Carmen Schultz is my mother. She was born in Detroit, Michigan during the mid-thirties to Rafael Maria Castillo (called Ralph) and Frances Mary Lyon. Both of her parents had been married before, and both had a son by the previous marriage. The oldest son of Ralph Castillo was Louis Castillo; and the oldest son of Frances Lyon is Noel M Francis. Yes, that would have made my grandmother a Frances Francis when she was briefly married to my Uncle Noel’s father. A few years after my mother was born, her parents had a son, Ralph Guy Castillo - better known to family as Bud.

My mother’s father was originally from Venezuela. He and his mother moved to Michigan (where his brother was a Catholic Priest) after the divorce with his first wife. He met my grandmother through his brother's parish. Despite both of my mother's parents being married and divorced prior to the marriage to each other, they were staunch Catholics. If you were riding in a car with them, and you did not genuflect while passing a Catholic church – you got slapped upside the head in a fluid motion after their genuflection. It was just an extra station of the cross to them!

My mother and her brother met my father and his cousins at a lake where their families had summer cottages. In the mid forties, her family moved to Brownsville, Texas for the second and final time. After she graduated high school, and my father completed his contract with the Navy -- they were married.

The Below links will take you to memories my mother has of some of my ancestors.