I Came to La Colonia in a Car Caravan
Written by Evan Laveman
Everybody has a story. Some, who have had long, full lives, often have tantalizing stories. This is the case of an 85 year-old woman named Ophelia Rodriguez. Weda, the nickname everyone gave to her, lives in Eden Gardens and had four children, eighteen grandchildren, and twelve great grandchildren that are married and having children.
Back when she was about six years old, in the 1920s, Weda traveled with her family on the road from Bisbee, Arizona, to California. They traveled with other families and formed a car caravan. By day they drove, and they rested at night. You see, back then there weren't any highways and the road was tough to see due to the lack of streetlights. They would put the cars in a circle at sunset, start a fire in the middle of the circle, cook beans and tortillas, sing songs, and listen to music on their wind-up Victrola. After the long trip to California, their family finally settled into the area currently known as Eden Gardens. Her father was a master carpenter and built many of the original houses/buildings in Eden Gardens, a few of which stand today - the town evolved off foundations that he laid.
Weda and her friends attended a small schoolhouse in Ranch Santa Fe, over by where the polo grounds are now. By the time she was in high school she and her classmates attended the main public school. Since the area was newly settled it took a while for the comforts of home to reach them. It is hard to imagine living in a place where your house has no running water, no mailbox, and no telephone. At the time, for all of Eden Gardens, there was only one mailbox, one faucet, and one telephone. It's hard to put our selves in their shoes and really feel what it was like.
The Eden Gardens community was very close, and there were never any worries of crimes such as theft or burglary. They all shared a statue of the Virgin de Guadalupe that they passed around from house to house. It spent a day of two at house and was then given to a different house. It would cycle through almost 100 houses, and eventually, over time, it vanished, and was never passed on again. Weda had a life-long friend named Marta who ended up being the godmother of Weda's daughter Alicia. From playing shop with Marta, to walking to Del Mar to attend church, Weda has experienced many things over the years. She's experienced segregation and witnessed the evolution of a town. She's lived during WWII and "queen" of a huge family, which in itself, is a huge successful life.
Weda experienced so much in her life that it is hard to find her story uninteresting. Something can be learned from every elder in our community, because they have witnessed and lived through so much more than we have. It was great to look into the life of somebody else, and at the same time, learn important history about the city that I call my hometown. History can be read in a textbook, but it is rare when you have the opportunity to actually interact with somebody that has lived it.
