Vicenta Velasquez’s daughter, Irma Ayers, shares memories of her mother at Crime Victim Services’ Ottawa office alongside siblings Belia Spradlin and Baldemar Velasquez Friday morning.
J Swygart | The Lima News
OTTAWA— Crime Victims Services dedicated a portrait of late Putnam County Volunteer Vicenta “Cindy” Velasquez as part of its Elder Portraits Series at a Friday morning ceremony.
Velasquez, a Mexican American Putnam County resident and migrant worker, spent much of her life in service to other migrant workers, elderly people in the community and anyone else who required help, Elder Victim Ministry Advocates Director Elysia Bush said at the ceremony.
“Elder Victim Ministry Advocates wanted to reflect the full range of elder populations in its Elder Portraits,” Bush said in a press release. “We selected Vicenta because in retirement she continued to be a voice for migrant workers and elders in Putnam County.”
The portrait was painted by artist Anna Hairstone Miller, the Awakenings Coordinator at the Area Agency on Aging 3, who said she was “honored” to recognize Velasquez through her art.
“With her passion for advocacy, I felt a connection and even though we never had a chance to meet, I know she was a source of inspiration for many,” Miller said in a press release.
Velasquez’s portrait will join four others in a series on display in Putnam and Allen County Crime Victims Services offices. The portrait’s likeness is a photo that daughter Irma Ayers provided the artist.
According to the release, born in 1920, Velasquez grew up working in fields across Texas. She began migrating to Putnam County in 1949 with her husband in the spring and summer to work there.
When Velasquez’s sixth child of nine was born, the family settled down around Pandora, Ohio to provide the children a more stable life, according to the release. The family continued migrant work in Ohio and Michigan for several years after the move.
Velasquez acted as a translator for the Spanish-speaking community, particularly for medical appointments and conversations with law enforcement. Even as she herself aged, she drove elders who could no longer drive to get where they needed.
Baldemar Velasquez, a Toledo resident and Velasquez’s son, said at the portrait dedication that with the leadership of their mother, his family worked twice as hard to make ends meet in 1967 to allow him to form the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, a labor union for migrant workers.
“Doing the work that I do, a lot of the principles that I sort of gained over the long period of organizing migrant farmworkers comes from her lessons that I learned by example,” Velasquez’s son said.
Belia Spradlin, a Vanlue resident and Velasquez’s daughter, said her mother treated everyone she met like family and would have been very humbled to see herself recognized with a dedicated portrait.
Ayers, a Toledo resident, said her mother’s inclination to serve was based in her Christian faith, and this service created a strong sense of community for the family in Putnam County.
“All the volunteers of Crime Victim Services, they all do good work and they often go unrecognized and there’s no thanks, but there’s one above who does notice.” Ayers said. “That’s what my mother did. She did it all for the glory of God.”
