Daughters of Greatness: Yolanda Moore

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Yolanda Moore is a beloved longtime leader for the Latinx community of Louisville, working nearly all her adult life as an advocate for the needs and rights of immigrants and refugees, including 20 years as Outreach Coordinator for a local church with one of the Louisville Archdiocese’s largest number of immigrants.

The seeds of Yolanda’s fierce sense of justice, generosity and compassion were sown in her childhood. Born in El Paso, Texas, to parents of Mexican descent, she quickly learned what it was like to be poor and labeled the “other,” while also celebrating the joys of a familia (family) with big corazones (hearts).

Yolanda, who goes by “Yoli” by her friends, family and community, recalls how poorly her father, a union worker in a copper and lead smelting plant, was treated during company wildcat strikes for better wages and working conditions when she was a child. During those protests, her family of five was provided only a token box of food each week, containing the traditional Mexican staples of rice and beans with a chicken and a loaf of bread.

Systemic discrimination was a persistent part of the daily lives of Mexican Americans and Blacks during the Juan Crow era of that time. Yoli remembers her two older brothers as her protectors. Both were top-notch marksmen on their high school Rifle Team, once earning the opportunity to participate in a state competition. But when they arrived in North Texas, they were turned away from the hotel and had to stay at a school gymnasium. Signs proclaiming “No dogs, no Mexicans allowed” expressed a dehumanizing reality.

Yet, instead of letting such experiences of injustice embitter her, Yoli embraced lessons of faith and compassion instilled in her by her family, especially her great-grandmother, “Mama Rita,” and her great-aunt, Josefina.

Mama Rita, who lived until the age of 114, was once interviewed about her memories of the French invasion and raids by Apache Indians. She recalled her own mother’s compassion for the enemy soldiers and the way she gathered the young girls to cook for them simply “because they looked very hungry.” Great-aunt Josefina was a key figure in the first story that Yoli recalls of her family’s migration to the United States – Josefina brought Yoli’s mother here from Durango, Mexico, risking both their lives for the slimmest chance at a better life – a story that sadly resonates even today.

From Josefina, Yoli learned the power of faith and the necessity to remain strong under adversity. She also clearly picked up a little feistiness, recalling that when she moved to Louisville in the early 1980s, Josefina told her, “Nunca se haga menos” (“Never be less”).

Those words were forever etched in Yoli’s mind and heart, and decades later, she’s still putting them to use. In nearly every step of her adult life in El Paso, including jobs in city government, immigration and civil service, she experienced discrimination, machismo, sexual harassment, racism and sometimes, blind hate.

In Louisville, through her role as church Outreach Coordinator, she fought that discrimination on behalf of parishioners, creating partnerships with organizations throughout the city, including Jefferson County Public Schools/Adult ESL, Bellarmine University, the University of Louisville, Norton Healthcare, the Center for Women and Families, and Gilda’s Club to establish education, fitness and health services specific to the Latinx community. She also worked with the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) on such efforts as the Latino Citizens Police Academies; in March 2012, LMPD honored her for exemplary conduct, work and devotion to the advancement of law and order in the city.

Despite her commitment to justice, Yoli would repeatedly face challenges to the Biblical teaching of welcoming the stranger. But did she give up? Did she leave the fight for fairness, for justice?

¡No! ¡NUNCA SE HAGO MENOS!

Her guiding mantra has always been: “We are here. We are part of the community. And we are not going anywhere!”

Yoli hopes her legacy will not be defined by any negativity she experienced, but instead by the positivity that she has brought to – and received from – her community. She considers it her honor and privilege to continue accompanying those in need with an open helping hand.

Yoli and her husband James, who died in 1983, have two children, Christopher Moore and Kelly Koontz, and three grandchildren, Dr. Cameron Koontz, James Xavier Koontz and James Rake Moore. Her brother Ruben Gonzales still lives in El Paso; her parents and brother Alfredo Gonzales are deceased.