Home is where you dance, sew, and create community

Angelina Zavala is home, sitting in the lobby of Casitas de Villa Corona. It’s a Thursday, but Angelina is already looking forward to Sunday afternoon because every Sunday afternoon she goes dancing at The Royal Palace, two knee replacements be darned.

“I like dancing,” the 81-year-old says. “I like the music, especially Tejano.”

Angelina rises from the couch and begins imitating a couple of the Royal Palace regulars. “There’s a lady who dances with her walker,” she says, leaning and shuffling forward. “One man dances the polka by himself,” she says pirouetting gracefully, her left arm raised and her right arm placed on an imaginary partner’s back.

On a couch facing her, her neighbor Pete and his nurse laugh with Angelina, who is smiling as she sits down, pleased with her performance and happy to be at Casitas.

“This is home,” she says, her eyes sweeping the lobby. “Home sweet home.”

Her first home was the West Texas town of Brownfield. Her parents, migrant workers, moved the family to San Antonio in 1945. She married, moved to Chicago, and after 22 years still found it too cold. She moved back to San Antonio in 1984. Along the way, she had five children, 12 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Angelina worked as cook and baker at Kelly AFB and then as a cook at Christus Santa Rosa before retiring at 62.

Around Casitas, she’s known as “Spurs Lady” for her devotion to the Silver and Black. “I know when every game will be played and I watch every game,” she says. “I tell people if it’s an emergency, call 911.” While you may not call Angelina in an emergency, she’s a vital part of the close-knit Casitas community.

“Everyone here is friendly. We help each other.

I sew, make alterations and cook for others, and drive them if they need to go somewhere,” she says. “They have so much here like gardening, the walking trail, commodities, Meals on Wheels. If you need a nurse or provider they’ll help you get one.”

Gardening may be the most sedate of Angelina’s activities. “I like to stay active and go places,” she says. But sewing is her passion, her gift, and her therapy.

She makes Spurs memorabilia such as hats, pillows and aprons. She also creates quilts. She has made a special quilt for her 14-year-old granddaughter that she also wants to adorn her casket. But caskets and funerals are a long time away.

“I’m old but I’m not dead,” she says. “You tell them!” neighbor Pete says.

“When I can’t take care of myself I’m going to go to a nursing home and be the activity director,” she says. “I’m going to let them play Loteria.” It’s believable that Angelina would be a free-spirited activities director.

What’s not so believable is that Angelina would ever leave Casitas de Villa Corona. Sitting back with a smile, she says, “This is my home.”