Woman Recognized as Shining Example of Motherhood

By NEDRA RHONE

May 13, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Margarita Calderon Flores is two inches shy of 5 feet. Her eyesight is poor and her hearing aid is not much help, she says. But on Saturday, the 92-year-old felt like Cinderella.

As the 50th recipient of the annual Mexican Mother of the Year Award, she was the center of attention as at least 100 friends and family attended a luncheon and celebratory Mass in her honor.

The event, at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in downtown Los Angeles, recognized Flores for being a surrogate mother to at least a dozen nieces, nephews and other children.

Flores, who has survived her husband and four sons, said it was the best Mother’s Day gift ever.

“This hit the limit, honey,” she said, her eyes wide. “I can’t believe this is really happening to me. It is a miracle from God.”

Those who know her said she deserves the honor. After her family moved to Watts in the early 1920s, Flores, a native of Old Zoquititan, Sinaloa, Mexico, met and married her American-born husband, Luis. The couple had four children, one of whom died in infancy.

Flores raised her children and took in nieces, nephews and other youngsters even through the Depression. Many stayed until they had families of their own.

“I don’t know how we packed everyone into that house,” she said. “It was like a hotel!”

She said it was possible because her husband, who sold vegetables at the 7th Street Market, supported everything she did. Flores, relying on her skill as a seamstress, made the children’s clothes.

But she said the most important thing she gave them was love.

“Love, understanding and patience,” Flores said, are most important in raising children. “You get more when you treat them with love.”

Flores also volunteered at community service organizations, including the American Red Cross, where she was a translator.

She has received awards and commendations from the state Assembly, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, Catholic Charities and her parish, St. Lawrence of Brindisi in Watts.

For 25 years, she has been a member of the secular Franciscan order, a multicultural group of Catholic lay persons who perform community service.

It was her niece Carmen Gurrola, a past mother of the year honoree, who nominated Flores for the award established 50 years ago by the Franciscan Sisters Mission Guild and a group of Mexican mothers to recognize outstanding examples of Mexican American motherhood.

“We owe so much to her. When mom died she took us all in, and she still does it,” said Gurrola, who lived with Flores as a teenager.

When the celebration was over, Flores was still in disbelief.

“There are so many other mothers that deserve it more,” she said.