Tulare County has been a major influence on my life. I was born and raised in Visalia and attended school at Crowley, Webster, Green Acres and Redwood High School. Due to a family hardship in my final years of high school, I lived in a foster home in Porterville and graduated from Porterville High School. I returned to Visalia and continued my education at College of the Sequoias. I then transferred to San Jose State, but returned to the Central Valley and completed college at CSU, Bakersfield.
My commitment to hard work and education was gained in Tulare County. Growing up in Visalia and Porterville, I worked in the fields from the age of 8 until I was 24 picking everything from grapes, cotton, grapefruit, differing varieties of fruit, olives and oranges. While in high school and college, I spent four summers fighting forest fires with the Porterville Fire Crews.
In 1978, my family and I moved to Newark, California and worked there for 22 years. After raising our children and seeing our last son off to college, we decided to move back to Tulare County in 2000 in preparation for retirement.
I am pleased and grateful that my four children, Vincent, Jr., Amalia Monica, Veronica and Ché, also value hard work, commitment and education. I am proud of their achievements and spending time with them and my grandchildren is a pleasure. Vincent graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. He currently resides in San Ramon with his wife Patti and my first grandson, Joaquin. Amalia Monica graduated from the University of Phoenix and now resides in Bentonville, Arkansas. Veronica graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and resides in Fremont with her husband Peter and my first granddaughter Cecelia. Ché received his undergraduate degree from CSU, Sacramento and his Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Davis. He lives in Sacramento with his wife Iris, my granddaughter Pilar and the newest addition to the family, my grandson Ché Lucas.
After spending 25 years in the banking profession, I am semi-retired and have worked as a Business Consultant for the Fresno State Small Business Development Center for over 3 years. I have been back in the Visalia community for 15 years and it is important to me to give back to the community that nurtured my early years and provided crucial foundational education and employment opportunities. I have been actively involved with the City of Visalia Planning Commission, Visalia Chamber of Commerce, Tulare County Hispanic Roundtable and frequently volunteer to work on community service projects.
