Abuelitas de la Mision: Maria Alicia Catalan, a poet who's lived in the Mission 55 years

"The year was 1971. María Alicia Catalán was young, and in love. Her husband, Victor, a skilled shoemaker, had left El Salvador to seek his fortune in San Francisco, making psychedelic boots at the legendary Rainbow Cobblers on Columbus Avenue in North Beach. "He was so handsome," Catalán recalled on a recent rainy Friday afternoon standing outside of Paprika at 24th Street and Osage streets. What could she do but follow him?"

"Catalán had taught elementary school and worked as a nurse in El Salvador. In San Francisco, she got a job as a teacher's assistant, in the Mission District, working with young children who spoke Spanish. She then became a nursing assistant at Laguna Honda Hospital, where she stayed for about 25 years. "It was a great experience," said Catalán, when asked about her years at the hospital. "You provide your patients with physical and emotional therapy. It is such a good feeling to share your wisdom with others.""

"Catalán will turn 88 next month, but, she said, the years have barely changed her. "People age on the outside, but the spirit always stays active and beautiful," she said in Spanish. Among her favorite activities, then and now: listening to Los Angeles Azules, Orquesta San Vicente and Lito Barrientos y su Orquesta; reading the work of Salvadoran poet Alfredo Espino; eating rice with vegetables and beef; and writing poetry. ""Me? I love writing. I love writing poetry. It is one of my favorite hobbies," said Catalán. "I read my poems to my children, just listen." She proceeded to recite " Me gusta cuando llueve," standing, at this point, outside of Café La Bohéme, umbrella in hand. " Me gusta la lluvia por que todo esta en calma Me gusta cuando llueve por que siento los deseos intensos de volver a soñar A soñar con mi abuela que me quería tanto y que me daba besos ...""

María Alicia Catalán moved from El Salvador to San Francisco in 1971 to join her husband Victor, who worked as a shoemaker at Rainbow Cobblers. Catalán worked as a teacher's assistant in the Mission District and later spent about 25 years as a nursing assistant at Laguna Honda Hospital, providing physical and emotional care. She maintains an active spirit into her late eighties, enjoys Latin orchestras, Salvadoran poetry, and favorite foods, and writes and recites her own poems, often sharing them with her children and invoking memories of her grandmother.

Read at Mission Local