Donna Johnson grew up on the same Evanston block as the nine children of Dr. Jorge and Luz Maria Prieto, who were honored in Evanston Saturday as a community center was named for them.
“The Prieto family home was the gathering place where everyone was welcome,” said Johnson, a longtime former Evanston resident who is now the mayor of Libertyville. “The Prietos provided a clear example of the kinds of things we need to admire in this country and practice in our value system – inclusion, service, family and prayer.”
Johnson was among a half-dozen speakers who celebrated the Prietos as Evanston marked the official naming of the Dr. Jorge and Luz Maria Prieto Community Center, 430 Asbury Ave., on July 19.
“This is not just the dedication of a name on a building,” she said. “It is far more important than that. It is the continuation of a legacy of two wonderful people whose lives not only impacted the lives of their nine children and grandchildren, but my life and that of so many in this community, Chicago and Mexico.”
Dr. Jorge Prieto, who served as president of the Chicago Board of Health in the 1980s and also as a Cook County Hospital department head, was celebrated as a generous physician who treated members of the community regardless of income, opened health clinics in Chicago and traveled to California to treat migrant workers.
“He was a quiet, unassuming man who nonetheless found himself at the forefront of medical, immigrant and workers’ rights causes,” said his 2001 Chicago Tribune obituary.
“He became an icon for a generation of Mexican-Americans living in Chicago, a city that at the time barely recognized their existence, let alone provided for it.”
On Saturday, Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss called the naming of the community center a “joyous occasion.”
“This is a wonderful moment to celebrate a family that did so much for the health and welfare of the community and did so much for the integration of Evanston,” Biss said. “They paved the way for Latino families to come to Evanston.”
Biss said the 14,500-square-foot community center, which will provide recreation such as pickleball courts and drop-in play areas, is a much-needed facility where youth and the rest of the Evanston community can gather.
“This sense of community is what makes Evanston so great,” he said. “I’m excited about what the facility is going to be and remain for the citizens of Evanston.”
Jeanne Fox, former head of the Evanston Mental Health Board, said Luz Maria Prieto served as the petite but powerful leader of the city’s efforts to diversify its staff to begin to accommodate the needs of Latino residents.
“She was an eloquent, passionate speaker,” Fox said. “She spoke about the needs of Latino residents. In 1975, Evanston had no one in city services who spoke Spanish.”
After appealing to the City Council at three consecutive meetings, Evanston found the funding to hire a Latino outreach coordinator, she said.
“I was assigned to help her accomplish her goals,” Fox said. “There were many challenges to overcome, but there were many successes, too. Today, many of the services that were achieved are part of regular city services.”
Two of the Prietos’ children thanked Evanston for the dedication.
One of the couple’s sons, Dr. Jorge Prieto, Jr. agreed with other speakers that his parents did not choose their actions for their own benefit, but rather to improve the lives of others.
“They would never have sought this honor themselves, for their goals were never personal rewards or wealth,” Prieto said. “They abhorred those who would benefit from the suffering of others. They sought to eliminate the inequities that led to that suffering.”
His parents were exiled from Mexico by a “corrupt” president, Prieto said. His father grew up in Texas and California during the Depression, he said.
“He experienced life firsthand as an impoverished immigrant,” Prieto said. “When my parents first moved to Chicago in the middle of the last century, this young Mexican couple experienced the discrimination that was so prevalent then and unfortunately still exists. They moved to Evanston because they sought better opportunities for their growing family.”
Daughter Luz Maria Prieto shared a story of her father providing medical treatment to a man who could not afford to go to a doctor.
“For our family, this story captures how my family worked as a team and my father practiced medicine,” Prieto said. “He believed everyone deserved medical care regardless of their income.”