Asturian-American Migration Forum

Hello - My Name is Marleen Menendez Suarez. My father is Enrique (henry) "Pesty" Menendez, Jr. His parents were Enrique Menendez Ynclan and Maria Gonazalez. The immigrated from Aviles around 1912. They lived in East St. Louis, IL and for awhile in the south side of St. Louis. Enrique was a well-known professional soccer player, he owned a pool hall and did money lending to fellow asturianos. Supposedly he fronted the money for many, many of his countrymen to bring over their families, very often waiving any payback. He was considered a leader of the community and well-respected by all. Unfortunately, he died from tuberculosis. My grandfather died in his 30's after fathering 4 children (my father was #3 in 1922 and is still healthy and happy at age 81). My grandmother then married another Asturianu, Florentino Muniz who came to America via Cuba. They moved to Fairmont City, IL (a neighbor community of East St. Louis) where my step-grandfather worked in the zinc foundry with many other spaniards. He was one of the leaders of the labor movement there. My abuela had 4 more children. (The Menendez children and Muniz children were raised together and NEVER refer to themselves as half-brothers or half-sisters...only as brother and sister...this led to much confusion because they had different last names.) I was raised in East St. Louis and Fairmont City and married Daniel Joseph Suarez in 1984. Dan is also the grandchild of Asturianu immigrants. In fact, we believe that we may share a set of great-great grandparents. Our parents were childhood friends. His father worked with my father in the zinc foundry. It was like a "royal wedding" when we married as few children in our generation married other descendants of Spain. We have 1 son, Daniel Henry Suarez, age 17. I am a "late-bloomer" and just recently got my college degree in genetic engineering and plan to attend law school this fall. My husband owns a trucking company that was originally founded by the Garcia family in Fairmont City. He bought it after the death of the last Garcia brother about 10 years ago. It is one of the first Spanish owned businesses in the area and has been in business for almost 100 years. The tradition continues.......