Mendive. Revista de Educación, July-august 2020; 18(3):718-721

Translated from the original in Spanish

Luz María Herrera Travieso, a pedagogue with an innate capacity to sculpt souls

Luz María Herrera Travieso, una pedagoga con capacidad innata para esculpir almas

Luz María Herrera Travieso, uma pedagoga com capacidade inata de esculpir almas

María del Carmen Herrera de la Uz

Universidad de Ciencias Médicas de Pinar del Río. ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1204-7335, E-mail: marydelauz@nauta.cu

Luz María Herrera Travieso was born on August 11, 1940 in Guanajay, belonging, at that time, to the province of Pinar del Río. She was the second of the four children of Gustavo Humberto Herrera Hernández, a barber by profession, who had a strong influence on her life, as he was a virtuous man, self-taught and with deeply rooted moral principles, and Roselia Travieso Morales, tailor by trade, woman tireless, humble, which empathy and eloquence were admired by everybody.

He completed his first studies in his native city. Luly's inclination (as they all affectionately called her since she was little) for the letters is seen from childhood. Proof of this was the different medals obtained in the spelling and writing contests held during this stage. The principal of the Guanajay English Language Specialization Center, Miguel Menéndez, seeing his language learning skills, during his studies in Middle School, designated exchange activities with the students, until his graduation in the said center.

He enrolled at the Guanajay Normal School in 1955, as a prize for his ex- famous academic results. There he met an excellent teacher, Julio Ángel Carreras Collado Doctor of Pedagogy, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Havana, writer, poet and friend of his family, whose influence served as a paradigm in the discovery of his vocation.

She started working very young, in 1956, as a primary teacher in the private school "Academia Menéndez", which worked in the Guanajay Village, Maceo street between General Díaz and Zayas, simultaneously with her teaching studies. He achieved the title of Normal Teacher in August 1959.

Upon graduation, coinciding with the triumph of the Revolution, he taught elementary school at a multi -grade school on the "Finca de los Americanos" in his hometown. He joined the CDR and the FMC participating in the tasks assigned to the youth by the Revolution.

Her satisfactory results, when graduating as normalist's teacher allowed her to get a place in the career of Pedagogy of the University of Havana in 1960. He studied and approved the first year of it, but for family reasons, she could not complete her studies . However, she joined the Literacy Campaign in Guanajay as a popular literacy worker.

He married in 1961 and moved to Pinar del Río. Here she opened with her husband, graduate Antonio de la Uz Cubillas, the first state bookstore in the province, called Western Bookstore, belonging to the Cuban National Press, located on Martí and Colón streets and, later, administered it. During this stage, she participated with prominent intellectuals from the territory, such as Aldo Martínez Malo and Juan Ramón de la Portilla, among others, in the creation of the network of bookstores in the different municipalities of the province.

From 1961 to 1973, as part of her work at the provincial distributor of books and records, he developed an intense work of dissemination of literature, music and art in general, which contributed to the development of reading habits and of the aesthetic taste were taking root in the population. In addition, she participated in the analysis, synthesis and evaluation of outstanding literary works.

In 1973, she was appointed secretary of the combatant Georgina Leyva Pagán, in the DESA Community Development Group, which attended to the social development of the new rural communities created by the Revolution.

She entered the Communist Party of Cuba in 1975. During this stage, she received courses in pedagogical improvement by Dr. Ricardo Sánchez and a shorthand and typing course by Professor José Ramón Herrera. In 1976, she enrolled at the Higher Pedagogical Institute of Pinar del Río (course for workers), in the Spanish specialty, being selected Outstanding Student of the Spanish- Literature Degree in the courses 1976-1977, 1977-1978 and 1978 -1979. She also enrolled the English subject at the School of Languages "Andres Bello", from which she graduated in 1980 being the best graduate of the year, which evidenced her passion for literature, learning and constant desire for improvement.

In 1978 she held the position of head of outreach and recruitment in the Provincial Sector of Education and Development of Children, belonging to the Children's Institute, until its merger with MINED in 1980, where she directed the recruitment of students in the province for the Training School for Educators of Children's Circles (EFECI), representing the Provincial Directorate for Education and Development of Children, before the Scholarship Commission and before the political and mass organizations .She also directed and released in coordination with the direction of the EFECI, parent education, the vocational training and vocational guidance, educational work in kindergartens, the management of courses and seminars guidance for educators circles children, most of whom had no qualifications and received continuous educational work. Likewise, it handled the reception and distribution of the Simientes Magazine.

From this year (1980), she began to work in the Provincial Directorate of Education as a Methodologist-Inspector of Extra scholar Education and Scholarships, a position she held until 1989. Here she attended the after-school education of the training systems until 6 ^to 9 ^no  and 12 grades, the control proceeds to the boarding and semi - boarding of Primary Education, preparation of municipal inspectors, retirements and transfers, revenues and capacities in the children circles and the interest circles  by selecting and address technical guides developed in the secondary schools.

At this stage she developed an active educational work in recruiting young people for the continuity of their studies, fundamentally, with those who for different reasons abandoned them, as well as the granting of scholarships for studies, both at home and abroad, the recruitment of talents and the monitoring of those who, due to social or family problems, were left out of the educational system.

In 1981, she graduated as Professor of Upper Secondary, Spanish Specialty, at the Higher Pedagogical Institute of Pinar del Río, but she continued her improvement with postgraduate courses, obtaining the corresponding credits in: Basic Course of Pedagogy, 1984; Art History, 1986; Direction of the teaching and learning process, 1988; Pedagogical Research Methodology, 1989.

Precisely, in the last year, for health reasons, she could not continue working and she retired, dedicating herself to the care of her family. He died on January 11, 2001, at the age of just 60, a victim of a painful illness.

In her personal and work career, he received recognitions such as: the status of Exemplary Father in Education and Outstanding CDR member for several years, Advanced Worker of the Five Years 1976-1980 and 1981- 1985 and Fulfiller of the Socialist Emulation in his years of labor. In 1988, the Provincial Directorate of Education of Pinar del Río recognized his 10 years of work as an Outstanding Board of Education. The Book and Literature Provincial Center of Pinar de Rio awarded her in 1992, the award Beginner of the Activity of the Book and Literature in Pinar de Rio, in 1999 an award for his outstanding work and career linked to the universe of the book and literature.

Importantly, she was greatly admired and loved by her family, coworkers, neighbors, and friends. Loving and devoted wife for 39 years, mother of three and grandmother, possessing extremely high moral values within which highlights humanism, selflessness, humility and progressive thinking that led her to make her way as a child at a difficult time, convulsive, ignorance and of discrimination against women. She was able to transmit her love for education, pedagogy and life to the generations of young people who surrounded her and her descendants, who graduates of different professions (graduates, doctors) they have all practiced, without exception, the teaching profession and they have linked education in different types of teaching. Those who knew her best assure that she had a "revealed wisdom" and an infinite capacity to sculpt souls.

Consulted sources:  Work File and an interview to Nestor Rodriguez Mauri, Professor of History Specialty Senior High, in the Pedagogical Institute of Pinar of the Rio. He was a Methodologist-Inspector of the Provincial Directorate of Education and was born in Guanajay in 1942.

Conflict of interest:

Authors declare not to have any conflict of interest.

Authors´ Contribution:

Authors participated in the writting process of this article and in the analysis of documents.

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