Gloria Estefan was in Mrs Benton's class

Hmmm.. I'm guessing it wasn't the same Gloria Estefan. According to her bio she was born in Cuba in 1957, her family fled Cuba in 1961 and moved to Miami where she grew up. Her father was involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion and ended up spending 18 months in a Cuban prison from 1961 to 1962. He was Cuban and not a US citizen which doesn't fully disqualify him from military service in the US but... he aslo had MS which would have medically disqualified him and schools on military installations aren't usually open to anyone but children of military personnel. Her mother also worked in the Cafeteria at a local school in Miami.

I don't think she ever left Miami until after college (she attended the U of Miami starting in 1975).

Doh! But then again.. I just found this little tidbit on the WWW:

"After her fatherwas released from prison in Cuba, he joined the U.S. Army only to be exposed to AgentOrange in Vietnam and suffer chemical-induced multiple sclerosis."

So maybe.... Interesting...

Estefan's life has been filled with challenges, beginning when her father moved the family from Cuba to the United States and then returned to fight against Castro. Living with her mother in Miami, Estefan experienced prejudice but strove to excel in school. The book briefly touches on her parents: Mrs. Fajardo was forced to be the breadwinner while her husband was in a Cuban prison; Mr. Fajardo was a freedom-fighter in Cuba who, after his release, served in Vietnam for his new country. A picture is painted of a hard-working entertainer who discovered her talent and overcame shyness to prevail. The singer's difficult recovery from a painful back injury is also covered. Some words appear in bold type and are defined in the glossary. A full-color photo appears opposite each page of text. Great for young readers looking for someone to emulate.-Marsha McGrath, Clearwater Public Library, FL

Copyright 1996 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Okay- but how would you all pursue finding out more about the possible identity of that little girl. If she was born in 1957, that would be the exact right age to be in the 4th grade in 1967...

Hey, Snood,

Interesting - although any records related to personnel would be restricted. In other words, I could query places and locations and specifics about what offices serve what purposes, but you would have to be on official business inorder for them to give out names, for security reasons.

thanks.

This is all I could find.



Gloria Estefan Back To Top

Comin' soon from Gloria... a new Olympic theme song called REACH. Gloria wrote it with song writing great...Diane Warren

Gloria's personal favorite sport is... VOLLEYBALL! She also likes to watch baseball... track n' field...swimming and gymnastics.

Gloria's dad was a policeman at the palace back in Cuba.

When Fidel Castro took over the government in Cuba, Gloria's family quickly flew out first class aboard Pan Am on round trip tickets that only cost 21-dollars. They never used the second half of the ticket, Gloria still has hers!

Gloria's dad fought in the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion back in the J-F-K administration

After leaving Cuba...Gloria's dad became a major in the U.S. Army

Gloria was an army brat and grew up in places like San Antonio... and Fort Jackson in South Carolina.

Gloria is from Cuba...she did not learn to speak English until she was living in the states and in the 1st grade

Gloria's dad is dead now...her mom, a retired teacher... lives in Miami

Montana: great info re Ft Jackson as the sites I googled all wanted to perpetuate the fairytale story of Cuba to Miami alone!

Snood: re the public record deal, I googled as I did based on my 6-month, very frustrating but eventually successful, search for my birth parents. I believe somehow getting a hold of the surname of the little girl through archived class lists or old yearbooks is the way to go because we need a surname in order to search public records. Now, I'm going to re-google to

Breaking News:

Update:

Wow, thanks alot everyone. Its looking a little like that little girl might have been the genuine article... Fajardo - growing up in Ft Jackson...

I appreciate the help.

Well, I guess that "everyone" [harumph!] says "you're welcome" . . .

Now, snood, if you had just kept your elementary school annual, you wouldn't be making sweetc do all this work... :wink:

Thank you, PDiddie :wink: , for the support - love ya!

All I was askin' for was a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T; but, since it seems I ain't gettin' any, I won't bother workin' on it anymore . . . oh, well, one can only try, when it doesn't work, one can only let it go . . .

This thread was moved from the 'General' forum, to here. That's fine with me, but I had to search pretty hard for it, and I wrote two moderators asking what happened, with no reply.

Hey, they can move things to places they consider more "appropriate", but I don't think it would be asking too much to just leave a tag thread, saying what happened, to save the originator of the thread and others some time hunting.

Yes, Snood, I've seen that happen before. The easiest way to avoid searching forums for threads where I've posted before is to click "Your posts" in the rectangular dealie above and to your left. Very helpful for avoiding the very thing you just posted.

Yeah, but they still shouldn't move 'em without any notice, or word after the fact.

Off-topic:

Forum moderation has taken an anonymous and proactive shift. That's not necessarily a bad thing...

...sounds ominous...

sort of like Ashcroft in miniature...