Growing up in Mercedes, Skyler Howell knew the name of Dr. Hector P. Garcia, but not much else about the man whose likeness graces the front of the local library. 

“I knew his name was on the library, but there was no context for it,” said Howell, a recent UTRGV graduate. 

Garcia was a Mexican immigrant whose family came to the Rio Grande Valley and Mercedes in the early 1900s. Garcia was just a child then, a three-year-old boy, growing up in the Mid-Valley city. He would go on to graduate from Mercedes High School in 1932. 

Garcia’s life after high school is the stuff of legends. A University of Texas at Austin graduate, then earning a medical degree and becoming a physician before becoming a decorated World War II veteran. Life after the war would see him become one of the nation’s foremost Hispanic civil rights leaders in U.S. history. 

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan awarded Dr. Garcia the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. When Garcia died thirty years ago in July 1996, President Bill Clinton delivered his eulogy in Corpus Christi. Now, over 100 years after Garcia’s birth, Howell believes his generation needs to know more about the man behind the honors.

“He’s such a great example of a hometown hero,” said Howell, who works on the staff of Hidalgo County Judge Richard Cortez. “Knowing Dr. Garcia was from Mercedes and the (Rio Grande) Valley, it instills a sense of belief in yourself.”

Ceremonial Street Naming

Howell came to believe that having the library named in Garcia’s honor wasn’t sufficient for local recognition of the doctor’s standing as a historical figure.

The state of Texas in 2009 established the third Wednesday of September as Dr. Hector P. Garcia Recognition Day. In Mercedes, no such recognition existed. Howell worked to change that and in 2003 convinced the Mercedes City Commission to join the state in declaring the same day every September in honor of Dr. Garcia.

“It didn’t make sense that the state had honored Dr. Garcia with a day, but his hometown had not done so,” Howell said. 

In further rectifying that omission, Howell again went before the City Commission in urging local leaders to ceremonially rename Ohio Avenue in Mercedes in honor of Garcia. It’s the street in the city where the fire and police departments, City Hall, and the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Library are located. The offices of the Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corporation are also located on Ohio Avenue.

The City Commission approved the ceremonial renaming as “a topper name” to Ohio Avenue, Howell said, requiring no changes in mailing addresses for local businesses and government offices. On Sept. 24, the city celebrated the ceremonial renaming of Ohio in Dr. Garcia’s honor.

“It’s about inspiring people in our community, especially the younger generations, that you can be from here and dream big,” Howell said.

Honoring More Heroes

Garcia’s story has bigger-than-life inspirational elements to it.

He was placed in command of infantry and combat engineers in World War II before being transferred to the medical corps. Garcia was a Bronze Star Medal recipient. After the war, he settled in Corpus Christi and established a longtime medical practice and was also a surgeon. He became a national figure in founding the American GI Forum to assist Hispanic veterans. Garcia did so – famously – in the late 1940s in helping the widow of a South Texas soldier from Three Rivers who was denied the use of a funeral chapel in the fallen soldier’s hometown.

Garcia, with the assistance of then-Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, saw to it  that Private Felix Longoria was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Longoria was the first Mexican-American to be buried at what is widely considered the nation’s most famous cemetery. There were many more facets to Dr. Garcia’s life and can be easily found with a Google search.

There was a mild pushback in Mercedes to having Ohio Avenue being ceremoniously renamed in Garcia’s honor since the library already carries his name. Howell says that was understandable. He would like to see additional hometown historical figures honored as well in Mercedes.

“It doesn’t mean we can’t do more,” said Howell, who serves on the local Chamber of Commerce board. “By honoring Dr. Garcia, we’ve opened up this dialogue about honoring our hometown heroes. It can pave the way for future leaders to emerge and contribute to our community and our nation.”