It is very important that if they live here, they vote," Mrs. Garcia said.
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