No slowing down
Art Velásquez keeps the faith
by Elisabeth Román
Arturo Velasquez’s mind is as sharp as anyone 70 years his junior, while his dedication to his work and vocation to help the Mexican community in Chicago is nothing less than admirable. He portrays a strength that can only come from God.
“I come to work every day, I can’t stay home. It is better than watching television,” says Arturo with a smile that lights up his entire face. It’s hard to believe he is 92 years old and has spent the past seven decades dedicated to his family, church, business, and the Mexican community on Chicago’s South Side.
Born in Tototlan, Jalisco in Mexico in November 1915, Arturo and his parents migrated to Gary, Indiana in 1925 when he was nine years old to escape persecution against Catholics. “Priests were being hung, and the government was going after Catholics. My parents were devout Catholics and moved to Guadalajara only to face the same problems there, so they came to the United States.”
His father, who owned a business in Mexico, began working in the steel mills but soon returned home while Arturo and his mother remained in Indiana. “We were very active in the church; I helped the priest and served as an altar boy. I think he probably thought I had a vocation to be a priest so he got me into the elementary school program at the University of Notre Dame. I was one of only two Spanish speaking students in the program.”
Art studied in Notre Dame for only a year. Whe n the Depression hit, they had no food and his mother decided to return to Mexico, where at least they would have something to eat. En route, the Model T Ford they rode in overturned near Albuquerque, leaving them stranded without money. His mother took a job as a farmworker and they began migrating between sugar beet fields in the Black Hills of South Dakota and the tomato farms in Minnesota and Iowa, before finally moving to Chicago.
As his mother migrated from job to job, Arturo ended up attending 13 grammar schools. He finally graduated from elementary school in Chicago but never attended high school or college. He went to work instead. “I was always working,” he says sitting in his office surrounded by antique jukeboxes and photos of his life’s work and local and national politicians.
Arturo, who has four children—Arthur (who founded and is president of Azteca Foods), Carmen (who operates a clinic for the poor), Maria Elena and Edward (who both work with him in the music business)—became very involved with the Claretians in helping the Mexican community in Chicago’s poor Back of the Yards area. “I always say that without the Claretians the Mexican community would not have advanced as far as it has in Chicago. The Claretians helped them find jobs and a place to live. If Mexicans needed help they would go to the priest. He was always there to help.”
“Now I work with Father Bruce Wellems,” says the proud grandfather of 11 and great-grandfather of 19.
Arturo, who never attended high school or college, has received two honorary doctorates for public service from St. Xavier University and served for 12 years as a trustee of Chicago City Colleges.
