July 29, 2018

Lucy Cadena-Jazzux ~ A woman out of time

~   
When Lucy Cedena-Jazzux died I was struck harder than anyone I have lost. Perhaps it's because I lost her twice in my life.         

In the late forties, Lucy and I lived together with her mother, Matilda, Matilda's lover, Lucy's sister, Celia, Lucy's brother, Ben, and my mother (link below). In addition there were Lady, a German Shepard, and Weasle, of indeterminate origin with a tail that curled completely into a circle.    

Lady was a giant dog that easily outweighed me by who knows how many pounds. But she was the gentlest dog I have ever known in my life.   

Weasle was the tiniest and meanest dog I have EVER known; he would bark, growl, snap at and attack ANYone, including me.     

The flaw with Lady was that she was deathly afraid of the sound of fireworks; she would begin violently shaking and cower in a corner when the Fourth of July came around. Lucy was fantastic; she would put Lady in the bathtub with cold water, gently stroke and sooth her and tell her everything was fine and gently calm her down.    

When Weasle attacked someone, Lucy would firmly say, "Weasle, shut up!", and he would go and sulk in a corner somewhere. Lucy rescued me from Weasle many times. 

Every image of her from that period in my mind is of her in Levi's. Boys and girls both wore them but the girls would also wear dresses or skirts; I have only one memory of her in a long full skirt.  
      
Her movements were not exactly lurching but more a femininely athletic move from one position to another; I've never seen anyone move the same way.         

Lucy and I lost contact with each other in the late forties; when you're 7 or 8 years old you go where your parents go. Over the years I thought of her often with great love and wonderful memories of that time with her.     

Lucy and I reconnected 60 years later when her brother, Ben (link below), died. It was amazing! It was as if no time had passed from the last time I'd seen her all those decades ago. Actually, when I first looked at her, I saw the Lucy of the forties in her Levi's. During the years after, we talked and recounted what had happened in our lives then and all the years since we'd seen each other. It is one of the most wonderful moments of my life. It was magic!   

It wasn't until after she died that I discovered she was an activist and involved in the labor rights movements of the seventies, in particular the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with Cesar Chavez), as well as Head Start (link below). During her memorial, photos from her life were on a monitor, they included some from the 40's and 50's and the memories of Lucy, Lady and Weasle crashed into my mind.      

I say crashed because at that moment I realized the work she had done during the years we didn't see each other were a direct out put from back then. Her tender care of Lady and her iron will over Weasle, of course, it couldn't have been any other way with Lucy.    



Viewfinder links:      
          
Lucy Cadena-Jazzux      
Cesar Chavez         
Bernard E. Simonson, Jr.              
Christine K. Simonson           
          
Net link:      
          
The Press Democrat ~ Lucy Cadena-Jazzux obit         
            
          
        
        
Styrous® ~ Sunday, July 29, 2018  
               
















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