Maurilia "Molly" Ortiz Blakely was a role model, a champion for minority women’s rights, an activist for the poor and an advocate for higher education.
Orphaned at an early age, her maternal aunt raised her to have great respect for their Mexican heritage and to help the less fortunate. A divorced working mother of five, Blakely was a force in her community and helped organize Grand Rapids’ first Mexican Festival in 1970.
After graduating from college with a degree in Social Work at age 51, she assisted Latinx students, women, migrants, the homeless, and the unemployed and helped to establish the Hispanic Institute. Among her many honors was a Grand Rapids Lifetime Achievement Award.
You can see a mural created by local artist Arturo Romero that tributes Molly on the SW corner of San Chez Bistro downtown. #HispanicHeritageMonth
Original source can be found here.
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