Guadalupe Lechuga:
CLASS OF 1968
Mountain View High SchoolClass of 1968
Mountain view, CA
DePaul University - LawClass of 1975
Chicago, IL
San Jose State UniversityClass of 1972
San jose, CA
Guadalupe's Story
Update November 11, 2023
First things first: Happy Veterans' Day to ALL veterans, and a sincere note of heartfelt appreciation for your service! My own brother John suited up and served with the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions in VietNam. Returned home, but was never the same. He passed many years ago, and I am proud to have been able to take care of him and our mom during the last states of their lives.
Retirement suits me fine, though I was just involved in a very difficult court case in the last month. One of the last assignments I was involved in before I retired was a major re-organization of our operations. Some promotions, some moves, some jobs eliminated. One such person decided to take us to court. She got herself a law firm in LA who brought up seven lawyers to argue what I knew was a NON case, and as it turned out, after a full week and a half of jury trial (12 jurors!), the jury agreed with our position and ruled in favor of our company. She was awarded NOTHING. But it was a really stressful time. Underwent full days of both depositions and testimony, but we pulled through OK. SO now I can get back to sitting around and thinking of my next project.
I did just come back from a great vacation in Ireland. Trafalgar Tours did a great job. The tour took us all around both Northern Ireland as well as the Republic of Ireland (North and South Ireland are two different countries). Learned a lot about the history, including "The Troubles," and got to visit amazing places! We called the countryside "ABC" (Another Blooming Castle). It was a really wonderful tour, though it did take its physical toll -- turns out I;m WAY too old to be packing and unpacking every day and hauling and schlepping my old rear end in tour buses, but it was fun while it lasted! Ireland is wonderful, people are very friendly and very accommodating, always eager to please, and the countryside beautiful! One sees buildings form the 15th and 16th centuries! Great trip! And, by the way, I booked the trip through my favorite, favorite store, Costco. They have great deals on travel.
Best to you and yours,
Lupe
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Update April, 2022
Hello once again. Great to be able to provide an update.
So the newest big news for me is, after a lifetime of focused work, I am now officially retired. It must be true, because I have actually continued to receive calls from prior professional colleagues and connections for help, on a part time basis, and I have turned them all down. Retired is retired. Can't do that if I am offering active assistance in professional endeavors.
UNFORTUNATELY, for all of us, I am sure, the last two years, at least, have been especially challenging, with all the "stuff" brought about by the pandemic, resulting in sheltering in place, masks, social distancing, getting vaccinated. I managed to be able to do all of those -- I hung out in my backyard most of the time ("Puerto BackYarda), but should have been better at socially distancing -- from my refrigerator! I did get the vaccinations, which actually saved my life, literally. Please do get vaccinated, if you have not done so, already. A large part of my reason to retire was, of course, medical issues related, but I am blessed and very thankful that those are under control. Still, have not been able to travel at all since the pandemic hit, which is pretty unusual for me, and hope to get back into traveling once conditions settle down for me a bit more.
My friends and I did manage the trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and then to Panama City, Panama, right before the start of the pandemic. The trip was just wonderful. I love Buenos Aires! The people there are as friendly and as nice as they are really proud of their city and of their culture, and it was great to learn so much from the different day tours! AND we did "tango" a few times, which was great! One thing about Buenos Aires: NOBODY, but NOBODY pays any attention to driving rules. People making left turns from right lanes all the time.. "Stop" signs are "nice to do's," not mandates. People wading in to lanes and other drives let them, without incident. BUT no accidents! Because everyone is used to just hitting the gas and going! Wonderful food, though a whole lot more meat than I usually eat. Gorgeous city, all manner of very old and very well maintained buildings. And yes, I did visit the area downtown where Eva Peron addressed the populace. Almost belted out "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina!" but didn't want to embarrass my friends. Panama was also great. Took a day trip that featured snorkeling for me, diving for my friend, at a specific single island off the coast. Beautiful and very serene! So I was very glad to have had the opportunity to get out of town before the start of the pandemic.
