Corina DeLeon Chacon

My name is Corina DeLeon Chacon. I was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi to Santiago and Francisca V. DeLeon. I am the 8th child of 11 children born to Francisca and Santiago.

I volunteer at the Clovis Senior Activity Center, primarily in the library. I shelve the books and magazines that are donated to the center.

I could be a character in at least two books, “The Grapes of Wrath” and “The Migrant Child”. We traveled from state to state looking for work. Our home base was Texas, but we picked pickles and chopped beets in Wisconsin, in Arkansas we chopped and picked cotton. While in Florida we picked up roots and piled them into one big pile for burning. (Had to watch out for rattlesnakes!) Then we came to California, where we picked peaches and plums for Wawona orchards. Sometimes we would go to Biola to pick grapes. Field work was hard work and I decided to pursue other less back-breaking jobs. I worked at Roscoe’s Five and Dime Store in Clovis, as well as a couple of months at the Clovis Independent as an Obituary clerk. Once I even typed a head line! The job during my high school years was as a nurse’s aide at Nazareth House in Fresno.

I attended Sierra Vista and Weldon Elementary schools, went on to graduate from the original Clovis High, (now Clark Intermediate) then to Reedley and Fresno City College, finally graduating from Fresno State with a BA in Liberal Studies.

While at Clovis High, I met David Chacon. David was a sophomore and I was a freshman when we met. You could say we are high school sweethearts. We got married after I graduated from high school and have been married for 47 years. We have three children and they also graduated from Clovis High, the new one on Fowler Ave. Our grandchildren also go to Clovis schools. We are a Clovis family and Clovis is our “Way of Life”.

I worked in the banking industry for 15 years then at Clovis Unified for 18 years. Retirement came in 2013 after working at a school site with students that have difficulty in a regular school environment. This took me to volunteering at the senior center.

David and I like to travel and have begun a yearly routine of taking one big trip. We have gone to Wyoming to see Old Faithful at Yellowstone, South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore, and recently to Alaska, visiting, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, and Victoria, Canada. Our next trip will be Washington, DC. Of course our yearly trips to Vegas and Reno for a little gambling and shows. We also go visit friends in Lake Havasu, Arizona.

I enjoy being retired; I get to do whatever I want, such as knitting, sewing, crocheting, reading, and sleeping in. This migrant child finally has roots.

This story was originally published August 20, 2015 at 3:06 PM with the headline "Corina DeLeon Chacon."