pluralistic identity

1. By: Evan Davila

2. EDWARD W. HEUSINGER TEOLINDA BRUNI
 1870-1951
 Second generation owner of Heusinger
Hardware, as well as a livery stable
which contributed to agriculture by
taking care of horses which were the
primary transportation at the time. Also
was in the shipping business,
transporting grains and other Ag goods.
 Born in San Antonio, Tx
 “I don’t remember ever seeing him out
of a suit and tie, his idea of dressing
down was taking his suit coat off when
he got home”-Felix Heusinger, 11/14/14
 1886-1951
 Born in San Antonio, Tx
 Her grandparents were Canary
Islanders, immigrants who were
some of the first settlers of Bexar,
which is now San Antonio.

3. EDWARD F. HEUSINGER ROSEMARIE VALINE
 1896-1966
 Born in San Antonio, Tx
 Third generation of Heusinger
Hardware
 Fought in World War One
 Full German ancestry
 1910-2007
 Born in Mogollon, New Mexico
 Although full German, and white
with blue eyes, spoke Spanish
before learning English due to her
growing up in a Spanish speaking
culture of the Mogollon mountains.
Her father was a miner.
 Moved to San Antonio, Tx in her
teens
 Was a traditional housewife

4. FELIX HEUSINGER MARY JANE
 1939-present
 Born: San Antonio, Tx
 Full German descent
 Graduated from St. Louis University with
psych degree
 Operated Heusinger Hardware until 1984
 Ag influence: Started a cattle ranch in 1978
that he still owns today. Also manages
wildlife on the property, mostly deer. First
member in his family to own a direct Ag
business.
 Second generation to grow up in Alamo
Heights in San Antonio, which is traditionally
where established upper class families live.
 Religion:Catholic
 1944-present
 Born: San Antonio, Tx
 Full Czech descent, her parents were
immigrants from Czechoslovakia that
migrated because of better economic
opportunity in the United States
 Graduated from UTSA
 Felix and Mary Jane wanted to maintain
traditional gender roles so she never had a
job, but maintained the household and raised
all 4 children
 Religion:Catholic

5. CHRISTINE HEUSINGER TODD DAVILA
 1964-2003
 Born in San Antonio Tx
 Half German half Czec descent
 Did not attend college
 Professional photographer
 Although not a career dealing directly with
Ag, the majority of photoshoots were in a
nature setting. An example is the Mcnay in
San Antonio, which is a very manicured Art
facility that includes trees, shrubs, flowers,
and other plant life that is hand picked and
expertly maintained to provide aesthetic
appeal.
 Also was big in 4-H, grew up on a farm with
many animals, and grew up competing in
equestrian.
 1964-present
 Born on Chambley-Busierres Air Force Base
in France
 Half Spanish Half Engish descent
 Waylond Baptist University graduate
 Religion:Baptist, did not convert to Catholic
 Has for HEB grocery company for 31 years
and is now a supply chain and procurement
manager
 “HEB has a large influence on agriculture,
whether it be Texas sourced meats to
globally sourced fruits and vegetables. HEB
sells over 10 billion dollars worth of Ag
products a year” –Todd Davila, November
26,2014

6.  1990-present
 Born in San Antonio Tx
 Graduating from Texas A&M
 One quarter German, Czech, Spanish, and English descent
 Worked for HEB grocery for 6 years, selling many Agricultural products.
 Was raised Catholic, every family member from my mother’s side of the family has
been Catholic.
 I grew up on a ranch, learning to ride horses before I can remember. I raised chickens
and cattle, and cattle were a big part of my childhood as I learned to work them on
horseback competitively. My sport of working cattle came from Texas roots where
working cattle was a means to survival. Before there were fences, driving cattle was
still the only means to get herds from pasture to markets up north. These skills were
given to me from Felix Heusinger, who taught my mother how to ride when she was
young and bought me my first horse when I was only 3 years old.

7.  Parents: upper middle class
 Grandparents: upper class
 Great grandparents: upper class
 Heusinger Hardware was one of the oldest businesses in downtown
San Antonio. Dating back to 1874. There are still pictures of it in the
San Antonio museum today. It’s success allowed my family from my
mother’s side to enjoy upper class life, and every generation since
the fourth generation had the opportunity to attend institutions of
higher learning if they desired.

8.  Great Grandparents
 Grandparents
Both generations shared traditional gender roles, the men went
to work to provide for the family, while the wife stayed at home
and took care of cooking, cleaning, and raised the children. “I
was adamant that your grandmother would never have to work a
traditional job, and that I would not have to take care of
household chores. Being a stay at home mom was her full time
job” –Felix Heusinger 11/07/14
-Parents: Did not share traditional gender roles as my mother had a career in
photography and my father worked full time for HEB. Both worked as well as
raised the children. They also made decisions together.

9.  Entire maternal family has been practicing Roman Catholic.
 While though early generations were extremely strict in following every
guideline set by the church, my Mother was the first to marry a non-Catholic
as my father is Baptist. This was a big deal as just a generation earlier my
great Aunt was forbidden to marry her then boyfriend Bartel Zachry Jr. of the
Zachry construction empire because he was not a practicing Catholic.

10.  Maternal family believes higher education is extremely important. My mother
was the only child of four not to receive her degree. Although she was
Valedictorian of her high school, she decided college was not for her as she
desired to pursue art in photography. My grandfather Felix considered this a
failure as a parent for years, until he finally settled on the idea that
photography made her happy and could be a career.
 Grandparents still put all of their grandchildren in private school, and push
them towards going to college. Private school allows the combination of
smaller learning environment as well as strengthening core values of our
religious faith.

11.  I would say the largest contribution
my maternal family made to
agriculture was Heusinger
Hardware and its related
businesses. It was a four
generation company from 1874-
1984. They would supply grains,
transportation, tools, hardware,
and raw materials that were used
not only for houses but barns,
fences, and other ag facilities.

12.  Texan
 Aggie
 Male
 Spanish
 German
 Equestrian
 Catholic
 Athlete
 Czrch
 English
 Millennial
 ALED Major
 HEB