Clotilde Pérez García

García was born on January 9, 1917, in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico.^[1] Her father was college professor José García and her mother was school teacher Faustina Pérez García.^[2][1] García had six siblings, among them Hector P. García, who became a civil rights activist. She was the fourth of the seven children.^[1]

The same year García was born her family fled the violence of the Mexican Revolution, eventually settling in Mercedes, Texas, in 1918, where they had other family. Her parents opened a dry goods store. They continued to emphasize the importance of learning, and enriched their children's schoolwork with additional studies in the evenings.^[1] Their father encouraged them to become doctors, because, as García recalled: “[H]e said it was the only way you could be independent and serve humanity.’’^[3] Ultimately, six of the seven siblings studied medicine.^[1][3]

Post-secondary schooling did not come all at once for García, however. In 1934, she graduated from Mercedes High School.^[3] García received an associate degree in 1936 from Edinburg Junior College (now part of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley), then attended the University of Texas in Austin, graduating with a bachelor's degree in pre-med, zoology, and chemistry in 1938. She then returned home to support her family by teaching at several schools in South Texas through the 1940s. She later returned to study at the University of Texas, earning a master's in education in 1950.^[1]

García graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1954—one of only seven women and the only Mexican-American woman in her class.^[1] She was among the first Mexican-American women to become a physician in Texas.^[4] She completed her internship at Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital and then opened a private practice.^[1] She was one of two women physicians practicing in Corpus Christi after she graduated, as well as one of only 5 Hispanic doctors in the region south of San Antonio.^[5]

She engaged in numerous medical activities, such as surgery, hospital and office visits, and house calls. However, delivering babies was one of her greatest strengths as a doctor. Garcia delivered over 10,000 babies throughout the course of her career, and many of these children were named Cleo.^[5] She often cared for patients who could not afford care, especially impoverished mothers.^[3] Garcia educated mothers on the importance of nutrition, hygiene, and preventative care. She retired from medicine in 1994.^[1]

García studied and promoted South Texas history, North Mexico history, and Hispanic genealogy.^[1] Her genealogy work in Northern Mexico pertained to the Nuevo Santander province.^[5] In recognition of her efforts, in 1990 she was awarded the Royal American Order of Isabella the Catholic by Juan Carlos I of Spain.^[1]

García published a translated account of the 1812 Siege of Camargo, and eight other books on local historical figures such as José Nicolás Ballí, Blas María de la Garza Falcón and Enrique Villareal.^[1] In 1987 she co-founded and served as the first president of the Spanish American Genealogical Association.^[1] In 1986, Garcia donated many of her personal books about Hispanic genealogy to the Corpus Christi Public Library system.^[2] García's collection of historical writings are currently housed at the Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi.^[6]