Nikki Lockwood initially recognized Ruben Trejo's name only as an artist when it surfaced as a potential name for a school. But it wasn’t until last week the Spokane school board president discovered just how deeply his work had touched her life.
On Wednesday, the Spokane Public Schools Board of Directors voted to name the city's Spanish immersion school the Ruben Trejo Dual Language Academy, in honor of the late Ruben Trejo, a former emeritus professor at Eastern Washington University and a renowned sculptor and painter.
Trejo was also known for addressing issues within the Chicano and Latino communities and being an activist — something that left remarkable impacts on people in Eastern Washington — including Lockwood. She told SPR that weeks after starting classes at Eastern Washington University in the late 1980s, she was told she didn’t qualify for financial aid, leaving her devastated.
“I didn't know what to do. And my parents, you know, they hadn't gone to college,” she said.
However, the Chicano Studies Program, which Trejo co-founded in 1977, advocated for her financial aid, enabling her to continue her education and become the first Latina in her family to graduate from college.
“I only realized it like a week ago – when I first heard his name, back when we were naming all the schools I knew he was an artist, and that's all I knew,” Lockwood said.
“He actually impacted my life.”
Trejo, who passed away in 2009 from a blood disorder, was born in 1937 in a boxcar in St. Paul, Minnesota, where his family lived while working on the railroads. But on the off seasons, their lives were defined by constant travel as migrant farmworkers, harvesting potatoes, onions, and tomatoes across the Midwest until the early 1950s.
Despite the frequent relocations, Trejo graduated high school and went on to earn his M.F.A. in sculpture from the University of Minnesota in 1969, along with a minor in Latin American Literature.
Trejo moved to Spokane not too long after, in 1973, to teach at Eastern Washington University.
Jose Trejo, Ruben Trejo's son, was just a kid when he moved to Spokane with his father. He recalls their home as being “always open” while growing up.
“He would make, you know, beans and rice and tortillas or whatever,” Jose Trejo said. “He was kind of known as, you know, just having people over all the time, a lot of professors and writers.”
Jose told SPR he’s happy his father is being honored in this way, despite the cultural challenges he faced during a time there wasn’t much of a Latino community in the Spokane area.
“He was able to sort of not be frightened of being different, you know, without the community support,” Jose said.
“I think that he can be inspirational, so that people can see ‘I can go to school, I can do all you know, I can get a graduate degree. I can be successful in eastern Washington, regardless of my background.’”
Trejo’s artwork can be seen at Marmot Art Space, where much of it represents his time in the fields and being born in a boxcar.
Marshall Peterson, owner of the art gallery, said he’s had Trejo’s art on display for the last eight years and works with Jose to keep his artwork alive.
“Although he grew up in the Midwest, he really could claim eastern Washington as his territory,” Peterson said. “Also, how many schools were named after artists? Like none. So it's super, super, amazing.”
Lockwood also said she’s been reading about him and his art and believes this was the perfect fit, especially for youth who attend the school.
“They'll see somebody who achieved. He was an educator, he was an artist, he expressed himself,” she said. “He sounded like he was pretty joyful, so I think that will be great for the school.”