Remembering Our Ancestors and Women from the Southwest involved with Community Activism.
Aurora Villareal-Aguilera
2010 Corn Mother Honoree
BIO
Aurora Villarreal-Aguilera was born in San Benito, a small town at the southernmost tip of Texas. She is one of ten surviving children out of fourteen born to parents of Mexican descent. She and her siblings were all delivered by a midwife and raised on a small farm.
After graduating from Los Fresnos High School in Texas in 1948, she had planned on attending college and then joining the military as a flight nurse. However, she met Reynaldo Aguilera and soon after got married. The couple moved to San Benito and had nine children. As she took on the full-time job of motherhood, she had a spiritual awakening and became a devoted Christian. She has dedicated her life to her community and family for decades.
In 1992, Aurora started a retreat to help Hispanic women discover and use their talents so they could become leaders in churches and communities nationwide. This nonprofit is now a large organization, Compañerismo Aurora, with a branch called Ministerios Aurora.