Thread: Don Miguel: The Godfather of the Mex. invasion in Kentucky

May 28, 2008

Miguel Lagunas' heritage is his passion

By Sara Cunningham
scunningham@courier-journal.com

When Saul Garcia moved to Kentucky in 1992, he struggled to find a sense of community.

"When I came to Louisville, I didn't see any Hispanic people, really," said Garcia, a Mexico City native who now owns Los Aztecas Mexican Restaurant on Main Street.

"But there was this one guy people would talk about when they mentioned Hispanics: Miguel Lagunas," Garcia said. "I met him, and he showed me that there was a Hispanic community here."

Called "Don Miguel" by many who know him, Lagunas immigrated to Louisville as a teenager from Mexico City more than 50 years ago.

A graduate of the University of Louisville's J.B. Speed School of Engineering, Lagunas, 69, retired from Louisville Gas & Electric 12 years ago and now devotes his time to his life-long passion: building the Hispanic community.

In March, he was given a Mayor's International Award for his work. Presented by Mayor Jerry Abramson, the awards are given to people who have made significant contributions to Louisville's multicultural community.

"His name always comes up as someone who exemplifies long-term commitment and service to the community," Abramson said. "He has such great sincerity with no personal agenda -- just the agenda of the folks he feels he's representing. That carries so much legitimacy."

Lagunas said he appreciated the recognition but that it wasn't necessary.

"I don't think I do anything that other people don't do," Lagunas said. "When you come to a new place and people help you, you must remember that someday it will be your turn to help."

His volunteer commitments run the gamut, including the police department, a soccer league, a dance troupe and countless social service organizations.

But Lagunas also builds a sense of community in other, seemingly smaller ways, said Louisville Metro Police Officer Minerva Virola, who met Lagunas through police-community events. She said he has planned baby showers, acted as an emergency translator and helped fill out paperwork for recent immigrants -- people he just had met himself.

Finding his own place

Lagunas' connection to Louisville began when he was a teen in Mexico City, participating in Eagle Scouts. He said he befriended Louisvillians T. Lamont and Carolyn Wilson while they were in Mexico with their daughter Sylvia, as part of Youth Ambassadors of Friendship.

In the fall of 1956, Lagunas traveled to Louisville on a tourist visa to visit the Wilsons, who suggested he move here to study.

"I was not sure at first," he said, "but then I thought, 'Why not Louisville?' I thought this was a nice place."

So he obtained a student visa and moved in with the Wilsons in Lyndon, attending Eastern High School for a semester to finish high school and to improve his English.

"That helped because you have to go in the water and you either sink or swim," he said. "I wanted to swim."

At the time, he said, "It was very hard to find somebody who would speak Spanish with me. … That helped me with my English, but it was also very hard."

To help save for college, Lagunas worked at grocery stores, construction sites and even an animal hospital. Moving on to his first year at the University of Louisville, where he entered the engineering program, he was given a green card and years later became a U.S. citizen, he said. But he took a break from school after a year and joined the Army. "They put me in a communications-related job because of my engineering education."

More than three years later, Lagunas returned to school after serving in France and Turkey. He received his degree in 1969, and then went to work for LG&E. "I was the first person in my family to finish so much school," he said. "I was very proud of that."

Since retirement, he said, he's kept busy with his community involvements and his family.

Lagunas' first wife, Marta Lagunas, died several years ago; they had three children together. His second wife, Martina Lagunas, had six children.

"Some of our children live in Louisville, some in Mexico and then I have many grandchildren," he said. "When someone asks how many children I have, it's hard to count because there are so many people we count as family."

Growing community

Between 1990 and 2000, the Hispanic population in Jefferson County grew by an estimated 183 percent, according to the Hispanic Latino Coalition, which estimates the population between 50,000 and 55,000.

But beyond the numerical growth, Lagunas said he has enjoyed the development of groups dedicated to building a Hispanic community.

He is tied to almost every group, board or effort that involves Hispanics in the city, said Maria Scharfenberger, who met Lagunas 15 years ago when she became involved with the Hispanic Latino Coalition of Louisville. He is an advisory committee member for the coalition.

"Miguel has been a fundamental part of fostering and creating a variety of organizations that provide services and voices for that growing community," Scharfenberger said. "He's the constant, positive force in a community that gets stereotyped too often."

Helping the young

Among his many community activities, Lagunas helped develop a soccer league for young Hispanic men that now includes about 800 players, said Saul Garcia, who now runs the league.

Lagunas also helped start a Mexican folk dance troupe that teaches youngsters about performing and Hispanic culture.

He is a member of the board of directors for Metro United Way and volunteers with St. Rita Church, Adelante Hispanic Achievers and the Kentucky Mexican American Relations Institute, among others.

Of particular interest to Lagunas is improving the relationship between police and Hispanic people.

As part of the Louisville Metro Police Department's accountability and advisory commissions, as well as a member of the department's Citizens Police Academy alumni association, Lagunas has worked to build understanding between the community and the police.

Every Tuesday morning he helps host a radio show on the La Caliente 105.7 FM station where he and Officer Virola interview members of the police department in Spanish.

The level of respect Lagunas has built within the Hispanic community and outside it is inspiring for other people, Virola said.

"We call him Don Miguel or godfather because we respect him so much," Virola said. "When you have an idea, he's just, 'OK, let's get it done.' "

Reporter Sara Cunningham can be reached at (502) 582-4335

Let me get this right.....this gentlemen, who came here legally, and was given all of the wonderful opportunities America has to offer for legal immigrants, has not only repaid the kindness by helping Louisville become overrun by illegal aliens, but has been given an award for doing so?

I must've missed it somewhere along the way, but when did it become fashionalbe to reward people for doing all the wrong things?

He is exactly whats wrong with mexicans who come here. They want our benefits but want to keep their country & culture. We dont want or need a little mexico or little havanna in the USA. Be a real American or go live in mexico or havanna.

AZwreath: Exactly......aiding/abetting illegal aliens and encouraging them to come here is NO BADGE OF HONOR. I'm sick of the so-called "immigrant" success stories that glorify illegal immigration and lawlessness as if LEGAL immigrants and naturalized citizens who came here legally and were NOT beneficiaries of AMNESTY in the past....would consider criminals who succeeded worthy of any praise.

AZwreath: Exactly......aiding/abetting illegal aliens and encouraging them to come here is NO BADGE OF HONOR. I'm sick of the so-called "immigrant" success stories that glorify illegal immigration and lawlessness as if LEGAL immigrants and naturalized citizens who came here legally and were NOT beneficiaries of AMNESTY in the past....would consider criminals who succeeded worthy of any praise.

Is he doing ANYTHING to help them assimilate to American culture? Can any in this hispanic community "swim" (Laguna's word) outside of this community? Seems to me he is segregating them from the general population.