Amigos Anonymous
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                                       FLORA  MANCEBO
                                                                             a tribute by George Mills


LOVE AND DEDICATION
Flora Mancebo was a key leader on the Amigos Anonymous summer projects in Tarimoro, Mexico from 1965 through 1968.  She was uniquely qualified since she grew up speaking Portuguese on a farm in the Sacramento Valley.  This background gave her a fluency in Spanish and a familiarity with farm life.  As a full time guidance counselor at Terra Linda High School in San Rafael, California, Flora was at ease working with all ages.

Prior to Terra Linda, Flora had been a high school counselor in Half Moon Bay.  Earlier she had gone to UC, Berkeley and served in the Navy during World War II.  

In Tarimoro, Flora lived with the large and busy Garcia family.  She became the "mamacita" for Bertha Garcia, a young adult at the time.  For Flora Tarimoro was her neighborhood.  With language fluency and adult understanding, she often served as liaison between young Amigos volunteers and the community.

For example, in my first year on the project she had me keeping vigil, from midnight until 6 am, with an infant who had just died from malnutrition.  Flora understood the circumstances of the infant's death and showed us how to support a woman in distress.  The child's mother, ostracized by neighbors and without resources, feared her infant would be buried in a shallow grave which could easily be disturbed.  I ended up digging a deeper burial pit in the rain while Flora obtained a wooden box and burial permit.  Flora helped us assist this family which neither townspeople nor their priest would help.

Flora was not the designated leader of the project, but she was the rudder that kept us on course.  She conversed with Senor Cura and leaders in the community which resulted in the Amigos working in the schools and on projects such as building a bridge, cobble stoning a street, and paving a basketball court. 

In 1968, looking for a teaching job in the Bay Area, I listed Flora as a reference.  Flora told me, years later, that when Jerry Gill, Personnel Director for San Rafael City Schools, called her to ask about me, she said: "Hire him!"  This led to my thirty-two year career in San Rafael schools.  Thank you, Flora.

Flora was a dedicated and highly respected counselor at Terra Linda.  Being a professional, single woman, Flora's counselees were like her extended family.  Flora had grown up in a large, Catholic, Portuguese, farming family.  After being a guest for four summers with the Garcia family in Tarimoro, Flora invited Bertha Garcia to come north and live with her.  In retirement, Flora's agricultural background led her back to the earth.  She maintained two gardens, one at her home in Ignacio, California, and one at the local Catholic Church.

At the September 28, 2019 board meeting of Amigos, we were blessed by a visit from Flora.  Bertha Garcia, her long-time friend and care giver, accompanied her; and even though Flora's ninety-ninth birthday wasn't until December 10th, we all sang "Happy Birthday" to our dear friend.  She was very pleased with such attention and with seeing everyone after so many years.  Two words come to mind when thinking of Flora:  love and dedication. 

[To view a photo of Flora with George Mills in Tarimoro in 1967, plus four photos from her 99th birthday celebration at the Mills' home in October 2019, click on the subpage to the right of this page heading.]

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