YEPEZ
FAMILY
Tirso Yepez and Eusebia Ruiz spent much of their early years of marriage apart. Wanting to provide an education and a better life for their 10 children, Tirso migrated back and forth to the United States. As a bracero, he picked cotton in Texas and worked in farms across California, all while Eusebia took care of the household in La Haciendita. Their partnership, strong and resilient, allowed for them to finally live together as a family in 1973, when they migrated to Chicago. They bought a house in Little Village, where they were able to send their children to local high schools and then off to college. As their children married and remained in Chicago, Tirso and Eusebia traveled back and forth to Mexico, their bond and fortitude an inspiration to generations of their family.
1960s The Yepez Ruiz children: Teresa, Manuela, Roman, Jesus, Maria Guadalupe.
Maria Guadalupe Yepez in La Haciendita, Guanajuato, Mexico.
Tirso Yepez and three of his sons. Jose (far left), Jesus (third from left) and Roman (right). Little Village, Chicago. 1983.
Maria Guadalupe Yepez (right) and cousin Margarita Guerrero. Little Village, Chicago. 1984.
Jesus Yepez in Little Village, Chicago. 1983.
Sisters Maria Guadalupe Yepez (middle) and Hortencia Yepez (right) with cousin Margarita Guerrero in downtown Chicago. 1983
Roman Yepez in Little Village, Chicago. 1983.
Maria Guadalupe Yepez (standing, right) and Hortencia Yepez with cousin Margarita Guerrero (left). Chicago. 1984.
Eusebia Yepez Ruiz and two of her daughters, Maria Guadalupe (middle) and Hortencia (left). Little Village, Chicago. 1983.
Tirso Yepez, wife Eusebia Ruiz, and mother-in-law Juanita Gonzalez.
1995 Tirso Yepez and his grandsons Hector Herrera, Victor Yepez, and Bobby Yepez in La Haciendita, Guanajuato, Mexico.
Tirso Yepez with his children.