THE CLASS OF 1941

Are they little more than blurs in the memories of their descendants or have they completely faded from life, their existences reduced to photos buried in the albums of sons or daughters? Who were these sweet gals who reigned as belles in the dreams of their suitors?

They were the 1941 graduating class of Villa Maria. If any one of them is surviving, she would be entering her tenth decade. Where does time go? Why are beauty and innocence so brief? Did they have happy lives? Did they find fulfillment in their marriages?

Before WWII there was a close-knit relationship between Brownsville and Matamoros. The two cities were like siblings. In the top row, left to right, Aurora Zolezzi and Ana Maria Saldana would cross from Mexico and eat breakfast with Brownsville's Gloria Torres and Marilyn Knutson.

Though Brownsville wasn't their home, the trio in the center row were the favorites of the nuns. From left to right, Margarita Ornelas would take the train from Tampico to Matamoros to attend Villa Maria. Hortencia Chapa and Mary Ann Phillips were Valley girls, residents of nearby San Manuel and La Feria.

The quartet at the bottom, left to right, shared the same varied backgrounds as their classmates. Elsa Martinez could walk to school from a nearby neighborhood while Inelda Lopez would often accompany the Zolezzi and Saldana girls from Matamoros. Gloria Ayala was another Brownsville product. Manuela Ayala traveled from Mercedes for that coveted Catholic education.

Did they possess insights into their futures? Did they have any inking that six months after their graduation Japan would attack the United States and plunge the nation into WWII? How many of their beaus didn't return from the war?

Brownsville was a sleepy, little border town, but it wasn't dusty. The population was 20,000. The Brownsville Eagles were a football power in South Texas. Downtown buildings, already historical constructions at that date, were sturdy; the streets were paved. Central Boulevard and Boca Chica marked the city's boundaries. A trip to the Vermillion was a trip to the country.

The telephone directory boasted as many Anglo names as it did Spanish names. Gringos ran both the municipality and the county. Though some suffered from racist sentiments, there was an egalitarian philosophy among the leadership. They coveted a small piece of the pie, not the entire pie.

"Was the past better than the present or do we whites simply suffer from the Eisenhower complex when WASPish values, which included lynching blacks from the nearest magnolias, evoke a longing for a simpler time and a more homogenized nation?" posed a university historian.