Well, enough ranting. Hope all is well with you and yours, and hope that you also managed to get through the last couple of years relatively unscarred. Best to you and yours!
Lupe
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Update March, 2019
Hello again, hello (with apologies to Neil Diamond)
About time for another update. Again, very gracious of you to check in.
Not yet retired, but it may be that next year really is it. As long as my work is still fun and as long as it feels like I am making a contribution, making a difference, I choose to hang on a bit longer. Time does take its toll, however. Circle of life, This is where I break out into song, "Sunrise, Sunset" from Fiddler on the Roof. I've already told my good friend Ron, who is a wonderful singer, that, at my funeral, I want him to sing "See You Later, Alligator" for me.
Feeling a bit sensitive as I just lost the last member of my immediate family, my younger brother Cruz. And then there was one. Actually, he did leave four sons and a daughter, all of whom have kids. So the active "aunt-ship" continues.
My friends and I are planning a trip to Buenos Aires, to tango 'til I drop, and then to Panama City, to ride a ship across the Panama Canal from Atlantic to Pacific, and to see and hear about the intricacies of the canal locks systems. Buenos Aires is supposed to be the Paris of South America, and am really looking forward to walking tours to enjoy the culture, and getting out to a couple of gaucho ranches, and to dancing the tango! Can't wait! Will write and tell you about it when I return, in case anyone would like to make a trip out there.
Mountain View has really changed and continues to change. I don't recognize it anymore. A number of people have called it "Googleville," and that sort-of fits, these days. I don't go into Mountain View very often these days, but it's good to remember where our old high school stood; the A & W Root Beer place on the El Camino; Linda's (and who can ever forget those wonderful Parisian burgers and the tator tots? ). Fond memories, all in all.
Well, wrapping it up before you fall asleep. Really hope that all is well with you and yours. Again, gracious of you to check out my rants. Hope to see you at one of the all-classes reunions at Cuesta Park the first Saturday of each October. Best to you.
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Update October, 2017
Once again, hello! Hope all is well with you and yours. Getting closer to retirement, but not quite there yet. No time! LOL!
Just came back from a trip to CUBA. By the way, if anyone is contemplating going out there, be sure to look up an outfit called Cultural Island Travel. They did a spectacular and wonderful job of arranging tours and accommodations for us while we were there. The trip was for 12 days. At around day 8, Hurricane Irma hit the island pretty hard, though nowhere near as hard as it could have. STILL, a harrowing experience! We were sheltered in place at a wonderful home (our alleged bed and breakfast, which was more like, a villa!) made of blocks and cement, with 4 inch wood doors, so we were pretty safe. However, we lost all electric and water from around Saturday afternoon through the following Tuesday. Saturday night was when the Hurricane hit the hardest, and it was really scary to lie there listening to the wind and to the very loud thumps from tree limbs and fruit flying off trees and hitting the side of the house and the doors. Cuba has avocados the size of (no kidding!) American footballs! Very tasty, too (but no tortillas in sight at all in Cuba, but I digress..) The house where we were staying had avocado trees, along with mango and banana trees. These "pony" avocados kept hitting the side of the house, as did all the other fruit, all night long. I remember wondering what would happen if one of these huge avocados somehow made its way into the house and bomped me in the head. Death by Guac! What an inglorious death that would have been! Can imagine all the jokes at my funeral! Anyway, the following morning, we went out to the yard to discover that the winds had literally uprooted all the mango and banana trees! The nights were really dark, and the mosquitoes were having the time of their buzzy little lives! My arms and legs were full of bites! But we got through it just fine, all things considered, I managed to NOT get beaned by avocados. The locals went out of their way to make sure we were fine and well taken care of. I have to say, Cubans are some of the very nicest people I've ever encountered! The US embargo has hit them hard, but they somehow manage. The "good news" / "bad news" story about their form of government: the good news is, health care is free; education is free -- our travel guide was an attorney! ; and each Cuban gets an allotment or ration of food at the beginning of the month -- rice, beans, sugar, meat (chicken, pork), coffee. The bad news is, that there really is no economic or "communications" infrastructur...Expand for more
e; education may be free, but professional jobs don't pay much. Our tour guide, an attorney, makes $40 per MONTH from her government job; her husband, a doctor, makes $40 per MONTH. So they all do "side" stuff, like tour guiding, to make ends meet. Havana is fascinating, can really see why it was THE place to be in the '50's and '60's. Went out into the countryside and visited the city of Cienfuegos (which was unfortunately pretty decimated by the hurricane) and also Trinidad, one of the oldest cities in Cuba. Had a "Papa daiquiri" at La Floridita, Hemingway's favorite hangout in Havana, and toured his home outside of Havana. All in all, a great trip. Would really recommend travel to Cuba.
