Riverside Women Creating Change mourns the loss of Ofelia Valdez-Yeager, a champion for Riverside whose contributions are visible — in the Cesar Chavez memorial and the Cheech — and far-reaching in the countless RUSD and UCR students whose lives she touched and through her family. Her legacy of community and change-making will inspire and endure.
It was a pleasure to interview Ofelia as part of this project in 2020. Since we began work on Riverside Women Creating Change, some of the women interviewed — Nancy Takano, Jennifer Vaughn-Blakely, and now Ofelia — have joined our list of ancestors. These losses serve as reminders of the importance of asking questions while we can, telling stories, and passing them on.
We are sharing some of Ofelia’s words as part of our tribute to her life and work.
Ofelia came to Riverside for college at UCR in 1965 and graduated in 1969. She remembered: There were very, very few Latinos at that time. I was there on scholarship, and it was a great experience. My career at UCR as a student was one of a lot of exposure, meeting a lot of people that I don’t think I would have ever met. I had a happy experience at UCR, but I also knew that I had received a scholarship to UCR. Dr. Eugene Cota-Robles was instrumental in that. At the time it was $1500 a year, and that paid for room, board, and tuition, which was a lot of money. My father couldn’t afford that. I always knew that I wanted to give back because of that. That has stayed with me over the years.
When asked about her contributions to the community, Ofelia remembered that investment in youth and education. Every organization I work with, it’s a focus on youth, and usually offering scholarships for students. Maybe that’s because I received one and it was my only opportunity. The fact that I went to university was a huge deal. I was the first in the family. I was involved with my children’s school and got involved with the PTA. I eventually became the council president, and I learned about many things, and it led me to run for the school board [Riverside Unified School Board]. Because of my position with the council, I really did know all of the schools. I knew the principals, I knew the presidents of the PTA, I knew the different issues that existed among the schools, and I felt I could do it. In the meantime, I began working with the mayor of Riverside, Ron Loveridge. I worked part-time, but that was a real “a-ha,” because I actually started getting paid for all the things I was doing for free! I was an assistant to the mayor and my focus was education and youth. I think all those volunteer efforts were very worthwhile and allowed me to connect with a tremendous number of people. My key contributions probably have been connecting people.
Ofelia shared this advice for other women: I always say don’t fly too close to the sun. You’re not here because of your sole effort. You take a little from here, from here, from here, and you can’t take credit for everything that’s been done. That’s probably the most difficult thing, because it takes some maturity to get to the point where you can say “I’m here,” and know you stand on the shoulders of those that came before you.
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