(This is part one of a two-part feature. Read next week’s issue on August 20 for the second half, Miracle of the Year.)
An angel in Ganado turned 96 years young on August 12: Clara Gutierrez. A hot pink birthday party was held on Aug. 4 at the Ganado Nursing and Rehabilitation retirement home, and nearly 100 people attended to celebrate Clara on her special day.
When asked what was the secret to living a long life, she said, “God only knows.”
In her home, Clara sat in front of a wall containing seven pictures of her seven children. The three at the top are the children she’s lost, but they lived long lives.
If anyone knows Clara, they know her selfless nature, and the fighter within her. She’s known as a faithful servant and a true God Disciple to anyone who knows her.
Gina, her youngest daughter, spoke on the inside joke her family had about Clara and her holy nature. “We would joke, ‘she’s right up there with the Pope.’” Originally from Hallettsville, Clara and her husband, Manuel, moved to Ganado when he was of-
see GANADO’S LEADING LIGHT on page 3 fered a job on a farm.
When he passed they’d been married for 52 years.
Clara lives in the same house, and it’s been nearly 70 years she’s lived there.
Once the kids grew up, Clara looked for something to do and began volunteering at the Assumption church by cleaning. Soon after, the church put her on the payroll. Clara and her best friend, Nancy Rosales, attended service one to two times a week, and Nancy began working at the church as well.
“Everybody thought they were sisters,” Gina said. “I gave them the exact same haircut, which made them look similar.
They were BFFs.”
The oldest member of Ganado’s Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church, Clara worked there for 19 years.
She is also an original member of the Guadalupana Society, a Christian Mexican heritage society formed at the church.
Guadalupana refers to Our Lady of Guadalupe, a name of the Virgin Mary connected with a specific apparition in 1531 Mexico. “I had an experience when I was working at the church,” Clara said.
“About 10 people were going to Rome to walk in a pilgrimage and they stopped at our church. I thought about it and said we should give them a donation. So we brought them gifts and they thanked us.”
Gina expressed her thoughts on her mother’s journey to turning 96, a hard-fought journey which has been peppered with miracles in the Gutierrez family.
“My mom has saved my life more than once by praying for me,” Gina said, who at 28, was diagnosed with leukemia. Now, a couple of decades later, Gina’s leukemia should be at a stage four, but it’s stayed at stage one since the beginning. Gina attributes it to her mother’s prayers.
It may seem like Clara lives a charmed life, but it’s quite the opposite. The hardships she’s endured have been heavy, but she still thanks God every day to be able to wake up another day.
During Covid, Clara, Gina, and her sister Phillipa were hit with the monster. All three were patients at Victoria’s DeTar Hospital simultaneously.
“I was there for two weeks,” Gina recalled.
“My mom was there two months, and she didn’t come out untouched, she was unable to walk, because they didn’t have physical therapy people working, and aides would barely come in to help people go to the bathroom.
Everyone had the hesitancy because no one knew what could happen.”
Phillipa passed, but Gina was the first one out, and then Clara came home on Hospice, and then suffered a stroke due to her bout with Covid.
“My mom couldn’t fight for herself, and she didn’t know where she was,” Gina said. “I refused because I know how much of a fighter she is. She’s a survivalist. So I decided to fight for her.”
Gina nursed her mother back to health, and after a month, she began to remember who she was, who her children were, and recognized the dogs in her home.
Clara wanted to walk, and began to do it. But in December she fell while exercising. That led her to rehabilitation at the Ganado Nursing Home. There she met lots of new friends, people she wanted to reunite with on her 96th birthday.
“I had a good time and saw lots of my friends,” Clara smiled. “But it was tiring!” (Look for Miracle of the Year in next week’s issue.)