Just learned a couple of weeks ago of the passing of my all time favorite teacher at MVHS, Ms. Mary Barnes-Swanson. Very, very sad that she passed, and very sad that I had not seen her in decades and would have wanted to visit with her before she passed. Rest in peace, most classy lady and wonderful teacher.
Is anyone planning a 50th Reunion for the Class of 1968? If so, would really appreciate hearing details.
Again, hope all is well with you and yours. Very gracious of you to check out my rants. Be well, take good care. Look forward to seeing you at a Class reunions sometime.
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Update March, 2016
Hello! Hope all is well with you and yours. Thanks for checking in.
Before I forget, I think that somebody sent out a note on Classmates asking about our interest in attending a 50th High School reunion in 2018. I said yes. I really hope that many of you also express interest in attending, it would be great to have an event and get the opportunity to see and catch up with you, now that we are all nearing or at "retirement." Not there yet myself, but look forward to it. Anyway, it would be great to have a sizeable turnout for this event. Just hope that whoever puts this on makes it a dressy casual only (as opposed to, a formal) affair.
Just had our 40th law school reunion this past late October, and it really turned out to be a wonderful event. About 30 of my classmates and their spouses/significant others attended, and it was really a great reunion. We all remembered how out to lunch we all were, all there on a wing and a prayer, given the nature of the academic grind, and given that years 1972 through 1975 were really significant years for our country. I remember that Israeli Olympic athletes were murdered in 1972; I remember the Watergate break-in and scandal that started around that time; I remember watching Nixon resign in August, 1974. MOST OF ALL, I remember watching "Jaws" the night before the bar exam in Colorado, and then looking down from my shower the following morning to make sure there were no fins in the water. Ha! Anyway, it was a wonderful time to reminisce and re-bond. I unfortunately didn't have many close friends in high school, but still, it would be wonderful to see everyone. I have a new friend thanks to Classmates, Carlos Baralt, a really good guy, as I've found out. Makes me sad that high school was as "clicky" as it was, could have maybe been friends in high school, as well.
Looking forward to going to Madrid, Spain in late April. A good friend from law school rents a three bedroom flat in Madrid for a few months each year, and encourages visitors, so this year, I am taking advantage of her hospitality. Watch out, tapas and vino, here I come! It will be nice to get away from the technology for a bit and concentrate on history and culture and just having fun.
There will be an all-classes get together at Cuesta Park in October, I am assuming, and I will do my best to attend. Would be great to see you there as well.
Again, hope all is well with you and yours, and again, gracious of you to check out my rants. Be well, take good care.
Update March, 2014
It's been a while since my last summary. Wanted to share a number of my recent really beyond-great happenings.
One is, that I sang with Stevie Wonder!! Oh, yes I did! Oh, OK, it happened at the airport, and lasted all of about 20 seconds, but it was amazing while it lasted! I was waiting for my connection at LAX -- I fly to El Paso, TX, every month to see my mom -- and I was standing in the "A" line, minding my own business, waiting to board, when the flight came in from Reno. The first person off that plane was -- STEVIE WONDER!! And he was singing ("Send One Your Love"), so when I saw him and recognized him, and recognized the song, decided to sing along too. He heard me, and came over and said something like "You recognize." And I sang along with him for another two stanzas or so. Then his assistant came over and took him by the arm and moved him on. I'll never forget that, as long as I live!
