By Esmeralda Garcia, Ivanhoe Sol
Teresa Garcia, resident of Ivanhoe, was born in El Ranchito which is a municipality of Moyahua, Zacatecas, Mexico. She is the oldest of eight children. She first moved to the outskirts of Ivanhoe in 1985 with her husband and her newborn daughter. Teresa was only seventeen years old at the time and her husband was 20.
The reason for her moving to Ivanhoe was work-related, her husband was hired by the local Sunkist Growers to maintain different citrus orchards throughout Ivanhoe. Teresa’s first job was in 1988 in a fruit packing house, Veneida, in Exeter, California.
Her fondest memory is from 1990 when there was a major freeze and almost everyone was left without a job. During that time she applied through agencies in hopes to qualify for a job, but due to her husband still having a job, she did not qualify. She also did not qualify for other job positions due to highest level of education being sixth grade, so she signed up for English as Second Language at the Visalia Adult School. By this time she had two children. Once agricultural labor became available she started working again. She has worked in different packing sheds in Yettem, Ivanhoe’s Phillips Farms, Paramount Citrus, Ivanhoe Citrus and she currently works at Klink Citrus. She has over 35 years of experience with packing different fruit which includes oranges, grapefruit, mineola, tomatoes, squash, green beans, kiwis, peaches, nectarines and plums.
Some positive changes Teresa has seen throughout the years was when there was a youth center led by Mr. Felts during the summers of 1995 and 1996 that was located next to the Veteran’s Memorial Hall off Ave 332. She was glad to see a Head-Start program through Tulare County Office of Education available for her youngest daughter who attended in 1999 and 2000.
Since then she became the sole provider for her three children who are all adults now Esmeralda, Antonio and Ruby Garcia. She also has five grandchildren Madison, Marissa, Stephen, Hailey, and Adam.
When asked “What is something you would like to see in the future?”, Teresa shares, “I would like to see all of Ivanhoe with sidewalks and I love working at Klink Citrus, but I would like to obtain a full time position with the company instead of a temporary place through an agency.”
The Ivanhoe Sol would like to recognize Teresa Garcia of Ivanhoe as October’s community spotlight for her dedication to her family and over 35 years of hard work to help feed the nation through her work in agriculture.
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