HARLINGEN — Isabel Rendon Castillo remembers why she was sent to live in Mercedes.
“My dad sent me to Mercedes because he didn’t like my boyfriend,” said Isabel, 97, as she and her sister Juanita Rendon Salas, 101, celebrated their birthdays.
Wednesday afternoon they enjoyed a lunch of baked chicken, sausage, rice and potato salad together. Their birthdays were only days apart, but children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews were enjoying the day with them.
“It makes me happy to talk about the whole time when I was growing up with me and my sisters,” said Juanita, speaking of things long ago as if they were yesterday.
“My mother grew up in the Briggs Coleman area,” said her son Vero Salas, 77, who is retired from the U.S. Army.
He was referring to a long rural road east of Harlingen.
His aunt, Isabel, continued the conversation.
“I think life was easy on the ranch,” said Isabel, at which time her nephew, Vero clarified, “I think she meant simple. It was simpler.”
Everyone seemed to laugh with quiet amusement at this, including Isabel herself.
While all seven siblings came from the ranch, they spread across the Valley to McAllen, Mercedes and other locales.
“I used to live in Mercedes with my aunt and went to school there,” Isabel said.
They all reminisced over the success of their long lives. Among the grandchildren and nephews present at the lunch was retired Justice of the Peace Arturo Salas of La Feria.
“My mother was one of the sisters,” he said as he finished lunch. “She passed away last year.”
They all spoke of the longevity which runs so strongly through the family. From the seven sisters have spread dozens of children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and beyond, and they include at least one lawyer and a U.S. Marshal.
“It’s a big blessing to have her here,” said Christina West, 65, daughter of Isabel.
“She’s always been a good mother for us and to have her live this long, it’s a great blessing,” she said.
Meanwhile, Isabel told stories that sounded strangely familiar, like how a teenage girl with a crush on a boy will find a way to see him.
“Sometimes I had to climb into a tree to see if I could see him,” she said.
When was this? Ninety years ago or yesterday?
“He married someone else,” she said. And so did she.
