Dates

• Existence: 1931 - 2009

Biography

Inés Puga García was born in Fort Madison, Iowa, in 1931 to Josefa and Lucio Puga. Garcia's grandparents, Claro and María Sanchez Diaz, emigrated with their family from Cerrito Del Agua in the state of Zacatecas, Mexico, arriving in Oklahoma on December 7, 1917. Her mother, Josefa Diaz, and aunt, Romana Diaz, arrived in Fort Madison in May 1919. There the Diaz family lived in the Mexican settlement known as El Cometa, a boxcar community whose residents worked for the Santa Fe Railroad. In 1926, a flood destroyed El Cometa and the family moved to another neighborhood known as La Yarda.

From the time she was two weeks old, Inés Puga was raised by her padrinos, or godparents, Asensión Morales and Romana Diaz Morales, who was her mother's sister. Inés Puga graduated from Fort Madison's Catholic Central High School in 1949; she was among the first generation of her family to graduate from high school and was one of the only Mexican students at the private high school. In 1951, Inés Puga married Vernave García and the couple raised six children. Following her husband's death in 1971, Inés García worked in a variety of manufacturing and service sector jobs to support her children.

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