My Journey

By Susan Marsland

How the sacrifices of my family paved the way to where I am today

I have been married to my husband, David, for 32 years. We are proud to have raised four sons of principle and character right here in San José. Our sons, John, Joshua, Christopher, and Sean, who are young men now, embody the values of family and community involvement that we instilled in them. These values stretch across generations. The opportunities that my sons enjoy today are the result of years of sacrifices by our ancestors from the time they first arrived in this country in search of the American Dream.

My great grandmother, Gloria Pacheco, emigrated from San Miguel Island, off the coast of Portugal, and settled in Fall River, Massachusetts. As many young women did at that time, she worked in the textile mills. Gloria's daughter, Mary Pacheco Lopes, worked in the cranberry bogs of Carver and Wareham from a young age to help the family make ends meet. There, she met my grandfather, Manuel.

Manuel Rezendes left the Portuguese island of Fogo in 1917 and arrived in New Bedford, Massachusetts, aboard the schooner Ernestina. He could read and write Portuguese and placed a high value on education. A man with a strong work ethic, Manuel worked in construction, refusing handouts during the Great Depression because he believed in an honest day's labor.

Toiling for countless hours, Mary and Manuel scraped together enough money to buy a home, and later acreage for planting strawberries. I have vivid childhood memories of helping my grandparents work their fields during humid East Coast summers. I learned at an early age that's what families do -- they help one another.

The sacrifices of my Grandma Mary and Grandpa Manuel resonated in my mother, Josephine Rezendes, and my father, Melvin Gonsalves. They dedicated themselves to their family, throwing open doors of opportunity for my siblings and I. Their constant encouragement of my education inspired me to become the first member of our family to graduate from college, leading the way for all of my siblings to do the same. For my parents and grandparents, this was the realization of a lifelong dream they were unable to achieve for themselves.

I am the keeper of that dream -- a dream in which we leave our children a legacy of opportunity greater than the one we inherited. This dream is why my ancestors came to this country. It's why they could justify working so hard for so many years. It's why I have committed my life to working for the good of our community. My ancestors would expect nothing less of me.

Today, I am running for City Council in District 1 to help nurture this dream across our community and our city. I humbly ask for your support and hope that you will join me on this journey.