
By Vincent Valdez
In July of 2015 I was contacted by Julian Torres, a Historical Researcher and Graphic Design Consultant from Wells Fargo in San Francisco. He said they were designing historical murals to be displayed in their banks in Des Moines.
Artículo en Español
He needed some input and photos about the Hispanic Community in and around Des Moines for a mural that was going to be displayed here. I sent him some photos depicting the Mexican community in West Des Moines (Valley Junction at the time) for his review.
He picked one of the photos for one of the murals. That photo was of my mother on her 16th birthday standing in front of her home with my grandmother Victorina and my grandfather Jesse Fernandez.
This mural is now presented at the downtown main bank in the lobby and also in their suite in the Wells Fargo Arena.
We were invited to lunch and a presentation of the mural and a replica for my mother.
It was a very proud day for her, my siblings Rick DeAngelo, Rebecca Swanger and my brother in law Michael Swanger.
I want to thank Marta Codina, Regional Banking Area President and her colleagues for making this day so special for us and for creating this mural.
The photos were taken by my brother in law Michael.
