Cecilia Guzman helped start Alamosa homeless shelter

By Bill Gallo, Special to the Rocky

Published October 13, 2008 at 10:10 p.m.
Updated October 14, 2008 at 1:06 a.m.

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Born poor in hardscrabble Alamosa, Cecilia Guzman managed to survive childhood. None of her three siblings did.

That's just one of the reasons, friends say, that this selfless woman gave of herself to a community in sore need.

Most notably, she was a founding member of Alamosa's La Puente, the first rural homeless shelter in the Rocky Mountain region and still one of the most innovative.

"She was no armchair sociologist," La Puente director Lance Cheslock said. "And she was no whiner. She just rolled up her sleeves and got things done."

Mrs. Guzman died Oct. 6 at Broadmoor Court Assisted Living in Colorado Springs after a long illness. She was 88.

Born Oct. 2, 1920, Cecilia Aragon - "Cece" to her intimates - graduated from high school and business college in Albuquerque, then took a job with the Army Corps of Engineers in New Mexico.

During World War II, she was one of the first women inducted into the Marines. After the war, she served as a Presbyterian missionary in San Bernardino, Calif., where she met and married her husband of six decades, Guadalupe "Gus" Guzman.

He died in May.

Upon returning to her hometown in 1947, Mrs. Guzman remained active in several Presbyterian churches, rising to elder and deacon. She worked as an administrative assistant in a savings and loan office and did all she could to build hope in the 10,000-square-mile San Luis Valley. That rich Colorado farmland contains two of the most impoverished counties in the United States - Conejos and Costilla.

In 1981, Mrs. Guzman was one of five local women who founded La Puente (The Bridge), a pioneering refuge for homeless migrant workers, the jobless and families.

"At that time, rural shelters were unheard of," Cheslock said. "Homelessness was considered a city problem. But Cecilia was fiercely passionate about the cause.

"Imagine - a small, poor town of 11,000 supporting a homeless shelter. She did everything from cooking to fundraising to writing her own checks. She leveraged everyone's involvement. And believe me, there was nothing fashionable about it at the time. She just had tremendous energy and compassion."

Mrs. Guzman served on La Puente's board for 18 years. Today, it is a 55-bed shelter - total capacity, 75 - supported by a thrift shop, a motel and a coffee shop and featuring widely imitated outreach, prevention and family services programs.

Formal Spanish usage dictates that La Puente should really be El Puente; the name has been "feminized," Cheslock said, "because a group of radical women started it. They were radical, and they believed."

Services were Saturday at Faith Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs.

Mrs. Guzman is survived by a daughter, Dr. Nadyne Guzman, of Colorado Springs; four grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to La Puente Home, 913 State Ave., Alamosa, CO 81101.

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