In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, we spotlight Jose and Maria Vega, namesakes of Vega Elementary…
McKinney, Texas — Located at the corner of Taylor-Burk Drive and Cattleman Drive in McKinney, Vega Elementary bears the names of a husband and wife who lived in McKinney for less than 10 years. However, their legacy has endured for more than seven decades.
The Vegas moved to McKinney in 1950 at the direction of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas. A priest in the Episcopal Church, Jose found that many members of the Hispanic community in McKinney were struggling to get by, facing a language barrier and lacking basic necessities such as running water, adequate food and childcare.
Moved by the needs of the community, the Vegas opened the Church of the Holy Family, and a daycare center followed the next year. Known as “La Escuelita” — “The Little School” — it would in time, come to be known as Holy Family School, which is still in operation today, more than 70 years later.
There, Maria served as the school’s first director, and children from the Hispanic community learned English and developed skills that would prepare them for success beyond kindergarten. Many went on to become doctors, lawyers and political figures in the community.
Some 50 years later, in 2001, McKinney ISD broke ground on its 14th elementary school, and when the naming committee considered Jose and Maria Luisa Vega, the response was overwhelming, with former students providing powerful testimony about the impact that the Vegas had on their lives.
Today, the Vegas’ work serving McKinney’s most vulnerable young learners is memorialized in Vega Elementary, a school that serves a diverse student body, investing in future generations as the Vegas did so many years before.
Sources: McKinney Courier Gazette, March 10, 2002. Story by Dalana Bewley and Contributions of Father Jose de Jesus and Maria Luisa Vega by Kass Bates