"Chapter 01: A Family that Modeled Service to Others" by Louise Villejo and Tacey A. Rosolowski PhD
 
Chapter 01: A Family that Modeled Service to Others

Chapter 01: A Family that Modeled Service to Others

Error loading player: No playable sources found
 

Description

Ms. Villejo sketches her family background and early education at Catholic Schools and the grounding this gave her in faith and values. She explains that her mother, in particular, provided her with a model of service to others.

Identifier

VillejoL_01_20150507_C01

Publication Date

5-7-2015

City

Houston, Texas

Topics Covered

The Interview Subject's Story - Personal Background; Character, Values, Beliefs,Talents; Personal Background; Influences from People and LifeExperiences; Faith

Transcript

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

All right. We are recording. I’m Tacey Ann Rosolowski. And today I’m interviewing Louise Villejo for the Making Cancer History Voices Oral History Project run by the Research Medical Library at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Ms. Villejo came to MD Anderson in 1982. Is that correct?

Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:

Mm-hmm.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

OK. As a health educator in the Patient Education Office. From 2004 until her retirement this year she served as executive director of the Patient Education Office. This session is being held in the Reading Room of the Historical Resources Center on the twenty-first floor of Pickens Tower on the main campus of MD Anderson. And this is the first of two planned interview sessions. Today is May 7th, 2015. And our time is about twelve minutes after 1:00. So thank you for joining me this afternoon.

Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:

You’re welcome. Pleasure.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

So I wanted to start, as I said I would, in a traditional place, which is tell me where you were born and when, and tell me a little bit about your family background.

Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:

OK. Well, I was born in San Antonio, Texas, but we soon moved to Houston.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

What was the date?

Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:

April 3rd. And so my father got a job at Brown and Root, what used to be Brown and Root. And so we moved here to Houston.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

What did your dad do?

Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:

My dad was an engineer, worked as an engineer. And so we moved here. And my mother was a stay-at-home mom. And I have an older brother. He’s two years older than me. So he was five and I was three when we moved here.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

So you’re kind of a Houstonian.

Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:

Kind of a Houstonian. I’ve lived a couple of other places, but came back here. I didn’t want to move back to Houston back then when I did, but couldn’t pass up a job at MD Anderson.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

Tell me a little bit about your education and how your interests were evolving when you were a young person.

Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:

OK. Well, I went to Catholic schools for almost twelve years. I grew up just right down the street in Third Ward and went to Saint Peter the Apostle Catholic School first through eighth grade. And it was I think a very good experience because it was a community, when people form those in their religious education or their neighborhoods or their small cities. But it was a great community. Still friends with a number of people that I went to school with. Of course my mom was very involved in the school and volunteered in the library. So I loved that. I mentioned to you I liked autobiography and biography, so I read that whole section. And she was also my girl scout leader. So I’m still very involved with the girl scouts. I think that’s a great opportunity for young girls. They provide so many resources and so forth.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

Can I ask? Why did your family decide to send you to Catholic school?

Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:

Well, they were both Catholic, but they did go to public schools. I’m not sure why the first decision was made. But it definitely as I mentioned became a community of friends and family. My mother was more religious than my father but yeah, that’s a good question. I know in my high school years my mom thought that that would be a good way to keep me in line (laughter) so she sent me to an all-girl Catholic high school.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

And actually you didn’t mention your birth year.

Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:

Oh, 1953.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

Nineteen fifty-three, OK. And the reason I asked, because for some people their spiritual religious tradition is actually very important. And I was wondering if that is the case for you.

Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:

It definitely formed my values.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

How so?

Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:

Well, when you learn, when you have a religious education, my case a Catholic education, I really became really enmeshed in I think Matthew 25 is a good one to ground in, and that’s whatever you do for the least of my children. And so for me, and I think I’ll mention girl scouts again. They have the same thing. You’re doing it. It’s kind of servant leadership. And so when you’re young that really helps form your values. Probably when you’re older too. But that was my experience as a young person. You really think about maybe that you have benefited. From those that are given much much is expected. And I truly believe that. Especially when you look around here at MD Anderson, you might think you have problems, and then you just have to walk out of the door of your office and see that you’re doing pretty good, and whatever you can do to help relieve the burden of people—

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

It sounds though as though through your mother certainly there was this model of providing service.

Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:

Absolutely.

Tacey Ann Rosolowski, PhD:

And then—I mean I don’t want to put words in your mouth. But that’s what I’m visualizing as you’re sketching this early experience. And then through your educational experience there were all of these models that also began offering that as an important pathway for life.

Louise Villejo, MPH, MCHES:

Absolutely, absolutely. And my father was also involved in providing service. He did it more through sports and being really involved with my brothers and being involved in scouts also and being a scout leader too. And so he felt very strongly about that community and helping support kids. It used to be it takes a village. And a village changes so much these days that it’s not the same that it used to be, in a lot of areas. In a lot of areas obviously it still is. But yes, I definitely saw that from both of my parents.

Conditions Governing Access

Open

Chapter 01: A Family that Modeled Service to Others

Share

COinS