Nov. 21, 1944 – Jan. 28, 2024
By Deborah Martinez Martinez
Maria Arguello Subia, who passed away Jan. 28, was a pillar of strength for her community, an advocate for social justice, and a prominent Chicana activist with the Chicano Movement. She was 79.
She was born in New Mexico on Nov. 21, 1944, and spent her early years in Springer and Taos. At age six, her family followed her uncles and came to work at the Pueblo Army Depot. She spoke Spanish and learned English from her brother’s radio. At Pueblo County High School, she was involved in school clubs and was class secretary in her junior year. Although she graduated with a gold cord, she was discouraged by school counselors from attending college. She set her sights on a clerical vocation.
In 1969, with an 18-month-old son, she divorced Chicano Movement icon Martin Serna and left for a position with the Denver War on Poverty. She did program planning and evaluation and attended the University of Colorado at Denver in what she called “a time of turmoil.”
During an interview with a dissertation student, Maria described being politicized by a Black co-workers as they worked with disadvantaged communities. Her colleague, Louise, encouraged her to attend the West High School Blowout. The students were protesting the bitter and ongoing racist actions of one teacher. Maria witnessed the brutal and bloody beatings police gave the students as they walked out of the building.
She reacted With a desire “to belong to this energy, to the dynamic of seeking justice and right.” Shortly after that, Maria got more involved with the Crusade for Justice’s Escuela Tlatelolco by offering to teach English during her lunch hour at the War of Poverty program where she worked.
During her 10-year involvement with the Crusade, she acted as a coordinator and organizer for events and activities and was part of the Crusade’s Legal Defense Committee. She became a recognized leader under Crusade founder Corky Gonzales and his wife Geraldine Gonzales. According to Angelina Najar, a colleague of Maria, she wore many hats and held many leadership roles within the Crusade.
She was active with the Crusade’s summer Freedom School which eventually evolved into the Escuela Tlatelolco in October 1970. The goal was to provide Chicano children and youth in the Denver area an opportunity to study their history and to reinforce pride in their language, culture, and identity as Chicanos.
Maria helped organize the first Chicano Youth Liberation Conference at the Crusade in January 1969, where the proclamation “El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan” was developed. Maria was also instrumental in assisting and organizing the second Chicano Youth Liberation Conference.
During this time, Antioch University offered a non-traditional master’s program at the Crusade. Maria completed her master’s degree in Bilingual Education from Antioch. She was already bilingual but also learned Latin, German, and Nahuatl.
In March 1970, Maria was also heavily involved in the formation of the Colorado Raza Unida Party. She was the party’s nomination to run against Pat Schroeder for Congress in 1972 in the Denver Primary on the La Raza Unida ticket. “We used the electoral process to create awareness on issues that were affecting Chicanos, she said. “At that time we had the draft, and our kids were going to Vietnam under the draft system because they weren’t enrolled in college and therefore, couldn’t ask for a deferment. You saw a disproportionate number of young men coming back maimed or dead because they were on the frontlines.”
During her time at the Crusade, Maria met and married fellow Crusader Hector Subia.
Maria attended the National Chicano Anti-War Moratorium in Los Angeles, CA, on Aug. 29, 1970. At the Moratorium, Corky Gonzales and Al Gurule (of Pueblo, CO) were arrested and Ruben Salazar, an LA journalist, was killed by a projectile fired by a sheriff’s deputy into a crowed bar where protesters had taken refuge. Cesar Chavez testified on Corky’s behalf.
Maria participated in La Raza Unida National convention in El Paso, TX, in 1972 with Corky Gonzales, Jose Angel Gutierrez (TX), and Reies Lopez Tijerina (NM). Ricardo Falcon of the Colorado delegation was shot and killed at a gas station in Orogrande, TX, while traveling to the convention.
When she returned to Pueblo in the 1980s, Maria followed Belinda Venegas into the directorship of the East Side Child Care Center and held that position for 42 years, retiring in October 2023. With Maria at the helm of the ESCCC, the center achieved the state’s five-star status multiple times.
In Pueblo, she also continued her political involvement and applied for and was appointed to the District 60 School Board. She saw it as an opportunity to bring the community she served into the dialogue on education. She was elected to a full four-year term on the board where she continued to impact decisions and speak out against injustices. During her time and under pressure from her and her collaborators, District 60 reduced the elementary class size from 45 to 25.
On April 17, 2005, Maria marched along side Eddie Montour (Pueblo activist) to pay tribute to the life and legacy of Rudolfo Corky Gonzales. Maria was among the many speakers to gave words of homage to Corky, along with Dolores Huerta. Daniel Valdez and Ramon Chunky Sanchez sang at the memorial celebration.
In an interview with the Pueblo Chieftain’s Peter Roper, Maria stated, “It represents everything that I am today. I feel very honored to have known Corky and to be part of the Chicano Movement under his leadership. He was an extraordinary man (Chieftain 4/14/05).”
Her colleague Najar said, “She was a ‘Dolores Huerta’ in her own right; she was the Chicana Warrior.”
An employee of the Eastside Child Care Center, Desiree Trujillo, said, “ I will always remember her as a strong woman that NEVER backed down for fighting for something she believed in.”
Another of Maria’s former employees, Catalina Fox, thanked Maria, “for the safe haven she created for our community, the families that she served with all her heart. A beacon of light, a pillar of strength and advocate for all. You will be missed.”
Maria is survived by her children, Greg Serna, Luis (Angel Rael) Subia, Neva Subia, Becky Marquez and Terry (Bob) Marshall; siblings, Alex Arguello, Raymond (Sabrina) Arguello, Gloria Trevillison, Mary Ellen Estrada and Nancy (Tony) Duran; 15 grandchildren; 1 great grandchild.
What a beautiful write up of Maria.