Consuelo Yepez

Consuelo Yepez was born in 1928 in NYC. Her parents took her and her brother, John to Spain in the 1930’s where she was raised and endured hardships and religious persecution during the Spanish Civil War. They returned to the US in 1947. She became a Spanish teacher at the Berlitz School of Languages, teaching notables such as Marlon Brando, Josephine Baker, Rod Sterling, and Jaqueline Cochran, the first aviatrix to break the sound barrier. There she met Gumersindo Yepez, married, and had two children, John and Mary in the 1950’s.

Perhaps it was her personal suffering of injustices that she experienced in Spain that made her very committed to activism. Consuelo Yepez marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in 1963, and she dedicated much time to the local Democratic Party in Chelsea. She was President of the Tenants Organization of Chelsea Houses in the 1960’s and 70’s, volunteering her time to improve services in her community. She also taught Spanish at the ILGWU and dearly loved the people there. She was an active member of the Heritage Baptist Church.

Consuelo Yepez will be missed by her family-children John and Mary, daughter in law, Cheryl, grandchildren Pamela and her husband Sergio Graziano, granddaughter  Elizabeth, and great grandchild Hannah. She leaves behind an example and legacy of service, sense of mission, and faith in God. May she rest in peace for all eternity.

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