Community Grand Marshal Elías Galván

So how do you define community? So many ways, including folks that gather together for a shared experience. October 9th over 600 folks in Pasadena will be a part of our parade.

This year we have two Community Grand Marshals; two individuals who were, and are, dedicated to education and literacy. Elías Galván and Ruth Cervera are this year's Grand Marshals.

Daughter Sharon Viadaure writes - Eliás Galván was raised in a traditional Mexican American family in the small rural village of Central, New Mexico which is nestled deep in the Rocky Mountains of the State.

In his desire to attend college he moved his growing family to Los Angeles, California in 1953. He began teaching in 1959 in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He has taught elementary, junior high, high school, and adult school and college level classes.

He, his wife Helen, and eight surviving children live in Pasadena, California. A middle daughter died in 2003 from the effects of Down syndrome.

Eliás graduated from Cal State Los Angeles, began teaching and participated in developing the program “Un Adventura Espanol” in the city of Pasadena. He was instrumental in developing and initiating English as a second language for the youngsters of Pasadena. In addition he served as Principal of John Muir High School.

In addition, he produced a television program that could provide Spanish speaking parent’s information that could help them to understand how the public school could help these parents help their students be successful in school. The television program was called, “Know Your Schools”; in Spanish, “Conozcan Sus Escuelas”. My father used knowledgeable school personnel that could provide this information via an interview format in a 30 minute television program