Conversation Summary: Alfonso's Life Journey from Pre-Modern Poverty to Educational Leadership

Overview

On Thanksgiving Day 2025, Alfonso Obregon (77) picked up Gary Sheng from Schertz and drove him to his daughter Ida Villavicencio's home for Thanksgiving dinner. During the hour-long car ride and subsequent conversation at the house, Alfonso shared his extraordinary life story - from growing up without running water or electricity in 1940s Texas to becoming a school superintendent for 33 years. The conversation wove together personal history, political analysis, religious philosophy, and social critique, with Alfonso demonstrating remarkable memory and storytelling ability while contextualizing his experience within broader historical patterns.

Key Topics Discussed

Growing Up in Pre-Modern America (1947-1957)

Life Without Basic Infrastructure:

• "We didn't have anything. We had a big room that had a few beds and a kitchen. We had no running water."
• Family had to travel 5 miles with a tank to collect water from windmill weekly: "That was the water we would use for the week to drink, to cook"
• No indoor plumbing: "In the back of our home, about a hundred feet away, we had what we called an outhouse"
• No toilet paper: Father would "get paper from somewhere and make little bitty bollies of paper"
• Saturday sponge baths only: "My mom, in a bucket and give us a sponge bath... That's it"

The Question of Missing What You Never Had:

• "How do you miss it if you don't have it? You don't miss it. How do you miss a refrigerator if you've never seen one?"
• "We thought everything was normal"
• Community survival through "barbery" system - sharing meat since no refrigeration existed

First Modern Technologies:

• 1954: First television in community (RCA, two channels): "10, 15 kids... never seen a TV"
• Learned from cartoons: "How to behave. How to tell jokes. Their little gestures"
• First phone (1954-55): Migrant workers paid quarters for 3-minute long-distance calls
• No electricity until 1952: "Just a bulb in the center of the living room"

The Meaning of "Hog Heaven"

Alfonso explained this pivotal cultural concept:

• "Hog heaven is because in the early 50s, everybody was poor and you couldn't eat. And when you get a hog, boy, you slaughter it"
• Lists the feast: "Chicharrones with meat... refried beans... bacon... ham"
• "You're in heaven when you're eating like that. Minorities, poor people, seldom would eat hog"
• Applied to modern America: "Right now, for society here... we're in hog heaven. We have everything"

Historical Patterns of Power and Exploitation

The Catholic Church's Survival Strategy:

• "Why did the Catholic church survive 2,000 years? ... At every point, they would join the political system"
• "The Pope told the conquerors... The only way we're going to conquer those lands is for people to submit... If they don't, kill them"
• "25 million people died in Central America because they wouldn't submit"

Colonial Conquest Reality:

• "Columbus, Santa Maria, Pinta, Mayflower... they had the cross from a priest"
• "They came in to conquer a land. They didn't care about the people. They wanted the resources, minerals"
• Modern parallel: "What are we doing in Ukraine right now? Ukraine! Russia wants all the minerals"

Race and American History

Native American Genocide:

• Government position: "These Indians, they're just savages. They're not even human"
• "Catholic Church says, yeah, they're not human. Kill them all"
• Cultural indoctrination: "We were playing cowboys and Indians, and we'd kill the Indians. Because that's what I learned"
• Reservations: "Put them in reservations. Like in pens. Like animals"

Slavery's Ongoing Legacy:

• Detailed sexual exploitation: "The pretty little slaves... the landowner would get them to their bedroom. The wives knew"
• Genetic impact: "That's why you see very light, fair-minded Negroes... The whites raped our grandmother"
• Current reality: "Now we're smarter than you. Healthier than you. We can outwit you and outfox you"

Persistent Segregation:

• "Even right now, as we speak, you don't mix. The whites stay with the whites. And the money stays with the whites"
• Mexico's structure: "You see the white guys, white girls, blue eyes. They're Mexicans... Spaniards... Do they mix? No"
• Economic reality: "1% only at the top... Those are the ones we see in McAllen"

Religious Philosophy and Critique

True Christianity vs. Prosperity Gospel:

• Jesus's call: "Drop your nets. You don't need them anymore... Follow me. If you don't follow him, you ain't going up there"
• Biblical mandates: "I was an immigrant. I went into a foreign land. You fed me... Help the poor. Help the oppressed. Assist them and protect them. Help the widow"
• "Those aren't just words. People can articulate them. But can you live them?"

