Born in Zacatecas, Mexico in 1927, my father Hijinio Reynoso, Sr was born with a passion for learning. Unfortunately, he was told by my grandmother that learning and any form of education was a thing of the devil…so… he was not allowed to go to school. But that didn’t stop him. He took it upon himself to acquire items like eggs from the neighbors’ chickens and other knickknacks he could sell so he could get the money to purchase school materials. He proudly walked into the first day of school only to have his mother storm in and pull him out after only one hour. That was the extent of my father’s formal education.
It wasn’t until he was 25 years old that someone shared with him that you could travel the world through books. Up until that point, he was illiterate. His passion for learning was reignited….so…. he taught himself to read and write.
My father’s primary occupation was as a farm laborer picking oranges. After a long exhausting day of manual labor, his co-workers would return home to relax and watch T.V. My father rushed home to read. I don’t ever remember coming home and not seeing a book in my father’s hand or near him.
Growing up my father would always ask me “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I’m sure it’s a common question all parents ask their children. In my case, no matter what I said, he would always respond “well you know you have to go to school for that and you have to study lots of books”. As a young child, I wanted to be a ballerina and a firefighter.
Books were as common in our house as food in a refrigerator. When we ran out, we would go to the library to check out more to “fill our pantry”. I learned to read when I was 3 years old and, from that age, it was engrained in me that books are to be respected, honored and cherished. We were not allowed to write in books, mark pages with “dog ears” or lay books on the floor.
Now, imagine my shock when I went off to college and I was told to mark the “important points” in my textbook by highlighting the section or underlining it with a pencil (and maybe even a pen). That was culture shock!
Education, learning, and books were always important to my father. When I lost him at the ripe age of 94 in 2021, I wanted to honor his memory and his influence on me and his influence on others by doing more than just a yearly donation to the San José Library Foundation. I wanted to find a way to honor him and the public libraries that have always been at the center of my life as a child, a young adult and now with my own children. That is why my husband and I decided to include the San José Public Library Foundation in our Family Trust.
By adding us to her Family Trust, Rosie joined SJPLF’s Epilogue Society, what we call our community of legacy givers. We are so grateful for Rosie’s passionate support and openness to share her library story.
Please join Rosie in sharing your library story with us at development@sjplf.org.
