Grandma goes to school and gets a new name

This is a story about Grandma Hyer - the one that is my mother and your great grandmother.

Grandma Hyer was born in 1923 in Colonia Chuichupa, Chihuahua, Mexico. That is too many long words to say and so Grandma just called it “Chupe” (say “chew pea”). Chupe was a Mormon pioneer settlement in a beautiful high mountain valley. Grandma lived on a small ranch with cattle, horses, chickens, hay fields and gardens and her mom (who I called Grammy) and her dad (who I called Pappy) and her two older brothers (Bobby and Paul) and her two older sisters (Nelle and Jane) and her little brother Rulon and their collie dog named Timmy. Here is a picture of them at their ranch in Chupe.

Starting from the left, their dog Timmy, Bobby, Pappy (holding baby Rulon) Grammy, Nelle, the girl in the middle is Jane and, hard to see, but behind the flower plant is Paul and Grandma is on the right of the flower at the bottom.

If you look at the picture carefully, you will see that their house in the back was a small wooden house. We would think they were very poor (which they were, but they didn’t really know that).  There were no bathrooms in their house - they all used the same “out house”. Living in Chupe was a lot like camping in the mountains, except instead of a tent you slept in a small wooden shack. There were no schools in Chupe.

In Mexico they speak Spanish and many of the people Grandma knew were native Mexicans speaking Spanish. This is a picture of Grandma in Chupe with a close family friend.

Grandma’s full name was Fern Vilate Brown, but in Chupe they called her by her middle name Vilate. In English you pronounce the name as “va late,” but since they were in Spanish speaking Mexico they called her “vio late ah,” which is how you say the name in Spanish.

Chupe was a beautiful place to live, but not a very good place to have a farm or a ranch, and there were no schools. So Grammy and Pappy decided to move to El Paso, Texas, so Grandma and her brothers and sisters could go school in the United States. This story is about Grandma’s first day at school.

It is hard to see Grandma, but this is a picture of Grandma and her older brother Paul waiting to go to school in the family’s car. I think it is their collie dog Timmy on the left, then her little brother Rulon, then Grandma, her oldest brother Bobby and her older brother Paul. From looking at the car you can see this was a look time ago.

Grandma had never been to a real school before and did not know anything about American schools. Living in Chupe as a little girl Grandma learned to speak a mixture of English and Spanish. While her family and people in Chupe could understand her, Grandma really didn’t know how to speak Spanish or English very well.

On her first day in school in El Paso her teacher asked her to come to the front of the classroom and tell the class something about herself. The teacher always had new students do this to help the other students get to know the new student. Grandma came to the front of the class and began talking. Grandma doesn’t remember anything she said, but she remembers very clearly what happened. All the class started laughing and making fun of her because she was speaking this mixture of Spanish and English. Grandma was very embarrassed and ashamed, but it got worse.

When recess came, Grandma told the teacher she needed to go the bathroom and the teacher said it was in the hall. Grandma walked out into the hallway and saw her brother Paul and some other boys going into a room and so she just followed them in. Grandma did not know there were separate bathrooms for boys and girls, but she soon found out and some were really rude in telling her. Confused and embarrassed, Grandma just walked away from the school at recess and walked all the way back home determined that she was never going back to the “gringo” school. Gringo is a word Mexicans sometimes use to refer to Americans and usually not in a nice way.

Many years later Grandma wrote about what then happened and she tells it best:

“I just walked on home. I told my Mother I did not want to go to that “Gringo” school. Well, my Mother took me by the hand and walked me back to the school and on the way reminded me that I was an American girl, like those in my class. I was blond, had freckles, and was going to be student there. I told her on the way that they called me Vilate, which was my middle name, but in Mexico Vilate became Veoleta, which I thought was all right. [Grandma really hated the harsh sound of “Vilate”, but thought the Spanish version pronounced ‘Vio late ah” was pretty.] My Mother reminded me that I had another name – Fern. So I went back to school. I was an American, my name was Fern and I was there to stay."

Grandma’s teacher, Miss Coppage, was very nice and stayed after school to help Grandma learn to read better. Grandma was a good student and became about “American” as a girl can be. This is a grade school picture of Grandma



Grandparents never tell stories to Grandchildren without there being a point. In case you missed it, here it is:

Being embarrassed in front of other people or being made fun of by people you hoped would be your friends hurts deeply, but it happens to all of us, not just kids, but grownups too. But when it happens you need to be like Grandma – remember who are, have courage, keep trying and don’t give up. Listen to your parents and other good people trying to help you. Usually there are good people, like Grandma’s teacher Miss Coppage, who will help you. You may be very sad for a while, but you can get over it and maybe many years later it will turn out to be a funny story.

The other point is to remember not to be mean or make fun of other people, especially those who are new, a little different or without lots of friends, and if others do, that’s when you should be the friend they may really need. This is what Jesus would want you to do.