After classes at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, Jesus walked nearly a mile to an elementary school where he waited for his younger sisters, Silvia and Yardena, to walk them home.
Older sister Carla did the cooking, and Jesus would help peel potatoes when he got home. He watched the little ones while they waited for their parents. The family ate their meals in shifts, two at time, on a card table, squeezing by each other in the small room.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Friday May 30, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 38 words Type of Material: Correction
Green card Marines -- A photo caption accompanying an article on Marine Lance Cpl. Jesus A. Gonzalez in Wednesday's California section incorrectly stated that Marines were standing at attention at Gonzalez's grave. They were standing at parade rest.
Leopoldo spent hours in the fields, earning $200 to $500 a month picking grapes, barely making it.
He and Silvia signed up workers for the UFW in the Coachella Valley, a stronghold of support for the union. They hauled their children to rallies, where Jesus handed out buttons and fliers. At one UFW dinner, Jesus watched as Carla handed Cesar Chavez a bouquet of bright flowers.
At home, Leopoldo played chess with the children. The family talked about history and politics, about the importance of college.
Carla and Jesus asked their stepfather if they could get jobs over summer vacation. He took them to work in the fields. "I wanted my children to learn," he said.
By 4 in the morning, they were eating breakfast. They hit the fields before sunrise. Temperatures reached 120 degrees, and Carla and Jesus tossed raisins into the 5-gallon buckets, racing to finish before the noon sun burned overhead.
It was a lesson that Jesus would not forget.
"Working in the fields would be a tough way to make a living," he later wrote. "It's better to get an education and not have to suffer as much."
Campus Involvement
Jesus entered Indio High as a seasoned activist.
"He was real serious," said Sonia Perales, who was three years older. She was president of the campus chapter of the student group Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan.
She and Jesus held Chicano education nights. They learned about the Mexican American civil rights struggle, and they watched videos about Chicano history and the labor battles of migrants working the fields.
Jesus wore his hair in a ponytail and wore T-shirts of his favorite Mexican rock bands.
He was quiet during class, preferring to express himself in flowery essays, teacher Albert Fuller recalled. Che Guevara "was his hero, his role model," Perales said.
Jesus kept a journal in Spanish. As a Mexican immigrant, he said, it was important to take a stand against Proposition 187, which called for the denial of most public benefits to anyone who had illegally come to California.
