By Jeff Barton
[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ne of the towering figures of the civil rights era in Hays County has died.
Ofelia Trinidad Vasquez Philo, an advocate for poor families, a pioneer in women’s rights, and a leading advocate for Mexican-American rights and culture, died Nov. 1 in San Marcos. She was 84.
Philo went to work for the Community Action Agency of Central Texas in 1966, the year after the national program was created as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty. She started as a part-time employee without a high school diploma, but by 1970 she had worked her way to becoming executive director at a time when there was still open discrimination toward Mexican-Americans and other Latinos in Hays County and across Texas. While at Community Action she earned her GED, and a college degree from Antioch University’s Austin campus.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, many local political boundaries were still drawn to make it difficult to elect Latinos to office. Streets in some Mexican-American neighborhoods were still unpaved, even inside city limits. Women and minorities were both rare in elected office, and tensions at San Marcos schools were high.
Philo became the first Latina elected to the San Marcos school board (1969-71), and a constant presence in the community’s political and policy debates, even as the programs she administered through Community Action brought medical help and education to families in San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, among “cedar choppers” in the hills, and throughout the county and the broader Central Texas region.
She retired from Community Action in 1993 but continued to be active in public life, especially in education and cultural affairs. She was a co-founder of Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos, a community center and museum dedicated to preserving, developing and promoting Hispanic arts, culture and heritage. The Centro’s programs and educational curricula include visual arts, dance, theatre, music, literature, multi-media and the culinary arts.
Though there were controversies and difficult challenges in her early years of leadership, as when her husband died, over time recognition for accomplishments came from a wide variety of sources. She was named a Civil Rights Trailblazer for Hays County in her hometown of San Marcos. Bishop Gregory Aymond presented her with the Light of the World Award in 2005. She was presented the Premio Letras de Aztlan Award from the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies in 2012.
Erudite, soft-spoken, she orchestrated perfect English with a Mexican accent that never fully left her, and was equally capable of tough negotiation or artistic praise of poetry. She was co-author of a book about the historic early Hispanic settlers in San Marcos, Suenos y Recuerdos del Pasado.
Philo was sociable and frequently in demand. She was active in many community organizations. Among them: the Hays County Historical Commission, the Hays County Women’s Political Caucus, the San Marcos Heritage Foundation (where she was a charter member), the San Marcos League of Women Voters, the Hijas de Maria, the Archicofradia of St. John’s Catholic Church, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and the Finance Council and the Bereavement Ministry of St. John’s Catholic Church. She served on numerous other boards around the county and in San Marcos.
Philo was born Dec. 28, 1932 in Seguin, Texas, the oldest of nine surviving children of Rosa and Fernando Trinidad. She grew up on Freeman Ranch near Wimberley, where her father was the ranch foreman.
In 1950, she married Joe Vasquez, Jr. and together they raised seven children. After Joe’s death in 1986, she married Harry Philo, now also deceased.
She is survived by her children and their families: Melba Vasquez (Jim Miller), Austin; Norma Martinez (Joel Martinez), McAllen; Gilbert Vasquez (Cris Vasquez), New Braunsfels; Rachel Vasquez, Austin; Josie Villalpando (Mario Villalpando), Rogers, Ark.; Oscar Vasquez (Rhonda Vasquez), Corpus Christi; Rosalba Merchant (Joe Merchant), San Marcos; stepson Ron Philo (Anne LeMaistre), Austin; 17 grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren. Her surviving sisters include Ruth Ferrer, Alice Hurtado, Francis Sierra, Emma Trinidad, Rosa Martinez, sisters-in-law Irene Trinidad, Amelia Trinidad, Lily Ruiz, Susie Molina, many cousins, nieces, nephews and countless dear friends and colleagues.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to the Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos. Or, they say, give time to a worthy cause.
A funeral service was held Nov. 7 at St. John’s Catholic Church followed by internment at San Marcos Cemetery.
