Helen Fabela Chávez
| Helen Fabela Chávez | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Helen Fabela January 21, 1928 Brawley, California |
| Died | June 6, 2016 (aged 88) Bakersfield, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Mother, UFW administrator |
| Known for | Contributions to the labor activist movement of the United Farm Workers |
| Spouse(s) | César Chávez (1948–93, his death) |
| Children | 8 |
Helen Fabela Chávez (January 21, 1928 – June 6, 2016) was an American labor activist for the United Farm Workers of America (UFWA). Aside from her affiliation with the UFW, she was a first-generation Chicana with "a traditional upbringing and limited education
Helen Fabela was born on January 21, 1928, in Brawley, California. She was a first generation Mexican-American. Her mother was from Sombrete, Mexico, and her father from San Jacinto, Mexico. Both her parents immigrated to the USA separately after the Mexican Revolution, and eventually married in Los Angeles, California, in 1948. Both worked as migrant laborers, first in the Imperial Valley and later in the San Joaquín Valley and thus exposed her to the hardships of labor at an early age. She began working in the fields herself at age seven. After her father's death, when Helen was fifteen, she left high school to support her family which consisted of her mother, two sisters, and four brothers of whom she was the eldest. Helen worked in a grocery store and eventually made her way to working in the fields and vineyards full-time.
Fabela met César Chávez in 1942 while she was still a student in Delano High School in California. Soon after his World War II service in the United States Navy ended in 1945, he began spending more time with her. They dated "inexpensively– a walk in the moonlight or perhaps a movie" The couple was married in a civil ceremony on October 22, 1948, in Reno, Nevada. At the time, she was 20 years old. Then the two returned to San Jose, California for a church wedding. They departed for a two-week honeymoon before settling into their new lives together. Although she was trying to start her own family, she remained the main source of income for her siblings and parents. The newlyweds settled permanently in Delano, California. Over the next decade, the two grew to a family of ten with the total addition of eight children (Fernando, Sylvia, Linda, Eloise, Liz, Paul, Anna, and Anthony) and a later total of 31 grandchildren.
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