Two is, that I got to shake hands with the amazing first Latina Justice of the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor. What an honor! Heard her speak about her book, My Amazing Life, and she graciously agreed to shake hands with everyone who wanted to go up to the stage -- no small feat, considering there were probably 300+ of us in the hall. But she stayed, and it was an honor to meet her and shake her hand.
I have also made it a point to reach out and become more active in reaching out to MVHS alums and classmates. There are a couple of sites on Facebook that you might want to check out: one is called "If you went to MVHS" that I've joined, and the conversations are interesting. Also hope to re-connect with a number of you in October, 2014, at the MVHS picnic at Cuesta Park. I understand that there will be a get together on SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, from about 11:00 a.m. in Cuesta Park in Mountain View. If you are around and want to stop by, please do so. I've never been to one of these events, but plan to attend this one.
Hope all is well with you and yours. Again, very gracious of you to remember me. Best to you.
Lupe
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As I look back, I have to say, for myself only, that I've lived a life worth living, all of it, the parts I got right and all the parts that I completely botched up, Not at all bragging, just amazed and unbelievably thankful at how blessed and lucky I have been. Who woulda thunk that a social zero in high school like me, who was not particularly bright, could or would end up with a life chock full of memorable experiences and great and wonderful friends -- and, along the way, thanks to these great friends, I actually got a chance to meet a number of great individuals, including Sarah Weddington, winning counsel of the Roe v. Wade case; Cesar Chavez in Chicago; and also a then young Senator from Chicago who came to the DePaul Law Alumni dinner by the name of Barack Obama! He and I share the same birth date, August 4. Talk about great honors! I am also extremely proud to say that I graduated law school with the two very first Latinas to be admitted to practice law in Illinois, my still wonderful friends Virginia Martinez and Viola Armijo-Rouse. Imagine that! Have I hung out with the right people, or what?
Also not at all to make out like everything has always been hunky and dorey -- those of you who tried to get through college and/or advanced degrees and who were, like me, completely broke, can relate, right? Try being cold AND broke in Chicago, thank God for good friends who offered me a place to live and kept me safe and warm! Also went through a particularly difficult divorce -- don't ever marry a lawyer, and I am sure my lawyer ex-husband would offer the exact same advice. The corporate career thing has also not been a cake walk.
So in the final analysis, here I am, incredibly thankful for the good, the bad, and the ugly, because in my view, everything served its purpose, it all happened for a reason.
High school was not a particularly pleasant experience for me, overall, for a lot of reasons, and I was definitely NOT a part of the "cool" (or of any) group. The "My Fair Lady" play and experience at MVHS is, I think, my overall shining memory. I had a great time being in the band, especially in the My Fair Lady play band. In any event, remain very surprised that anyone remembers me besides my then small circle of friends, the Newcombs (Linda, Carol, and Ralph). Darlene Jocius and Sharlene Hogan, where are you?? There are also a couple of teachers that I will always remember with great affection, like Mrs. Swanson, MVHS' answer to Audrey Hepburn, and Ms. Dederer.
I think I started coming into my own around the time of college. Despite being a commuter school, SJSU was a great learning and developmental experience, academically as well as socially. Going away to Chicago, and attending law school was where I really honed in on my life's plan/ambition, and where I was able to develop the focus and skills and on relationships that have lasted my entire life.
So, all things considered, had anyone told me back at MVHS that I had an interesting and very fulfilling life ahead of me, I would have asked them for a toke of whatever they were smoking.
Hope all is well with all of you, and hope that you've been able to accomplish what you set out to do. Personally, I look forward to retiring in a couple of years, and hope that you are also looking forward to some rest following your life's work. Personally, I look forward to spending a couple of months down in the Playa del Carmen area in Yucatan, which I really love, and perhaps a long trip to Florence and to Sicily.
Look forward to saying hello to as many of you as possible and doing some catching up at the MVHS reunion in Cuesta Park, which is normally scheduled for the first Saturday in October, I understand.
To all those who have visited my guest book: thank you, it is gracious of you to remember me.
Best to all of you.
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