My Uncle Nano

Time for another "Houston Memories Card," inspired by Sian's Captured in a Card idea and made with my May Counterfeit Kit.  This one is about my Uncle Nano:

The inside of the card reads: "Uncle Nano (Fernando Salas) was a jeweler.  My sister Cordelia and I stayed with him and my Aunt Vera one summer.  He pierced our ears at the dining room table using a piece of ice, a cork and a sharp needle.  I remember his hands shaking and the pair of ear rings he placed in my ears - small plastic daisies on gold posts."  And, yes, that's a true story!  

My Uncle Nano was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, and he married my Aunt Vera in 1933.  He was a prominent Latino businessman and civic leader in Houston.  In 1924, he co-founded an organization called La Asemblea Mexicana to help fight police brutality and Ku Klux Klan violence against Mexicans, as well as to help Mexican students in the Houston public schools.  He was also active in LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) during World War II and, in 1944, became the first Mexican American member of a Harris County Grand Jury.  He passed away on Jan. 6, 1982. 

For my heritage scrapbook page to go with my memory card, I did not do a layout about Uncle Nano but instead scrapped this wedding picture of my Aunt Vera:

Again, I went with pretty paper (from Club Scrap) and few embellishments.  The design was pretty much already decided because I had created this companion page several years ago:

I wanted the two pages go together well, and I think they did:

One of the reasons I chose to do the bridal layout was because I thought it would be quick and easy.  Also, I didn't think I had any pictures of Uncle Nano.  But, then, when researching the facts for this post  in a book called Del Pueblo by Thomas H. Krenek, I found some pictures of Uncle Nano (including the one posted above).  Oh well, Uncle Nano was a very colorful figure, and I've got lots more stories to tell about him involving hunting boar in the big thicket, teaching us how to play canasta, his encounter with the missing link and more about the jewelery business.  Thank you all so much for your kind words and feedback on my heritage/ genealogy scrapbook project.  It really is helping to keep me motivated.