Mothers are known for putting themselves last when it comes to their family, and for Donna Bull Guzman of Wylie, she experienced that sacrificial love firsthand growing up.
Born in Perryville, Ark., a small town with no traffic signal, Guzman was the seventh of nine children.
“My mom loved us children…all nine of us,” she said. “She also showed us how much she loved our dad.”
Raising a family of five boys and four girls certainly required extra funds to feed and clothe them, leaving little to pay for all their extra-curricular activities so Guzman’s mother did what she had to do. Five days a week she worked as a waitress to help support the family and continued until the children were grown.
“For over 18 years, she had a deep vein clot in her leg that was inoperable,” she said. “Her leg would swell to twice its size due to being on her feet all day. You can only imagine the amount of pain she endured, yet she went to work everyday and didn’t complain.”
With her father on military disability by the time she was in the 6th grade, the extra money helped. “There were seven of us children still at home,” she said. “So, our household income wasn’t that much.”
Through the years her mother worked the noon to 8 p.m. shift and was off on Wednesdays and Sundays. Back then, school activities weren’t allowed on church nights and Guzman’s mother never got to see her children participating because she was always working.
As a result of the waitressing job, Guzman said her mom always had a huge change purse full of her tips.
Sonia Duggan • [email protected]
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