[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 79 (Tuesday, May 7, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            ``VALDEZ FIMBRES FAMILY DAY'' NOVEMBER 24, 2023

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. RAUL M. GRIJALVA

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 7, 2024

  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the Valdez 
Fimbres family who have been members of the Tucson community for 
generations. They held a family reunion on November 23, 2023 at the 
KayCee Club in Tucson, Arizona to celebrate their shared heritage, 
strengthen family ties, recognize marriages, and births, and honor 
those who have passed on.
  The Valdez Fimbres family currently enjoys nine generations, many 
living across the country, but most of them reside in Tucson, Arizona.
  Feliciano Fimbres, born in 1895, and Aurelia Valdez, born in 1899, 
were both first generation U.S. Citizens. They married on May 20, 1921, 
in Tucson, AZ and raised their eight children, Ernesto, Gilberto, 
Manuel, Carlos, Rudolfo, Maria del Carmen, Federico, and Gloria in 
Tucson, Arizona.
  The Historic American Buildings Survey of the U.S. Interior 
Department conducted two studies in 1980 which are registered with the 
Library of Congress as Fimbres House No. 1 and Fimbres House No. 2. The 
summary states: ``The name Fimbres has been associated with this 
section of South Meyer Avenue since 1881, when the City Directory lists 
a Santos Fimbres. The builder of this house, Feliciano Fimbres, Sr., 
(probably related to Santos), lived here with his family until the late 
1930's Fimbres, a laborer and wagon driver, lived across the street 
until he built this dwelling (Fimbres House No. 1), around 1905. 
Feliciano and Julia Fimbres had seven children. Two of them, Julia and 
Gabriel, lived in the apartments that Feliciano added at Meyer Avenue 
in Barrio Historico/Barrio Libre.''
  Julia Fimbres (the daughter), married Jesus Sanchez and lived next 
door at Meyer Avenue, also constructed by Feliciano Fimbres, Sr. in 
1926. Jesus and Julia Sanchez died in 1959 and 1974, but their 
daughter, Evangelina Cota, still occupies that space with her family. 
The property at Meyer passed out of the Fimbres family in 1939, and has 
been rented by a succession of short-term tenants since that time. The 
dwellings were converted for commercial use after 1974 by a service 
agency for the handicapped.

                          ____________________