Los Gatos Jubilee: El Gato Leandro Garza Leal

El Gato Leandro Garza Leal and his first wife, Flora, visited Los Gatos in 1924. They had 14 children.

When Flora passed away my grandfather remarried my grandmother Leonor Garza Marroquin. They had another 14 children, but only nine boys lived.

is from the second familia.

I was born in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico and came to the USA when I was 3 years old. My papi was doing his internship in Arizona and finished it in Hollywood.

We eventually moved to San Jose, where he established his private practice, close to San Jose Hospital at that time.

When I was just about to start junior high school is when my familia moved to Los Gatos. I went to Fisher Middle School. One of my papi's brothers, Lazaro Garza Marroquin, was the Spanish teacher at for many years.

I have a lot of wonderful memories growing up here in Los Gatos.

At this point I am the only one in my immediate familia that still lives here. My tio/uncle Lazaro and tia/aunt still live here in Los Gatos as well. All my sisters and their familias live in Southern California. I have one brother that lives in San Jose with his familia.

My grandfather was born Aug. 10, 1854, coincidentally the date of the incorporation of Los Gatos. We're 100 years apart! Who knew that he would be the first one of us to be on Los Gatos soil!

Editor's Note: We asked and you answered ... more than a dozen stories and poems about Los Gatos have been shared with us on our Los Gatos Jubilee Facebook page, or at the end of posts on this site for publication beginning Aug. 10, 2012, in honor of the town's quasquicentennial celebration. This is the sixth submission written by Los Gatos resident Irene Aida Garza-Ortiz, paying homage to the town we all love so much on We're joining the Museums of Los Gatos StoryShare project and sharing with them your contributions here.