Skip to content

Guessing Someone’s Age

We do it all the time. We meet someone and until we get to know them we estimate how old they are.  But how strange would it be to not know your own age? This actually happened to me. Years ago, I was going through some hormonal issues that caused me to have moments of disorientation. During one such episode, I…
Read more »

The Basque Contribution

I am 100% Puerto Rican. My mother was born in Adjuntas and my father was born in Peñuelas. Their parents were born in Puerto Rico as were their grandparents and great grandparents. I am a Boricua to the core. That being said, when Puerto Ricans have their DNA analyzed, they are often in for a surprise when they see how…
Read more »

My “Cookie-Cutter” Childhood Home

In my last article, I wrote about the astonishing progress made in housing from one generation to the next in our family. Specifically, I mentioned that my father was born in the mountains of Peñuelas, in the rural mountainside community of Santo Domingo. During the 2009 family reunion hosted by cousin Annie Meléndez, a group of us took a guided…
Read more »

Yo Tengo Ya la Casita

Last spring we built a storage shed on our property in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico. At my request, Randy designed it to look like a typical Puerto Rican home of yesteryear. When it was completed, we saw people driving by, slowing down, and even stopping to admire La Casita, as we named it. We received many compliments on it, and some…
Read more »

Luisa

I am known as the family historian. It has been a passion of mine for decades, but my lifelong dream was to write a book. I combined my passion and my dream, recently publishing a novel based on the life of my maternal great-grandmother, Luisa Torres Torres. Our Rivera family hailed from the mountains of Peñuelas and my mother’s side…
Read more »

William Roig (1933-2021)

On May 15, 2021, our family lost Bill Roig, oldest child and only son of Auntie Helen. He was 88 years old and had lived a long, fulfilled life which included a successful career as a renowned architect. I first met Cousin Bill in the early 1960s when he traveled to San Francisco to meet his Rivera relatives. It was…
Read more »

Your Stories Wanted

It has been our goal to connect with family members worldwide and to provide a platform for sharing family news and our history. Most of the information shared has come from our family historian and genealogist, Norma Pettit. However, we are sure there are many other stories with interesting points of view, particularly those that might help fill gaps in…
Read more »

Reflections on Our Family History

Learning about our family history has been something that has intrigued me all my life. I remember as a young child asking my parents, Oscar and Anita Garcia, what it was like when they were children growing up in Puerto Rico. They would share their memories with me and, recently, I discovered an old composition book with my name written…
Read more »