My grandmother, Maria de Fatima Podroso Teixeira, was born and raised in São Jorge, Açores. She was born in her little home on September 22, 1947, where her family of 7 kids and 1 mother lived. It contained 2 bedrooms, 1 living room, and one kitchen; the whole house was made of rocks. Her family grew up very poor, so all of the kids had to start working at a very young age. Her father died when she and all of her siblings were very young, which made it even more difficult to live. My grandmother started sewing clothes to make money, and it became a hobby when she moved to the United States. 

Maria de Fatima Podroso Teixeira immigrated to the United States in June of 1970 when she was 22. She was the first person in her family to immigrate from the Azores to the United States. She moved here because she met her soon-to-be husband and decided it would be best for her and her daughter to move down to the United States. They returned to Portugal and married in the Azores before officially returning to the United States. She got her citizen papers after 3 and a half years of living in the United States, and after that, she called all of her family to move down here. They decided to settle in Dos Palos, California, because that is where my grandfather was originally from. My grandfather already had two children, a boy and a girl, and my grandmother had 1 daughter. They had one daughter together, which was my mom, and they loved every second of family time. They live on one road with 4 houses on it, one for each of their children (except for one because she lives in a different city,) and that is how they lived their whole life. 

My grandmother began working as soon as she moved over to Dos Palos. She started out in a carpet factory, where she learned English. After 10 years of living here, she opened up her own upholstery business, which is still open and running today. She is now 75, and she still loves and enjoys what she chose to start doing so long ago. She also sews on the side for family and others in our town when needed. While living in Portugal, she learned how to sew because her family needed money. She was doing a lot of side jobs, anything that she could find, and she saw a lady who taught her how to sew, so she’s been doing it ever since. That was what began her love for upholstery. My grandma has been doing upholstery for 43 years and has never taken a break. I admire her for all of her hard work because I know it is not easy. As her grandchildren, we always help where we can, whether it be to help her lift chairs, measure things, carry in fabrics, or just help her sew only because she wants us to learn and she enjoys watching us do what she loves.  Maria Teixeria has always and will forever be proud of her Portuguese heritage. Portuguese is her first and main language, even though she has lived in the United States for 52 years. She taught her first daughter, who immigrated with her to the United States, how to speak Portuguese fluently. She also taught her second daughter how to say it; since she is a teacher, she uses it to understand Spanish. She always cooks Portuguese foods and desserts for her family and the people in her hometown. She makes sweet bread, filhós, queijadas, kale soup, roast, rice pudding, and more. Portuguese food will always be a tradition within her family because she teaches her children and grandchildren how to make everything. I will go home and make desserts with her because it makes her proud that we are learning Portuguese traditions. Her daughters participated in the Portuguese celebrations (festas) by being the festa queen or the sidemaids. Her granddaughters also were queens and sidemaids. Her family attends the boildelate and other Portuguese celebrations in our town and towns around us. The Portuguese language is the most important tradition that my grandmother has maintained. She has many friends and family members to whom she speaks Portuguese daily. She attends church every Saturday evening, the day she used to go while living in Portugal. Her whole family was baptized as Catholics because being catholic meant a lot to Portuguese people. 

My grandmother was born in the Azores and grew up there before moving here at 22. Living there was extremely hard When she was younger since her family was poor. She loved her life there but knew it was time to leave. She hasn’t returned for 52 years but is going with our whole family this summer. She has a sister living there and wants to visit her hometown and other towns in Portugal. She doesn’t have any experience growing up in the Portuguese-American community in the Valley since she grew up in the Azores. Once she was 22, she realized many Portuguese people were in Dos Palos. Because of this, Portuguese traditions were guaranteed to be seen in the family and the city. It is a big Portuguese community where celebrations, church, rosaries, and sopas are held. She is very proud to be a Portuguese-American. She wanted to raise her family to be Portuguese since she loved the heritage so much, but she was happy that she got to teach her family in America, where life was better. 

She is extremely proud of her upholstery business. She started it from the ground up with help from my grandfather, and she did all the work. She is still doing it at 75, making her even more proud of starting it so long ago. In Portugal, she worked very hard and did what she wanted. She still follows all Portuguese traditions for her family and the town, so being Portuguese has shaped her life greatly in the best way possible. She was never happier after she got her citizen papers and could call herself Portuguese-American. I remember her telling me about the story of her going to take the test, and she was so proud of herself because she knew the answers to pretty much every single question that was asked. She took pride in learning how to be an American citizen. She loves spreading her Portuguese heritage to her children and grandchildren. It makes her happy to see us in her kitchen helping her cook and bake everything she has integrated into her mind. Her measurements are very interesting, but we all learned how to do them just like her. She is very happy that we’re going to Portugal this summer. Besides being with her family, she is most excited about bringing home a wheel of cheese. She wants us to see how different, fresh, and unique it is in Portugal compared to America. She loves our community in America since it shows the Portuguese side,e but she wants us to experience how real it feels when you’re there.

She wanted to mention that she makes quilts as a hobby for everyone in the family. It is very special to our family since she has made some for all her grandchildren, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even friends. She loves making quilts because they give her something fun outside of work. She customizes every quilt to fit the person she is making it for. She sews on names and patches and makes it her own. She also wanted to share all the times she went to the out-of-town festas with her husband. Ever since they were younger and my grandmother’s first daughter was in the parades, they would go to every single out-of-town festa. The most important one to them was the one in Pismo, California. They loved visiting that town, and even though it is now full of tourists, the Portuguese celebrations were always very big over there. That started our family tradition of visiting Pismo yearly to watch the festas even though we no longer have anyone in the parades. That is her favorite trip, and I’m glad she still goes even after my grandfather passed away. My grandmother is a very hardworking woman who has done everything she can to make her family’s life as good as possible. We all love spending time with her, and I am so glad we learned about our Portuguese heritage through her.

We thank Luso-America Financial for supporting NOVIDADES