Susan Bray wasnt always Susan Bray. Her maiden name is Susan Villa. She grew up on Delano Street and still lives there today. She is currently unattached but gets along just fine. I never had the occasion to speak with her folks but I saw them often enough. Susan isnt a Sylvan Park school alumini. She went to a parochial school. She went to St. Elizabeth Catholic School. One of her classmates was my wife Isabel. Isabel grew up on Calvert Street. Our houses were back to back. I lived on delano Street. Susan and Isabel were good friends then and they still consider themselves good friends. Susan was also good friends with the Saenz, Margie, Esther, Ernie and Jerry boy. Esther and Jerry have both passed on. On the day that I visited Susan, she mentioned that Margie had stopped by to visit her. She said that Margie retired as a Vice-Principal of a school. It wasnt surprising to hear she had achieved highly in her occupation and academic endeavors. She had impressed me as someone who had a desire to excel in the field of academia and was very intellectually inclined. I wasnt the only one who had that impression. Margie was not a snub, however. She was down to earth and she didnt look down on anyone. The day I visited Susan was the same day I visited Beto. She told me she calls him Tio Beto even though she isnt related to him. She, nevertheless, has a lot of respect for him. Shes known him a long time. She does have one first generation relative and thats her younger brother Tony. Tony also grew up on Delano Street. Tony was well liked in the barrio as we were growing up. He is probably still well liked. He has a very good sense of humor. The day I dropped in on Susan, she was taking care of two of her grandchildren. They were well behaved and mannerly. They conversed a little with me but I cant recall everything they spoke about. They did talk affectionately about their Mom and Dad. Susan told me about her children and she proudly showed me pictures of all of them. Unfortunately one of them, I believe the youngest one, had passed away. Of course, that saddened her to talk about it. I had mentioned to her that I had met her daughter through my son once. Susan said that her daughter, Bonnie, had mentioned that to her. I had met her at the Los Angeles County Playhouse on Spring and 6th street. It was a very pleasant encounter. Susan is currently working for the school system in Sun Valley and is starting to think about retiring. We remembered a family that we both had a mutual admiration for. The family was the Albas. Shaky, Tichi, Donna, Rosie, Danny and a smaller sister. They lived behind her House for years. Tichi was my compadres sister. That makes all her kids nephew and nieces to him. My compadre is grown and bred on Delano street. Frank Carranza is his name. Beto remembered him. Susan is a long time resident in the barrio. Shes been there for as long as I can remember. I dont remember her ever getting into trouble but then I didnt hang out with her that much. I just remember seeing her, often, walking about and conducting her business whatever that was. Susan has a son named John who, like me, also had a boxing career. He did really well and he is currently teaching and training fighters, both in the amateur and professional ranks. He writes in Facebook a lot and is seen often with the fighters he works with and it appears he is well known in the boxing business. All her kids seem to be doing well. She is very proud of them all and communications with all of them is good. She has a lot of pride in them and gleaming pride in her grandchildren. She has a lot of memories, Im sure, of BVN. She knew every one I knew and she could probably tell a lot of stories about the things that have happened in BVN going back a long way. It was a pleasure talking with her and I hope I get the pleasure of visiting with her again. Then I will write about what we can come up with. Maybe I can learn more about Ernie and the rest of the Saenz family.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 23:35:25 +0000
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