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Contreras Family
Topics: Bakersfield, Araujo, Contreras, Tehachapi
Posted by admin Tue Aug 28, 2007 13:44:03 PDT
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0 responses 0 comments When Carmelita Araujo married Vicente Contreras in 1889 in Tehachapi, neither one could have foreseen their legacy in Kern County.

The Contrerases had 12 children — unfortunately, one died during infancy. These children grew up, married and started their own families in Kern.

Dolores “Dee” Gonzales’ mother, Anita, was one of those children making Gonzales one of the grandchildren of the Araujo-Contreras union.

Next weekend, on Sept. 1 and 2, Gonzales will be among the more than 500 Contreras family members attending the 11th annual Contreras Family Reunion at the Kern County Fairgrounds.

The Contreras family is on its seventh generation in Kern.

In Gonzales’ immediate family, there are five generations. She has a son Jeff, 44, and a granddaughter, Danielle, 26, who’s in the Navy.

Gonzales works as an interpreter for the local courthouse, as well as doctors.

The idea of a family reunion came at Gonzales’ nephew, Kenny Behill’s wedding in 1978. Gonzales’ brother, Robert “Budgy” Sanchez, and first-cousins, Claude and Richard, realized the families only got together during weddings and at funerals.

Claude told his cousins to come over his house the following weekend and the primo hermanos (first cousins) decided to start the Contreras Family Reunion.

“I was among the group of cousins who came up with the idea. We’ve been busy ever since,” said Gonzales. “Most people get here on Thursday night or Friday, they help with last-minute things, we have our reunion on Saturday and Sunday, and on Monday, we’re saying our goodbyes. It’s a four-day event.”

Originally, the family would hold their reunion yearly, but the planning and getting everyone back together in a year’s time became too much of a hassle, so the family opted for having their reunion every three years.

Although the Contreras family prides itself in the fact many of its members still live in Bakersfield or Kern County, some other relatives live as far away as England and Denmark.

Planning takes a lot of hard work, but it’s not too bad for the descents of cowboys. Each tio’s familia is in charge of something, whether it’s decorating, music, games or clean-up.

“We come together to make this work,” said Bernard “Humphrey” Alvarez, Gonzales’ second cousin. “Everyone has a great time.”

Alvarez has worked at Von’s as a manager for more than 20 years.

Activities include a family T-shirt contest, volleyball, tug of war, ski races, a talent show and sack races. The event will begin with a Mass at St. Joseph’s Church and the first-ever color parade for the Contreras reunion, and when the T-shirts will be judged.

The descendants from the each of the original Contreras siblings has a symbolic color in honor of them. It also helps family explain, how each they’re related. The colors include, blue, green, maroon, coral, orange, red, orchids and yellow.

“My tio, Vicente ‘Pee Wee’ came up with the color idea. He got a box out of Crayolas and told us to pick a color,” said Gonzales. “We could choose any color we wanted, but not brown, black, white or gray.”

During the color parade, annual king(s) and queen(s) of the event will walk in front of the line. Kings and queens are usually the elders in the family.

This year, Gonzales will be queen and her cousins, Buddy Sanchez and Art Contreras, will be the kings. Their wives will hold out their cape that displays all the colors in the Contreras family.

Art, 77, who served in the Korean War and is a retired painter, said what makes this reunion so special is the strong family values for the Contrerases.

“People are surprised that we can all come together and make this celebration work. We’re just usually just so happy to be together. If one of our children gets fussy or starts fighting, it’s the parents’ responsibility to send them home,” he said. “We’ll go up to them and say, ‘It time for you to go home and that’s that.’”

The first day of the reunion is family potluck, but on Sunday, it’s the men’s turn to cook. The day begins with some hot and fresh menudo, then the men barbecue.

“It’s going to be a time of a lot of drinking and a lot of eating,” said Gonzales. “We’re going to have games and activities for all ages of the family.”

On various marriage licenses of Contreras members, the men list their as “cowboy.” Gonzales said her tios still like to work the land and she remembers helping her mother cook for sheep herders and sheep shearers.

Now, many Contreras family members are teachers or paralegals.

Gonzales’ mother, Anita, and her sister, Theodosia, each married the Sanchez brothers.

“They were both Sanchezes’,” said Gonzales, with a laugh. “Yeah, some those cousins looked very much alike.”

The Contreras family isn’t only about having a good time, but helping their community as well.

Every year, they host several fundraising events, including a yard sale, a Spring Dance and a New Year’s Eve Dance. This year, they gave 15, $500 scholarships to local graduating high school students.

During the reunion, there will be an auction and all proceeds will go to the Contreras scholarship fund.

“As much as we love to get together as a family, we feel as a family, it’s important to give back to our community” Alvarez said

Although Gonzales is one of the elders in the Contreras family, she shows no signs of stopping.

In fact, Gonzales is already thinking about ideas for the 2011 reunion.

Gonzales’ main motivation — her family and its history.

“It’s good to know your family and where you came from,” said Gonzales. “It’s who you are.”

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