Elder Victim Ministries, a program of Crime Victim Services (CVS) of Putnam and Allen Counties, has dedicated a portrait of Vicenta Castillo Velasquez at its Ottawa office, 338 E 3rd St, Ottawa. Velasquez, a Mexican American, was a long-time Putnam County resident who volunteered her time to support vulnerable people in the community.

The portrait was commissioned by Elder Victim Ministry (EVM) as part of a series of Elder Portraits from artist Anna Hairston Miller. EVM Director Elysia Bush said “Elder Victim Ministry Advocates wanted to reflect the full range of elder populations in its Elder Portraits. We selected Vicenta because in retirement she continued to be a voice for migrant workers and elders in Putnam County.  Vicenta was known as a leader in her community and a lifelong volunteer for an underserved population.”

Velasquez (or Cindy as she was best known) spent her entire life finding ways to serve others, whether that was her family of nine kids, her fellow migrant workers, elders who needed a lift, or anyone who needed assistance.

What her daughter, Irma Ayers, remembers most about her mother was “she was a very passionate woman, what I call a warrior – by that, she did everything with gusto. This stemmed from a deep faith and conviction in Christ, to see others served.”

Born in 1920, Cindy grew up working in the fields around Texas. She first came to Putnam County as a migrant worker in 1949 with her husband–travelling up to the Midwest in spring and summer months and returning to residence in Texas for the winters. 

Upon the birth of her sixth child, the family decided to leave the migrant stream and settle down in Ohio, eventually living around Pandora.

“We wanted our kids to have a stable life and go to school here,” Cindy told an interviewer. She herself had only managed to complete the sixth grade. Her children graduated from Pandora-Gilboa Schools but continued as seasonal workers during the summer.

“During the years after we settled in Ohio,” Cindy told an interviewer, “we continued to migrate to Michigan. First, we hoed the sugar beets in Ohio and picked strawberries in June. Then we drove to Michigan where we lived in a migrant camp. We picked cherries, hoed beets and tomatoes. Then we returned to Ohio to pick cucumbers in July, tomatoes in August and September, and finally picked potatoes. The children did field work during the summer and after school.”

From the age of six, the kids started working in the fields alongside their parents. Even with all the children working, her daughter Ayers recalls only owning one pair of shoes and two outfits for school.

Cindy and her husband, Cresencio, saw the need for migrant workers to join together non-violently to improve working conditions, hours and wages.

Cindy and her husband were crucial in enabling their son, Baldemar, to form a labor union for migrant workers in 1967, which became known as Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC). Ayers recalls the family made a lot of sacrifices in the early years of the workers union, allowing Baldemar to leave the fields and take the family car, while the rest of them worked “twice as hard” to make ends meet.  Ayers notes “my parents had a long-term view and knew in the long run a bit of sacrifice now would be worth it.”

“We are doing this,” said Cindy about FLOC, “to help other migrant people. We all care for each other, even if someone is not a close friend. We need a union to back us up.”

According to her daughter, Cindy saw a lot of migrant and Mexican families struggling with similar issues her own family had dealt with so she started “helping out whichever way she could,” said Ayers.

Alongside working the fields and raising nine kids, Cindy still managed to put down roots in the Putnam County area. “She was a hero to a lot of the migrant and Mexican families in the Putnam County area, because she was immersed in the community… trying to make them feel like a part of the community,” said Ayers. “Our home was where people just came to visit or feel a part of something,” said Ayers, describing the constant stream of people coming to the house.

Cindy would often act as translator for people who spoke little to no English, mostly for medical appointments, but also to explain domestic issues to law enforcement. 

This care of others was not just reserved for her fellow migrants or Mexican Americans. Ayers said, “She saw something wrong, and she thought ‘How can I do something to try and fix this?’  She was totally out for people, no matter who they were, what they were – or any of that.”

She regularly transported people (mostly elderly) who could not drive.

She gathered a tight-knit group of women around her, which she called “comadres,” or close friends, who would gather to cook for whomever or step in wherever needed.

After being bedridden for three years, her husband died at the age of 53. However, once she had an empty nest, Cindy never really retired. Settling into a house in Ottawa, she decided to begin her own “mission field” reaching out to help whoever and wherever she could, trying to “better people’s lives,” as Ayers put it.

Cindy became more involved in St. Peter & Paul Catholic Church of Ottawa, taking communion to shut-ins, and organizing her “comadres” to cook meals for church funerals.

“As she progressed in years, she began to see some of the abuses and neglect that senior citizens experienced,” said Ayers.  She drove elderly to appointments, even though she herself was in her late 70s to early 80s. She also volunteered at a local second-hand store.

Even up to her death in 2003, she was driving all over the place. During a snowstorm, her family recalls her out in the icy weather, dropping off some milk and bread to a family with kids.

“She didn’t let anything stop her when somebody needed something,” said Ayers.

Cindy’s portrait is one of five in a series of Elder Portraits on display in Crime Victim Services rooms in both Putnam and Allen County offices.

These Elder Portraits were painted by artist Anna Hairston Miller. Miller, a graduate of Bluffton University with a double major in social work and art, is now the Awakenings Care Coordinator at the Area Agency on Aging 3, 2423 Allentown Rd., Lima. 

Last year, Elder Victim Ministry Volunteers and Advocates served 670 elder victims of crime, such as assault, harassment, identity theft, scams, larceny and burglary.  Elder Victim Ministry volunteers expand the reach of its staff to offer safety planning, trauma-informed care, justice system guidance and legal and financial recovery. These services are free.  Contact Elysia Bush, Elder Victim Ministry Director, [email protected], 419-523-1111 or 1-877-867-7273.