Garza, Gonzalo

Dr. Gonzalo Garza is a Central Texas educator and former marine. One of nine children, he was born January 10, 1927 in New Braunfels, Texas, to Carlos Garza and Victoria Gonzalez Garza. The son of Mexican American migrant workers, Garza did not begin formal schooling until he was ten years old. At one point, he attended eleven schools in a four years before eventually dropping out of Northside Junior High in Corpus Christi, TX at the age of 17 to join the United States Marine Corps in 1944. He participated in the Japanese campaign before he was honorably discharged in 1946.

Upon his return to the United States, Gonzalo Garza had a new dedication to his education, earned his General Equivalency Diploma, and enrolled in Del Mar Junior College in Corpus Christi. He was two years into a Bachelor of Arts program in Education at St. Mary's University in San Antonio when he was recalled to service in the Marines in 1951 during the Korean War. He earned many honors for his military service, including the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. After another honorable discharge, Garza completed his bachelor's degree and received a Master of Science in Education from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio in 1954. At this time, he married Dolores Scott.

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