Reyes A. Trevino awoke in her usual way on Thursday, her birthday, but it was an unusual day because it was also the 100th anniversary of her birth on Jan. 6, 1922 in Matamoros.
Reyes celebrated the day receiving immediate family members, having her picture taken for the occasion and answering questions from media representatives at her home in the country club area of Brownsville. Her children will host a reception in her honor for immediate family members on Saturday, her daughter Irma M. Trevino said.
“We are blessed to be here today celebrating 100 years and she’s happy,” Irma said. “She woke up today and I turned on the lamp beside her bed and I turned on the TV because long ago the doctor told me, ‘your mom is aging and she’s aging gracefully, but don’t let her sleep long hours during the day.’”
Trevino said the family had no special plans for her mother’s actual birthday on Thursday “because of COVID. Two years ago we had big plans at the event center. … We are large families on both sides. From the nine children, she has only one sister left and the rest are gone. She’s the No. 5 and the No. 6 are still alive. My mom is here and her sister Sara Alanis Sosa is here. The rest are gone. Two years ago we had that plan that we were going to give her a big party but because of the nightmare of COVID 19 we had to change everything. … She has been receiving flowers and gifts already.”
Because Trevino was born on Three Kings Day and she came from a devout Catholic family, “the name that is on the Catholic calendar is the name that they name you, so my mom got Reyes because she was born on Magic Kings Day, and she was very fortunate. She met my father and they got married on Dec. 10, 1944, and they had six children and my mom has been a very happy loving woman. She’s been a wonderful mother,” Trevino said.
Asked if she didn’t think people were making too much of her birthday, Reyes said she liked getting the flowers. She and her daughter said she also liked having visitors and seeing people in the home’s dinning and reception area again.
“She loves to have company. I belong to the Catholic Daughters of the Americas. When we were building the house Father Niccolau would come to the house to bless it,” Irma said. “This table has always been full (except during) the nightmare of COVID 19. … I’ve dedicated my life to my profession. I didn’t get married but I’ve traveled around the world, across the country, and my mom would stay home. My brother Orlando, he’s always been watching for her and also my nephew Carlos, the one that works for Customs, he’s always watching for grandma, making sure that she’s doing OK. So we have a good family. I feel blessed, so blessed.”
Reyes Alanis Trevino and her husband Samuel Trevino Vidal raised six children, Omar, Horacio, Rolando, Samuel, Irma and Mary. The two daughters live in Brownsville. She has 15 grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren and six great-great grandchildren.
In July 1995 she became a U.S. citizen and has voted in local, state and national elections since. In May 2012 the city of Brownsville invited her to a luncheon honoring the city’s older population. She received a certificate, of which she is very proud.
“My mother has certain habits that we believe helped her live a healthy life. She goes to sleep early, eats three to four healthy meals daily and we pray the rosary and 15 minutes with Sacramental Jesus. Until 2019 she still accompanied me to the gym, where she sat and read her prayer books while waiting for me to finish my workout,” Irma wrote in an email to the Herald.
Irma Trevino works for the Internal Revenue Service. She was an accountant for 11 1/2 years before becoming one of three founding members of the agency’s bilingual bureau to take care of Hispanic media. She has worked in communications for 20 years.
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