Joel Osteen and Houston Floods:

• "$65 million in the bank"
• "People were dying. They couldn't go anywhere. He didn't open up his doors"
• Only opened after public pressure: "Five days later, he opened up the doors"
• "He didn't want the poor to go in... Just wanted them on Sunday morning, 'Give me your cash, buddy'"

Christian Nationalism Critique:

• Alfonso: "Christian Nationalist... I think it's wrong. Using Christianity to perpetuate something"
• "Politicians do that as a shield... 'Oh no, we love children' - bunch of pedophiles"
• Hypocrisy: "'Abortion is bad' - get their daughters and sisters abortions"

Contemporary Political Analysis

January 6th Insurrection:

• "That insurrection was an attack on America"
• "Juries... convicted 1,600 people... quality jurors made up of men, women, Methodists, Catholics, black, white"
• "What does this guy do when he shows up? Frees them all... 'You're okay, boy. You're okay, my boy'"

Legitimization of Extremism:

• "This has legitimized all what has been bad of America"
• "Brought out the proud boys... Ku Klux Klan... All the people that hate minorities"
• "Now we're legitimate, man. Who says? The main man. If he can do it, we can do it"

Government Corruption Example:

• Referenced $400 million plane gift: "No, sir, I'm a government official... I can't accept it"
• "It's his plane. He took it"
• Contrast with his superintendent ethics: "We couldn't take a pin... That'll get you fired, indicted, and in jail"

Education and Literacy Crisis

Reading and Comprehension:

• "90% of the people don't read. That's established fact out of the best universities"
• "Those that do read... don't comprehend"
• Bloom's Taxonomy explanation: "10 areas... recall... analysis and synthesis and evaluation"
• "Only a half or 1% can do that... I think you're one of them, based on what Ida tells me"

Family History and Values

Father's Wisdom:

• Only 3 days of formal education but "smarter than smart"
• "Built a farm, had a farm, knew everything about agriculture"
• "He learned English on his own... perfect English. And beat them at their own game"
• Perspective: "Out here, we have all these things. We're not poor. We're rich"

Alfonso's Career Achievement:

• Rose from extreme poverty to school superintendent for 33 years
• Strict ethics: "One thing we couldn't take... a pin, or a cent from a company"
• Musical prodigy: Played piano, guitar, drums by ear since childhood

Connection to Gary:

• About Ida: "Out of my four kids, Ida is the only one that's kind of like me... carbon copy"
• Gary's "spiritual adoption" into family - first non-family member invited to Thanksgiving

Key Quotes

On Historical Perspective:

• "I've seen the biggest change, like, in history... History is slow moving. It takes 100 years to do what we're doing here now"
• "You can't cut, you can't touch one without the other" (political, economic, social, religious factors)
• "To the victors belong the spoils. If you win the war, you're in charge"

On Survival:

• "You gotta hustle. You gotta be always, daily, hourly, on the alert and learning"
• "How do you beat somebody at their own game?"

On Modern America:

• "Here, we're spoiled. We're spoiled brats... We have access to everything and anything. Even the poor"
• About global inequality: "Seven billion people... Only the rich have access to all of this"

On Faith:

• "The meaning of life is to serve God"
• "If you don't follow the teachings and live that, you're doomed. But even preachers will not talk about that. They're afraid"

On Power and Money:

• "Money breeds money. And that's the way it is"
• "To get that high, your God is the money"

Action Items / Takeaways

• Alfonso's life represents a bridge between pre-modern and modern America, offering unique historical perspective
• His analysis connects historical patterns of exploitation to contemporary politics
• The concept of "hog heaven" encapsulates both historical deprivation and current American abundance
• His critique of prosperity gospel and Christian nationalism comes from deep faith perspective
• Education transformed his life despite starting from extreme poverty
• Family connection solidified through Gary's "spiritual adoption" by Ida and Jesus
• Alfonso recognizes Gary as part of the "1%" who can truly analyze and synthesize information

Family Thanksgiving Context

The conversation continued at Ida's house where:

• Alfonso introduced Gary to family dogs (four small dogs)
• Ida had spent a week preparing the house and food
• First family hosting in years after Alfonso's mother passed
• Extended family expected including niece from Austin with marketing degree
• Gary struggled with WiFi passwords (Archie1213, QuaintZone921, Batman1213)
• Warm family atmosphere despite being Gary's first invitation to family gathering

Historical Wisdom Applied to Present

Alfonso's extraordinary life journey from 1940s rural poverty to educational leadership provides him a unique lens for understanding contemporary America. His ability to connect personal experience to broader historical patterns - from Spanish conquest to modern political movements - offers profound insights into recurring themes of power, exploitation, and resistance. His continuing sharp intellect at 77 and willingness to share unvarnished historical truth makes him a valuable repository of lived history and wisdom for the next generation, particularly for Gary as he joins the Villavicencio family circle.