Cafecito con Samuel: Love and Aging in the Barrio

Aging is a universal phenomenon. We all age. However, we do not all age alike. Factors such as social context, financial resources, family, friends, health, and other support systems profoundly impact how we age. In addition, aging in a poor Hispanic barrio reflects the culture and life realities of a Hispanic community. A critical component of culture and the social context are a set of values that guide and shape the human experience in the barrio, including aging. Values such as mutual respect, mutual caring, friendship, beauty, and love all contribute to the human community and the common good.

Cafecito con Samuel is the story of Samuel and Juanita, an older couple who are aging in the barrio. Their love and commitment to each other bond their journey through life and into its final moments. Their sharing memories, reflections, and struggles as well as the many activities of daily life contributes to a rich human intimacy and life together. Likewise, friends and neighbors reinforce cultural values and social rituals that give meaning and quality to community life in the
barrio.

David Maldonado, Jr. is President Emeritus of the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. After an academic career in Social Work Education and Theological Education, he and his spouse, Charlotte Nieto Maldonado, retired in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He also retired from the Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. He is the author of Crossing Guadalupe Street (University of New Mexico Press), the novella Crypto: The Secret Life of the Anaya Family, and the story collection Mi Abuela Era Flaca: Tales from the Barrio. He has also published extensively on the Hispanic elderly and on Hispanic religion.